teresa steele schober laura mallabone

Teresa Steele-Schober & Laura Mallabone

Sustainability Risk Management from Space

Project Key Challenges

How do you determine the social risks around a mine located in an area you’ve never visited, across a geographical footprint of

800km2 with only 2 days in the field?

You go into space!

And then present your findings in a succinct manner to executives who are on a tight deadline to make a decision.

You use pictures – a bow-tie in this case.

Understanding Artisanal and Small-scale

mining (ASM)

Many drivers for communities to engage in ASM activity:

Fairly low input costs

Rapid return on effort vs farming

Can generate income during the dry season

The whole family can generate an income

Legal provisions to regulate ASM exist in many countries

However enforcement is usually weak

Many do not attempt to comply with these requirements

ASM communities track commercial exploration activities

Mining areas open and expand rapidly

Communities can become violent if their livelihoods are threatened

Often well organised with supply chains which are dependent on the miners

Client’s brief

Evaluate the social risks at a gold mine in West Africa:

Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM)

Proximity of communities to mining operations

Access routes

Social licence to operate

Systems, procedures and budgets to manage social risks

Challenges to overcome

ASM activity is not always immediately obvious on a

satellite image

Different methods based on commodity, locality and mining method

Time limitations impeded on-the-ground visits to all areas

and all communities

How to estimate the extent of community impacts including possible

resettlements?

Social issues are complex to understand and communicate

How to present this Client’s ExCo who needs to make a rapid, well-informed

decision?

Project Team

Technical & PM Team

Project Location

Geo-spatial and

Risk Teams

Timeline

11 Feb 2016

• Appointed by client

11 – 20 Feb

• Document review

• Satellite image purchase

• Logistics

23 – 25 Feb

• Site visit in-country

• First draft report

• Target ASM site verification

3 March 2016

• Final report submitted

• Client makes decision

Using the satellites

Define target area

Consider mine plan, where to spend money on best quality images

Total site area is 800km2

Commercially available images – no time to order

Decide how many images to buy

ASM communities move and grow quickly

A snapshot at one point in time therefore isn’t enough

Procure best quality, latest images

Taking into account need for time difference

Selecting image target area

Town

Town

Town

Area

covered by

the

commercial

satellites

First image acquired

March 2013

Dry season

Suspected artisanal mining activity

Commercial satellite image

50cm resolution

Mining License Area – “Before” Satellite Image Pre-2013

Second image acquired

December 2015

Wet season

Mine infrastructure evident

Access roads

Potential ASM sites

Commercial satellite image

50cm resolution

Mining License Area – “Before” Satellite Image Pre-2013 Mining License Area – “After” Satellite Image December 2015

Planning for site visit

In order to accurately map the ASM locations, ground

truthing of suspected ASM sites would be required.

Target locations were determined from document review.

Hand held GPS (plus spare batteries!) would be used to

confirm locations identified by Terrabotics.

Target areas for site inspection planned.

Planned Commercial Mining Zone Interrogation of the images allowed planning of areas to be visited when on site.

Focus on current Life of Mine plan.

Possible ASM locations identified by observing changes between the 2013 and 2015 images and known locations of mineral deposits.

Satellite image courtesy of Airbus D&S Plc. Map layers Terrabotics Ltd, Copyright 2016

2013 Image

Suspected ASM localities determined

New

activity

Expanded

Community

Excavation activity


2015 image showed new activity.

Evidence of structures and excavations.

Signs of new ASM activity.

New

activity

New

activity


Ground truth team verified suspected activity.

Information used to refine the search for further target areas.

Site evidence

Open pit workings Mounds of mined material

Site evidence

Shaft infrastructure

Suspected Artisanal Mining Sites Identified from Satellite Image Analysis Based on evidence from ground truth visits the total ASM risk across the project area was determined.

Focus on immediate future mining areas.

Traffic light colour coding used to reflect levels of confidence.

Community Proximity and Safety

Our client was concerned about the proximity of communities to current and future mining areas.

Risks of community safety due to mining activities and access roads also a concern.

Previous protests by ASM in the area raised the risk of possible future interruptions to production if similar situation arises again.

An estimated number of households requiring possible resettlement was needed.

We developed a heat map to represent the concentration of households around these pit areas.

Community Safety Risk

500m buffer around current and planned infrastructure mapped.

Concentration of households delineated using heat map.

Clearly identified the approximate number of households possibly requiring resettlement.


Site Access Risk

One main access route from main town to mine site.

Remote mining areas need access to processing plant.

High risk of production interruptions if there are community or ASM protests.


Presenting the findings

Sustainability risks are complex.

Many causes and possible consequences.

Client needed to understand how the mine was

managing the various risks and where there were

gaps.

Needed a mechanism to present a large amount of

information comprehensively and succinctly.

Using a BowTie Dashboard

Tips and Tricks

Don’t spend too much time working out what should go in the middle of your bow-tie

start with an idea and then refine it as you work through the bow-tie as a whole.

Focus on your consequences first (to ensure the risk is something that you actually care about).

Move between the different parts of the bow-tie, continually refining it rather than trying to perfect one section before moving onto another

it is an iterative tool.

Feel free to add data where you have it and flex the tool to suit your needs.

Use colours to highlight areas of interest to the reader. This therefore appears to individuals who like to skim read the tool to gain insight; but also to those who like to see the detail.

Stability Forum

Arranged visits for ASM to

site to foster awareness

and dispel misconceptions

of large-scale mining.

Voluntarily paid

compensation for

improvements by ASM

ASM

Activity

Low skills & education levels

mean few main-stream job

opportunities

PR

OA

CT

IVE

CO

NT

RO

LS

RE

AC

TIV

E C

ON

TR

OL

S

Need to generate additional,

immediate income

• Dry season

• School fees etc

Geology makes access realistic

for ASM

Alternative livelihoods (e.g.

farming) considered less

lucrative, less reliable and

strenuous

Supporting Structures exist

• Buyers present in the

community.

• Supply chains for more

advanced sites (e.g. Kao)

• Creates spin-off local

businesses e.g. shops,

prostitutes etc.

Work with NGO “Bring

back the children” who

work to return children to

school from ASM areas.

Increasing Local

recruitment &

transparency through

CLC

Monitoring ASM activity at

various pits

Establishing and

maintaining good

relationships with ASM

and villages

Implement Community

development projects

Impede access to land

Inability to fulfil sales

agreements

Increased tensions with local

communities

Disruptions to exploration

programme/s

Staff retrenchment

Injury to mine personnel /

communities

Damages to company property

Reduced social license to

operate

Reduced revenue

Disruptions to business from

protest action

Increased local unemployment

Grievance Management

process

Request assistance

from CLC

Funding of 20 police

officers on the mine

Government response

force (ONASSIM)

© SATARLA 2015 www.satarla.com

RISK BOW-TIECAUSES

CONSEQUENCES

Restricted land access for

women – only through

husband / his family

Government does not restrict

ASM - unless requested by

mining company

Reduced CDP spending

Insurance claims from impacted

parties

Appealing lifestyle benefits

Census to understand ASM

populations

ASM Strategy

Business Continuity

Management Plan

Relocate communities

within 500m health and

safety perimeter of mine

areas and haul roads

Community

Safety

Communitiies reside 250m

from main mine area at pit

PR

OA

CT

IVE

CO

NT

RO

LS

RE

AC

TIV

E C

ON

TR

OL

S

Communities residing adjacent

to main access roads to mine –

no buffer

No secondary community

access road to avoid mine-

related traffic.

Current road signs inadequate

to mitigate community interface

with mine traffic

20 full time police officers

funded by the mine are present

to manage mine safety issues.

These officers are armed.

Detailed mine Traffic

Management Plan for

access and haul roads

Designate buffer around

haul roads

Community awareness

programme in respect of

mine traffic

Create secondary,

alternative community

access routes

Mine access prevented by

blockades from protesting

communities

Interruptions to business

continuity – reduced revenue

Claims for health impacts

related to living near mine e.g.

lung diseases

Increased tensions with local

communities

Disruptions to exploration

programme/s

Staff retrenchment / reduced

local employment

Injury to mine personnel /

community members

Damages to company property

from protest action

Reduced social license to

operate

Increased local unemployment

Grievance Management

process

CLC subcommittees

Funding of 20 police

officers on the mine

Government response

force (ONASSIM)

© SATARLA 2015 www.satarla.com

RISK BOW-TIECAUSES

CONSEQUENCES

New planned haul roads to

remote pits do not have a

designated buffer zone around

them therefore communities will

continue to be impacted by

mine traffic and future mining

activities.

Communities rely on foot /

motorbike and bicycles for

transport

Reduced CDP spending

Insurance claims from impacted

parties

Some communities which

could be impacted by

resettlement are divided in their

support for Alumni.

Business Continuity

Management Plan

Mine management to

reside closer to site

Broader application of our approach

Critical success factor was integrating specialists with different skills and backgrounds:

Sustainability, mining, geo-spatial and risk.

Satellite imagery saves time and money in many applications:

Life of mine planning – predicting upcoming risks

Pollution plume tracking and management

Business continuity plans – delineate high risk and impact areas, plan alternative access routes, predict possible conflict areas, determine refuge areas.

Liability determination e.g. based on impact zones, pollution plumes etc.

Broader application of our approach

BowTie dashboards can communicate any risk

Additional enhancements include status of control implementation,

monitoring requirements, risk ratings.

Control owners can be included to ensure effective implementation

of controls.

Due to our time constraints the Bowties were not workshopped.

Ideally multiple disciplines would compile the bowtie to ensure

completeness.

Conclusion

Understanding sustainability risks early on is critical for all

businesses.

Obtaining the relevant information usually takes time and money.

Using satellite imagery to understand these risks reduces both.

Not all sustainability issues are immediately obvious.

On the ground verification increases confidence in image

interrogation.

Bowtie dashboards help communicate complex issues in an easy to

understand format.

THANK YOU

Teresa Steele-Schober

[email protected]

Laura Mallabone Sarah Gordon

[email protected] [email protected]

Gareth Morgan

teresa steele schober laura mallabone

Leadership & Management