'East Coast' Public Consultation for Global Tailings Standard draft

On behalf of the Global Tailings Review team, we would like to invite you to the ‘East Coast’ public consultation workshop for the Global Tailings Standard draft, which will be held at The University of Queensland on Friday the 13th December.

The draft Standard was developed by an expert panel and opened for public consultation on the 15th November; closing on the 31st December. The purpose of the consultation is to test whether the draft Standard meets the expectations of project-affected people, operators, governments and other actors. You are invited to share your perspective and comments on the content of the draft Standard and how it might be implemented in your context.

All feedback will be carefully gathered, collated and provided to the team of experts for consideration and integration. The inputs received via both the online and in-country consultations will be separately analysed and summarised in a report which will also be publicly available in 2020.

We invite you to share your experiences on this important matter. Please register here (express interest in email to info@globaltailingsreview.org) for the workshop.

Background to the Standard

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) share a commitment to the adoption of global best practices on tailings storage facility management across the mining industry. To further this commitment, they have co-convened the Global Tailings Review to establish an international standard on tailings management.  The work of this review is led by Dr Bruno Oberle, supported by an expert panel, and informed by a multi-stakeholder advisory group (see here for further information).

While it is mining companies who are responsible for the safe and secure management of tailings facilities, there is broad acceptance that they cannot succeed if they operate in isolation. To create a step change, other actors will need be involved. Investors can exert influence by insisting on compliance with the Standard as a condition for lending and insurers can encourage adoption by linking implementation to the cost of insurance. Downstream customers can buy or use minerals and metals that are responsibly sourced, and local communities can demand that a company complies with the Standard to support their social license to operate. Local, regional and central authorities have a critical role to play in embedding aspects of the Standard into licensing, permitting and inspections. Finally, civil society, can push for best practice by vocalising the perspectives of their constituency, in particular at moments such as these when standards are being developed.