Dr Éléonore Lèbre
Dr. Éléonore Lèbre specialises in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks in the mining industry. She connects her work with topical issues such as tailings dam failures, renewable energy transition and critical metals. During her work at the CSRM Éléonore also developed expertise in mining-induced displacement resettlement, sustainability reporting, social incident investigation and mine closure.
Éléonore's PhD was undertaken at the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation. Her thesis applies the concept of circular economy to the management of mining waste in the objectives of minimising waste and optimising resource extraction. Éléonore holds two MSc degrees from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Ecole Centrale Marseille in France, through the Top Industrial Managers in Engineering (TIME) association’s double degree agreements.
Current Research and Industry Engagement
Éléonore currently works within the Complex Orebodies Programme in collaboration with researchers across the SMI centres. Her research centres on using global data on mining projects and ESG metrics to assess the risks associated with operating mines and new discoveries.
Over the past three years, Éléonore has been involved in industry research consortiums as well as projects with industry partners including Rio Tinto, Newcrest, MMG and OceanaGold.
Key Publications
Lèbre, Éléonore, Stringer, Martin, Svobodova, Kamila, Owen, John R., Kemp, Deanna, Côte, Claire, Arratia-Solar, Andrea and Valenta, Rick K. (2020). The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals. Nature Communications, 11 (1) 4823, 4823. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18661-9
Lèbre, Éléonore, Owen, John R., Corder, Glen D., Kemp, Deanna, Stringer, Martin and Valenta, Rick K. (2019). Source risks as constraints to future metal supply. Environmental Science and Technology, 53 (18), 10571-10579. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02808
Valenta, R. K., Kemp, D., Owen, J. R., Corder, G. D. and Lèbre, E. (2019). Re-thinking complex orebodies: consequences for the future world supply of copper. Journal of Cleaner Production, 220, 816-826. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.146
Owen, J. R., Kemp, D., Lèbre, E., Svobodova, K. and Pérez Murillo, G. (2020). Catastrophic tailings dam failures and disaster risk disclosure. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 42 101361, 101361. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101361
Kemp, Deanna, Owen, John R. and Lèbre, Éléonore (2020). Tailings facility failures in the global mining industry: will a ‘transparency turn’ drive change? Business Strategy and the Environment bse.2613. doi: 10.1002/bse.2613