Corporate Commitment
Letter from CEO
Lundin Mining is a diversified base metals producer. Our corporate mission is to constantly upgrade our resource and mining portfolio to provide a leading return for our shareholders.
We are well aware that our mineral endowment brings with it both opportunity and responsibility. Corporate responsibility is central to our strategic and operational thinking. We cannot sustain good financial and operational performance without simultaneously achieving our objectives in health and safety, environmental stewardship, human resource development, and community investment. We believe our transparent approach to doing business is the only way to fully engage our stakeholders in a meaningful and mutually beneficial relationship.
This Sustainability Report is presented as part of our commitment to be open in our communication with those that have an interest in the performance of the Company and to present a balanced view of our performance.
2010 presented significant operational challenges with: industrial action at Neves-Corvo early in the year; blocked ore-passes at Zinkgruvan restricting materials handling underground; and a major failure of the pit ramp at Aguablanca requiring suspension of operations. Despite this, 2010 has seen significant improvement in the operational capability of our major mines and both Neves-Corvo and Zinkgruvan continue to set new production records. This has been achieved through systematic improvement of our operational systems and diligent efforts from our employees.
The discovery of Semblana, a potential new high-grade copper orebody at Neves-Corvo and the feasibility study on the Lombador zinc/copper deposit both look very positive for the future of Neves-Corvo where near-mine exploration continues to add further to these new development opportunities. At Zinkgruvan, the commissioning of the new copper plant and the daylight ramp have both enabled throughput to be lifted and considerable work is on-going looking at further enhancements. Since year-end, plans have been announced for the restart of Aguablanca based on a new mine plan and five year life.
Corporately, our attention was on a potential merger of our company and a strategic review of development of our assets and search for growth opportunities.
Significant improvements were made to infrastructure and housekeeping at our mines which are expected to lead to improvements in safety and efficiency. Much effort was placed on employee training during 2010 to ensure that all of our workforce and our contractors have the skills and knowledge to assist us in improving our safety performance across the Company.
Our environmental performance remained satisfactory through 2010 with our activities causing no adverse effects on the environment. Our mines had no significant environmental incidents and our only reportable incident was related to water management at Galmoy, caused by extreme rainfall, for which remedial measures have since been invoked. Noise from a ventilation fan at Zinkgruvan caused some nuisance to neighbours and this was addressed through engineering controls. With the expansion of surface facilities at Zinkgruvan, noise and dust will remain issues for us to carefully manage.
Climate change has for some time been regarded as a significant corporate risk by the Company. In 2010 we experienced its effects first hand. Zinkgruvan contended with extreme cold weather in the winter which affected production. The additional fuel needed to heat mine ventilation air and buildings increased costs as well as the mines' carbon footprint. Neves-Corvo, Aguablanca and Galmoy were all affected by very high rainfall in the winter months with Neves-Corvo and Galmoy both having to discharge excess water from their tailings facilities. At Aguablanca, unprecedented extreme rainfall caused pit flooding and pit wall failure resulting in damage to the main ramp. Our challenge going forward is to ensure that our mines' water management plans are sufficiently flexible and robust to allow us to respond to changing climate and anticipated worst case conditions.
Part of our response to climate change is to seek ways to reduce the carbon emissions from our operations. Total carbon dioxide emissions reduced by over 22% in 2010 compared with 2009, although our CO2 intensity remained the same. The reduction in emissions came partly from reduced production at Aguablanca and the closure of the concentrator at Galmoy, but real reductions were achieved through implementation of energy-savings measures at the mines.
Currently the world is witnessing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity in ecosystems around the globe. In Europe, where our operations are located, the EU has been addressing biodiversity decline through initiatives such as the Natura 2000 program. We understand that mining companies are often in a unique position to manage land for the purposes of benefitting the environment through increasing biodiversity. Lundin Mining is additionally supporting a number of initiatives to enhance biodiversity, both on-site and working with community groups and universities in the environment around our mines.
Our Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) Management System is the cornerstone of our efforts to operate to high HSEC standards and to continuously improve our performance. Our Group HSEC Standards set out the expectations of the Company and the mines translate these into action through Site HSEC Procedures. The application of the System is audited by external assessors and is periodically reviewed by the HSEC Committee of the Board of Directors to ensure its continuing effectiveness and relevance.
The HSEC System applies throughout the life-cycle of our activities from exploration to mine closure. In particular, we take great care to ensure that our mine sites are well remediated at end of mine life. The Storliden site in northern Sweden is reverting to productive forest and at Galmoy, mixed land use is intended to ensure that many parts of the community will benefit from the restoration of the site and that there will be continuing employment opportunities in the area once mining is finished.
Tenke Fungurume continues to provide increasing benefits to the DRC and particularly communities close to the mine. The mine has had a positive impact on community health with the virtual elimination of cholera in the area and comprehensive malaria prevention activities in place. To support education, six new elementary schools and a high school have been built and two existing high schools refurbished. The Lundin for Africa Foundation has committed to supporting twenty university students on full scholarship over the next two years. Lundin Mining has been a part of this world-class project since its inception. We are proud of our continuing involvement and the difference it is making to the lives of the people of the DRC.
Our challenges and goals for 2011 and the years ahead are to continue to improve our safety performance, to continue to be responsible stewards of the environment and to manage our risks while retaining our operational efficiencies. We will continue to listen to and respect our local communities and to ensure that Lundin Mining is always regarded as a good corporate citizen and neighbour.
Paul Conibear
President and CEO
Lundin Mining's Principles of Corporate Responsibility
- We consider the health and safety of our employees and adjoining communities in all aspects of our operations.
- We initiate and promote ongoing dialogue and engagement with a broad range of stakeholders, maintained in a spirit of transparency and good faith.
- We exercise vigilance in protecting the environment and seek ways to minimize our environmental footprint. We strive to always meet regulatory requirements in our environmental performance.
- We conduct our activities in accordance with accepted standards in the protection and promotion of human rights.
- We recognize that every community is unique and respect the cultural and historical perspectives and rights of those affected by our operations.
- We provide a rewarding and meaningful livelihood to our employees and strive to be an employer of choice. We provide suitable training opportunities and resources are made available to employees to assist them in performing their duties.
- We seek to provide employment, business and economic opportunities for local communities from our existing operations and new projects.
- We seek to provide lasting benefits to the communities where we work by supporting sustainable initiatives to support social, economic, and institutional fabric as appropriate. We work consultatively with our community partners to ensure that our support matches their priorities.
- We maintain high standards of corporate governance, ethics and honesty in all of our dealings, and operate in compliance both with Canadian stock exchange listing and disclosure requirements and the local laws wherever we work.
- We engage with our industry peers, associations, governments, non-governmental organizations, and civil society to contribute to best practice development and track evolving global standards.
