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The Mission:

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUSTAINABILITY WORKSHOP – Santiago, 2014 (pdf, 19mb)

Kari Heiskanen – Chair, Sustainability Commission (appointed 2015)

Since its inception in 2008 the Commission was chaired by Roberto Villas-Boas who is a Council member of many years standing and enjoys an outstanding international reputation in the area of sustainability in the mining and mineral processing industry. The collaborators/members of this Commission are all persons with a serious interest and involvement in SD issues.  Kari Heiskanen from Finland has been appointed  the new Chair of this Commission and further comments from him will follow shortly.

The Commission has to date used various approaches in carrying out its task. These include, inter alia:

    •  frequent exchange of communications among members of the Commission via internet and meetings at the time of Congresses;
    • organization of meetings and workshops whenever the need of the stakeholders is identified as well as official symposia during Congresses as appropriate;
    • assisting stakeholders on dealing with SD issues in daily mining activities through the dissemination of appropriate information by the Chair;
    • coordinating the overall activities of the Commission;

Since 2008 when the Commissions were approved by the IMPC Council the Commission has been actively engaged in joint activities with the following colleagues:

      •  Prof. Guven Onal (ITU-Istanbul,Turkey);
      • Prof Hermann Wotruba (RWTH– Aachen, Germany);
      • Prof. Debora Shields (CSU–Colorado,USA);
      • Dr. Julio Claudeville (Barrick Argentina);
      • Lic. Monica Belling (ProActivo,Peru);
      • Ing. Hugo Nielson (OLAMI- Argentina)
      • Ing. Hernan Vera (Yamana Argentina);
      • Dr. Carlos Peiter (CETEM, Brasil);
      • Geol. Luis Martins (DGGM, Portugal);
      • Prof. Arsenio Martinez (UHU, Spain);
      • J. Fernandez- Rubio (FrasaIngenieros, Spain)
      • Eng. Rinaldo Mancin (IBRAM, Brasil);
      • Prof. Chris Moran (UQ, Australia);
      • Patricio Cartagena (COCHILCO-Chile);
      • Arthur Pinto Chaves(USP- Brasil);
      • H. Tulsidas(IAEA-Austria);
      • J. Hilton (Aleph-UK).

Since its inception the Commission has been engaged in the following activities:

(i)    XXIII IMPC Congress in Istanbul in 2006: A workshop on sustainable issues in mining and minerals processing was organized jointly with ITU. This Workshop in fact led to the establishment in 2008 of the Commission;

(ii)  XXIV IMPC Congress on Beijing in 2008: A second workshop on mining and mineral processing sustainability, was jointly organized with GRINM;

(iii)   XXV IMPC Congress in Brisbane in 2010: A seminar on sustainability ofmining and mineral processing, was jointly organized with the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland;

(iv)   XXVI IMPC Congress in New Delhi in 2012: A meeting of the Coordination Group was organized to begin planning a major event at the time of the XXVII IMPC in Santiago;

(v)    XXVII IMPC Congress in Santiago in 2014: At this Congress a Sustainability Symposium was held to bring closure to the current phase of the Commission after which the next phase of its activities will be planned. Further information will follow.