Base Metals
- Escondida copper mine, northern Chile.
BHP Billiton is one of the world's largest producers of copper and a leading producer of uranium, silver, gold, lead and zinc. We operate two mines in Australia (Cannington, Queensland, and Olympic Dam, South Australia), two in northern Chile (Cerro Colorado in Region I and Escondida in Region II), and have a joint venture interest in the Antamina mine in Peru. The Tintaya copper mine in Peru was sold in June 2006. The Spence copper mine in Chile will come on line in fiscal year 2007.
The most important uses for Base Metals products are in the manufacture of electrical products and in the construction industry. Geographically, our markets are evenly spread between the Americas, Europe and Asia.
2006 Sustainability Performance Overview
Key aspects of Base Metals' CSG sustainability performance for the reporting period 2005/06 were:
- In July 2005, an employee at Olympic Dam was fatally injured when a drill from an approaching drive face triggered an unplanned detonation.
- Our Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate increased by 51 per cent, taking into account acquisitions and divestments.
- All controlled sites obtained or recertified their ISO 14001 certification.
- Base Metals performance continued to merit national awards in Chile and Peru, including a safety award to Escondida (Chile), an environment award to Antamina (Peru) and both safety and community awards to Tintaya (Peru).
- There was one significant environmental incident in FY 2006, as a result of an uncontrolled release of acidic water into a local river at Tintaya.
- As it recovered from the major earthquake experienced July 2005, Cerro Colorado also played an important role in the recovery of its neighbouring communities.
- Important progress was made in integrating Olympic Dam into the BHP Billiton way of managing HSEC. Olympic Dam achieved all its HSEC integration targets for FY 2006.
- Read more: Base Metals 2006 Environmental Data Summary.
2007 Sustainability Outlook
Looking ahead for the Base Metals CSG, a focus on the BHP Billiton Key Sustainability Challenges will include the following:
Eliminating Fatal Risks
Our fatal risk control strategy is based on the following four components:
- Fatal Risk Control Protocols (FRCPs). We will consolidate our FRCPs, beginning with the visible leadership of line management, and implementing the improvement plans generated with the valuable support of the FRCP Facilitators.
- Behaviour-based Safety. We will reinforce peer-to-peer safety observations, to achieve greater participation and increased awareness in the workforce.
- Significant incident reporting and investigation. There is room for improvement in our significant iIncident reporting and in the quality of incident investigation. We will strive to maintain our good record in incident investigation closeout.
- Management of contractors. Of our 24,000 workers in 2006, 77 per cent were contractors, so contractor management is critical to our success. We will continue to emphasise involvement of senior contractor management, participation of contractor employees in our Behaviour-Based Safety programs, and implementation of the Fatal Risk Control Protocols by contractors.
Sustainable Community Development and Closure of Operations
- Regulation of mine closure is relatively new in most countries in which Base Metals operates. FY 2006 saw significant advances in updating the closure plans at all the Base Metals assets to the BHP Billiton’s Closure Standard. All the updates will be completed in FY 2007, putting us in the industry forefront in closure management.
- In Chile and Peru, public awareness of mining’s increased profitability has generated significant expectations about our contribution to local, regional and national development, both long- and short-term. One of the major challenges facing us is how to respond to those expectations effectively and in a way that is consistent with our sustainable development goals.
Access to and Management of Resources
- The management of groundwater resources in arid environments is gaining increasing stakeholder attention. This is happening at a time of increasing water demand for our expanding operations.
- Base Metals is placing a priority on reducing fresh water consumption and on maintaining ecosystems in our water resource areas.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Large amounts of energy are needed to process copper ore into saleable products. Rising energy prices have focused attention on energy efficiency, particularly for new projects.
- Our operations in Chile have made important achievements in green house gas emissions reduction in recent years. This progress is, however, threatened by the prospect of decreased availability of natural gas from Argentina, forcing a return to greater reliance on coal-generated power.
Occupational and Community Health
- A high priority for 2007 is to continue to consolidate and build upon the progress of the South American Occupational Health and Hygiene Network, for improved sharing of best practices and alignment of concepts and procedures.
- Our most important health risks are noise, dust and acid mist. For acid mist we have developed good practices, but we wish to participate in additional research for further improvement. For noise and dust, we have identified good practices in some sites and are in the process of disseminating these to the other sites.
- Radiation has become a higher priority risk for Base Metals, with the acquisition of Olympic Dam. Our first step in addressing it has been to identify and appoint a new senior radiation officer who has developed a comprehensive risk control program.
