Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: All it takes is awareness to change the course of our future. New Caledonia has experienced severe environmental damage from their mining industry. Nowadays, the old mining techniques are being replaced with the new ones, which ensures minimal impact to the environment.

     Policies and measures: New policies on mining emphasize the integration of environmental considerations in mining activities. Legislations on installing pollution abatement equipment are being enforced, along with re plantation of vegetation after mining is complete.

     Meeting information requirements: Technological discoveries that will help improve production capacity to not only be efficient economy wise, but also efficient in terms of pollution management is important for the sustainability of our future. This example demonstrates how New Caledonia has reversed the mining industry from an environmentally damaging industry to an environmental friendly industry.

Background:

      Sustainable mining activities from government policies on proper technology

      Finding the right balance between the rate of economic development and the effort for environmental conservation is very challenging, because in many cases, economic development is achieved at the cost of environmental destruction. However, in this particular example of the mining industry in New Caledonia, the government has demonstrated how the right balance could be achieved through effective policies and proper technologies.

      New Caledonia has the longest history of mining in the Pacific islands, with major mine sites for nickel, cobalt, iron, and chrome.

      Copper and nickel mining began in 1872 and 1874 and cobalt in 1876. At first, mines were small, with individuals gathering the rich minerals with pick and shovel. Convicts from the prison camps were used to expand mining activities. The first large mines began around the turn of the century in Bourail and Thio. By 1907 large scale chrome mines were developed in Baie du Prony, followed by still larger iron and nickel mines.

      Prospectors, in their search for ore, began by burning the vegetation away to give them better access to the countryside. The locomotives transporting the ore burned wood and sparks caused many fires along the tracks. The fires eventually caused such widespread environmental damage to the flora and fauna of southern New Caledonia that the impact is still evident. The prospectors built dirt roads everywhere on the mountain sides, first for prospecting and later for mining traffic. These roads still exist and are often used by four-wheel drive vehicles for recreation and access to remote regions.

      Nickel is strip mined in New Caledonia, and over 500 million tonnes of overlying material were stripped away to access the ore. In some areas the ore layer is thin, so the mines are very extensive, sometimes covering whole mountains. The average area cleared is about 20 hectares per million tons of ore produced. Five million tonnes of ore per year result in 25 million tonnes of tailings. The mines of Thio, for example, produced 20 million tonnes of ore and produced 100 million tons (40 million cubic meters) of tailing.

      When cyclones pass and heavy rains come, even very old sites slump and erode. The mud slides and eroded soils contaminate rivers and eventually end up in the coastal waters. Some fringing reefs and the lagoon have been degraded by this sediment. Dust from the trucks and machinery created a zone about 100 to 200 meters on either side of the roads where pastoral animals would not graze.

      There are 14 zones on the island, covering 19,430 ha, which are protected from prospecting or mining. Many of these sites contain important mineral resources, but they also have important vegetation or wildlife, act as wildlife corridors, and are valuable for tourism and science.

      The nickel factory adjacent to the city of Noumea discharges a continuous plume of back and red smoke. The smoke blankets the tourist centre when winds blow from the north-easterly quarter. In 1981, tests at Baie de Koutio where the nickel foundry effluent discharges, found elevated levels of nickel, arsenic and lead. They also showed phenol, hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide, PCB and pyraline. At the head of the bay, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates were elevated above ambient levels.

      Mining represents a vital part of New Caledonia's economy. In 1993, the industry exported US$387.47 million of nickel and chrome products and employed 1,953 people. But tourism is also a highly valuable industry, employing more people over a greater range of the social spectrum. The obvious degradation of the landscape and coastal areas plus the air pollution from the nickel plant, was a serious drawback to the development of tourism as well as a danger to the natural environment of the island

      The government is committed to correcting environmental problems associated with mining activities. Although regulations have been in effect for 15 years, mine inspectors and environmental impact assessments have only been required since 1992.

      New mining techniques were introduced to abate the environmental impact of the mines. Sedimentation barriers are now built to hold the mine overburdon. Attention is given to existing water catchment systems or primary vegetation. Mines must sculpt settlement basins and terraces to lessen or prevent sedimentation of the waterways and coastal areas. The policy also limits road building into the mine sites to a minimum, and orders the mining companies to maintain the surrounding vegetation as an organic buffer zone around the mines and roads. Prospecting is now done by satellite remote sensing and helicopter to eliminate the many small prospecting roads. After mining is complete, efforts must be made to revegetate the sites. This is, however, difficult as the soil often contains toxic levels of minerals.

      An inspection team, comprised of representatives from the government, private and public sectors perform regular monitoring on the mine activities to make sure their various pollution control systems are operational. The newer mines apparently cause far fewer problems than the older mines (RFO TV, August 1997).

      A new Nepoui-Kopeto mining center was opened in 1994 to increase production capacity, modernise the mining process. The centre will help develop pollution control capabilities on mining sites and the Doniambo plant. Daily average production is expected to be 2,300 tonnes, increasing present production by an order of magnitude.