The Arlit mines: Assessing sustainability issues of mining

Assessing the sustainability of mining industry – Application to the Arlit uranium mines (Niger)

Among the issues of sustainability that we can mention regarding mineral extraction, we can quote the following, to name just a few:

• To what extend and for whom is it acceptable to trade environmental sustainability for economic development?

• According to the variety of minerals concerned and extraction methods, what are the associated health risks, and who are they handled?

Choosing shared and yet meaningful indicators is an essential task of sustainability assessment for the mining industry.

The objective of this investigation was to define strong indicators for assessing impacts and performances of mining sites. This task appears necessary to inform and support the decision-making process for stakeholders.  In recent years, however, many indicator sets have been developed on an international level based on top-down approaches.

The issue is that the indicators thus selected commonly lack legitimacy for stakeholders and adequacy to specific site issues. The consultation of local actors concerned by such mining activity help to define indicators that are closer to the needs and contexts of the specific sites, and that are understood and accepted by all actors.