Minerals Stewardship Programs

The Australian minerals industry is committed to the principles and practices of materials stewardship, founded on a shared responsibility of all participants in the product life cycle to mitigate the adverse environmental and social effects of products whilst enhancing societal value.

Materials stewardship is fundamental to sustainable development, and should provide a unifying approach to the development and implementation of policies directed at sustainable use of materials.

Given the global nature of the minerals industry, most stewardship initiatives are undertaken internationally, and on a commodity basis, so that the full life cycle of the minerals and associated materials can be appropriately considered. Here are some examples, by commodity, of the ongoing minerals stewardship initiatives.

For further information on any of these initiatives, please contact info@minerals.org.au

The IAI represents aluminium and alumina producers worldwide and its key objectives are to:

• Identify issues of relevance to the production, use and recycling of aluminium and promote appropriate research and other action concerning them.
• Encoure and assist continuous progress in the healthy, safe and environmentally sound production of aluminium.

The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit organisation representing over 80 member companies across the gold and diamond jewellery supply chain.

RJC Members are committed to promoting responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the industry from mine to retail. Their commitment aims to reinforce consumer and stakeholder confidence in diamond and gold jewellery products.

The Council has developed the RJC System, a certification system – which will apply to all Members’ businesses that contribute to the diamond and gold jewellery supply chain. Under the RJC system, all Commercial Members of the RJC will be required to be audited by accredited, third party auditors to verify their conformance with the RJC’s Code of Practices

The Steel Stewardship Forum (the Forum) brings together all major sectors of the steel product life cycle. These sectors range from mining through to steel manufacturing, processing, product fabrication, use and re-use, and recycling. The key theme of the Forum is the shared responsibility of working together to optimise the steel product life cycle using sustainability principles including minimising the impact on society and the environment. The purpose of the Forum includes:

• maximising the value of steel to society whilst minimising negative commercial, social and environmental impacts across the life cycle; and
• working as a hub linking information, knowledge, leading practice and activity in the areas of environmental improvement and sustainability across the steel life cycle.

The Nickel Institute (NI) is a nonprofit organization that represents the interests of companies which produce more than 90% of the world’s annual nickel output. The NI promotes the production, use and re-use (through recycling) of nickel in a socially and environmental responsible manner by:

• Promoting sustainable production and usage
• Advocating and developing sound science
• Developing partnerships through the value chain
• Proactively engaging with stakeholders
• Maintaining transparency and integrity in all our business relationships

Working to earn the trust of our stakeholders

The World Nuclear Association is the global private-sector organization that seeks to promote the peaceful worldwide use of nuclear power as a sustainable energy resource for the coming centuries. Specifically, the WNA is concerned with nuclear power generation and all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including mining, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, plant manufacture, transport, and the safe disposition of spent fuel.Stewardship involves the care and management of a commodity through its entire life cycle. For a mineral, this cycle generally encompasses exploration, mining, processing, refining, fabricating, use, recovery, recycling and disposal.

Uranium stewardship can be defined as a shared programme of action to enable uranium products to be produced, used and disposed of in a safe, sustainable and acceptable manner. This means that the full life cycle of uranium, from cradle-to-grave, is key to establishing leading industry practice in such sectors of uranium mining as health, safety and the environment. The social aspects such as promoting minimal waste and encouraging recycling are also areas of attention under Uranium Stewardship.

• first proposed as a group within Uranium Industry Framework in November 2005 and the formal establishment of such an industry group was the first recommendation of that group's report in August 2006
• established by World Nuclear Association following discussions in April 2006, formalised as a WG in September 2006
• established within Australian Uranium Association in October 2006, when that association was formed.

Stewardship involves the care and management of a commodity through its life cycle. Stewardship needs to be an integrated program of actions aimed at ensuring that all materials, processes, goods and services are managed throughout the life cycle in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.