SUSTAINABILITY

AuruMar’s Environmental, Community, Safety & Health Policy.

Recognising the critical role of the oceans and the importance of implementing sound environmental, community engagement, safety and health practices, AuruMar is committed to managing these areas as an integral part of our business.

The environmental commitments and community relations standards and policies of our joint venture partners are used to guide our environmental management actions.

Click here for a copy of our Environmental, Community, Safety & Health Policy.

Impact assessments

Environmental and community requirements are addressed upfront during the process of securing licences to operate, by conducting the requisite impact assessments.

In New Zealand the following assessments were undertaken by independent specialists:

• Marine Ecological Assessment
• Assessment of Environmental Impacts
• Cultural Impact Assessments: aimed at identifying concerns, issues and values of local communities and identifying appropriate measures to avoid, remedy or mitigate, where practical, any adverse effects of the proposal.

Avoiding, minimising and mitigating our impacts

AuruMar applies the principles of integrated environmental management, using the mitigation hierarchy of first avoiding, then minimising and finally mitigating all significant impacts. An example of this approach is the careful assessment and management of potential sound impacts from equipment used to survey the seabed during prospecting.

Biodiversity and marine Protected Areas

Responsible stewardship of biodiversity is fundamental to AuruMar’s approach. This means respecting legally designated Protected Areas and World Heritage Sites, identifying key biodiversity areas and managing our impacts on biodiversity. Where overlap with designated and planned Protected Areas and Heritage Sites appears likely AuruMar will:

• Act in accordance with the defined Protected Area management plans,
• Consult with Protected Area sponsors and managers, local communities, and other key stakeholders, and
• Implement additional programmes, as appropriate.

Biodiversity impact management will be guided by the extensive biological research that has been conducted by De Beers in marine mining concessions off the southern African west coast. It has become standard practice in these concessions to conduct pre-mining baseline biodiversity surveys, as well as ongoing monitoring surveys to demonstrate post-mining recovery.

Stakeholder engagement
Consulting with communities and governments and implementing good environmental practice is fundamental to obtaining and retaining our licences to operate. AuruMar is committed to proactive engagement with stakeholders. This commitment has been demonstrated in operations in New Zealand in partnership with Seafield Resources Ltd.   Click here to download an information pamphlet	Community engagement in New Zealand