The mining industry faces growing pressure from regulators, investors, downstream supply chains, and host communities to meet sustainability requirements — expectations that extend to their trusted consultants. During the exploration phase, early understanding of sustainability considerations enables risk-based decisions that benefits exploration planning, enhances financing opportunities, and supports long-term project development.
SRK implements a structured workflow to systematically integrate sustainability considerations into exploration-stage projects. At its core, the process builds on an understanding of each project’s unique environmental, social, and governance context to identify material issues and risks that inform decision-making.
In a recent province-wide prospectivity assessment, sustainability-linked ‘modifiers’ were used to inform the selection of prospective areas and to rank exploration targets. The sustainability modifiers included spatial features or landscape constraints that could influence the ability to explore or construct a possible future mining operation at the identified locations. Examples included areas where exploration or mining is legally prohibited, such as environmentally or culturally sensitive areas, and areas subject to specific land-use or access restrictions. The modifiers influenced decision-making by highlighting permitting-related risks to future mine development. In effect, the modifiers aimed to answer the question: “Can a future mine be built here?”
Once identified, the modifiers were sorted into priority categories based on the anticipated complexity associated with permitting future exploration or mining projects areas. The modifiers within each priority category were scored and integrated with geological information to build the overall prospectivity model. Site-specific analyses were then performed to validate the model outputs and interpret the findings. Jurisdictional legal requirements had a strong influence on the prioritisation and scoring of modifiers. For example, understanding why access to an area was restricted, or how site-specific management plans could affect project objectives, allowed scores to be refined to better reflect sustainability considerations in prospectivity.
Through effective collaboration between exploration geologists and sustainability professionals, the team delivered integrated insights into geological and sustainability-related complexities, enabling the client to identify, prioritise, and assess potential targets early in the process.
