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SQM Salar de Atacama audit release webinar cover slideBlog

SQM Salar de Atacama audit release webinar

15 September 2023By IRMA

On 7 September, the day after the release of the audit report of SQM’s Salar de Atacama lithium operation, IRMA hosted a webinar to discuss the significance of the report, and the IRMA Standard and process through which the operation was independently assessed. Joining the webinar was Javier Silva, SQM’s Sustainability and Community Relations Manager. In volunteering its operation for assessment and scoring IRMA 75, SQM submitted its practices to public transparency, providing information that all stakeholders can use to decide what’s going well, and what may require more attention, at the mine.

The 1 hour webinar, which is about 1/2 presentation and 1/2 Q&A, is available below in English and Español. The slides used in the webinar are available as well.

Español

English

For More Information:

IRMA audit page for the SQM Salar de Atacama lithium operation

IRMA’s Deep Sea Mining position

14 June 2022By IRMA

In April 2021, via our newsletter IRMA notified our followers of our position on deep sea mining. Because deep sea mining is increasingly a topic of conversation of late, we are republishing that statement here:

IRMA was not developed to assess the unique risks associated with deep-sea mining and cannot be used to describe best practice for this type of extraction. As such, and in light of the need for ongoing research, the current inability to audit impacts, and a risk that IRMA’s Standard could be inappropriately applied if used in the deep-sea context, IRMA does not allow its system (whether self-assessments or audits) to be used by companies involved in deep-sea mining exploration. We will continue to stay abreast of developments related to this topic, providing applicable expertise and our unique multi-stakeholder perspective, as appropriate.

NGOs

BC Mining Law Reform Issues Recommendations for Legal Reform

7 August 2019By IRMA

BC Mining Law Reform was created in May 2019 to push for certain changes in the BC mining regulatory landscape. The new reports offer 69 recommendations that range from broad policy updates to small changes in current legislation. They include the adoption of free, prior, and informed consent for indigenous communities affected by mining projects and major changes to BC’s mineral tenure system.

Waste Disposal and Management: BC Mining Law Reform recommends reducing the number of existing tailings dams; moving away from wet tailing impoundments; adopting the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) Standard for Responsible Mining for waste management; and banning disposal of wastes into lakes, rivers, or oceans.

Water Protection: BC Mining Law Reform recommends the adoption of the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining water management standards, including full consultation with communities and stakeholders on critical water-related issues, with third party independent reviews. The network also recommends the prohibition of mines likely to require perpetual water treatment unless able to meet exceptional criteria.

Read full article >

North America

B.C. needs to act quickly to prevent future mine-tailings disasters

14 March 2019By IRMA

Loretta Williams, chairwoman of First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining and Calvin Sandborn, QC, legal director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria call on Premier John Horgan to act now to protect the workers and communities below tailings dams.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press.

About five years ago, both B.C. and Brazil got dramatic warnings of the danger that tailings dams pose. In 2014, the Mount Polley mine dam collapsed, creating one of Canada’s most epic environmental disasters. Only 15 months later, a tailings dam in Mariana, Brazil, collapsed, wiping out a neighbourhood, killing 19 and poisoning a vast watershed. Fish literally leaped out of the river to flap on the banks, trying to escape lethal effluent.