Sustainable/responsible mining and ethical issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Abstract The modern world needs an ever-increasing amount and variety of metals and minerals to meet demands for energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, transport vehicles and the like. Despite the basic perception of mining being unsustainable, there has been a radical shift in thinking about mining and sustainable development in recent decades, led by the introduction of numerous guidelines, schemes and protocols to address specific issues and improve reporting and accountability by mines and mining companies – in simple terms, using certification-type schemes to justify a sustainable or responsible approach to mining based on more ethical underpinnings. This chapter presents a unique and concise synthesis of these complex issues and outlines how mining can be described as responsible, sustainable or perhaps ethical even – or not as the case may be.