Modeling or dynamic simulation: a tool for environmental management in mining?*

Abstract

Abstract The buoyancy of the minerals market, due to price and demand continually rising, maintains an increased interest for investors in mining. However, it is a sector particularly facing many negative environmental impacts, technical and environmental conditions to which are added the meeting of financial and production goals. Nevertheless in lockstep together, risk management of these extractive activities on environment – in this age where the society’s level of awareness in ecological balance has evolved – continues to fuel discussions and interventions. Therefore, it becomes unavoidable to manage more effectively the environmental factors around mines. This study aims to propose the integration of environmental management (EM) tools based on dynamic simulation (DS) for mining. This research is structured in four main topics: (1) the dynamics of open-pits system, (2) the management of their environmental effects, (3) the EM tools at the disposal of managers and (4) the proposed EM by DS. The results show that the challenges are numerous and the volume of DS approaches in mining is constantly growing, even if only few are directed towards EM. Some approaches of DS in a few open-pits with the proven effectiveness, show a new opportunity to investigate.