Managing land
Key factors to be considered in the management of land include legal approvals, land clearing, rehabilitation, ecosystem management, indigenous title, cultural liaison, community co-management and negotiated compensation.
Our land management objectives include the desire to manage land in a sustainable manner in consultation with local communities from exploration through planning, construction, operation and closure by:
- ensuring minimum impact on peoples' access to land;
- where possible maintaining ecosystem functions and services, and biodiversity values;
- maintaining cultural connections and the social function of land;
- respecting land tenure; and
- planning for closure to create alternative, sustainable uses for land.
Related topics:
- Land use and rehabilitation data are collected each year;
- All Rio Tinto businesses have closure management plans that are regularly reviewed and updated and take into account the social and environmental aspects of closure;
- Rio Tinto is working with external partners to implement the biodiversity strategy and improve our understanding of key biodiversity issues such as Ecosystem Services, offsets and biodiversity performance measurement;
- To assist in earning indigenous peoples' trust and gaining endorsement for future mine development, we develop exploration and mining agreements with indigenous peoples where we operate on their lands; and
- Kennecott Land, a spin off of Kennecott Utah Copper in Salt Lake City, US, is developing excess land adjoining the Bingham Canyon mine for residential development.
How we use land
Rio Tinto's activities generally require the exclusive use of land, at least in the medium term, for mining, processing, smelting and associated infrastructure such as ports, railways and power stations. We refer to this as our footprint. Our footprint also includes land which have been rehabilitated (previously disturbed). While our aim is for progressive rehabilitation of disturbed areas, the extent to which this can be achieved will depend on the type of operation, mine planning constraints and land management practices.
Topics on land
Managing land use agreements
In many regions in the world, indigenous people have in a traditional sense owned and occupied lands for generations, generally for longer periods than the prevailing sovereign government. Under these circumstances it is appropriate, in addition to legislative requirements, that Rio Tinto negotiates a mining access agreement directly with the indigenous landowners.
These agreements recognise the rights and interests of indigenous landowners and seek an equitable distribution of benefits between Rio Tinto, indigenous peoples and government.
The agreements set out to produce constructive, mutually beneficial relationships between Rio Tinto and host indigenous communities. The process adopted by Diavik Diamond Mines in obtaining project approval is a good example of this approach.
www.diavik.com
Kennecott Land development
Kennecott Utah Copper is the largest owner of undeveloped land in the Salt Lake City area of Utah, home of the Bingham Canyon mine and smelter complex. Kennecott Land has been formed to develop about 16,000 hectares of the 37,200 hectares owned. The initial 1,800 hectare Daybreak project site lies in the path of expanding residential areas in the city of South Jordan, where Kennecott Land has the right to build almost 14,000 residential units for about 30,000 people. Kennecott Land will manage the overall plan for the area, build the roads, utility connections and amenities such as parks, and sell the land to builders who will construct the houses. Building started in 2004.
In mid-June 2004 Kennecott Land offered up Daybreak to the public for their first view of the largest model home village in the US with 23 different homes, each offering a wide range of options to meet the needs of many different kinds of residents. More than 1,500 people are now living in the Daybreak community. Kennecott Land has already started planning further communities in the Salt Lake Valley, based on the Daybreak model of quality, liveability, water conservation and energy efficiency.
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