Our environmental performance is built from a foundation of compliance with all environmental laws, regulations and voluntary commitments. We have a four tier categorisation for incidents (low, moderate, high and critical) which is based on the potential, rather than actual, harm to the environment resulting from an incident. High and critical incidents are treated as significant... examples of significant incidents.

Our aim is to ensure that all incidents, particularly significant incidents, are reported, addressed quickly and their occurrence reduced. In 2003, we also had a target to achieve zero significant spills.

The number of environment incidents increased by 20 per cent from 2002. The main increase was incidents classified as low and this is partly attributed to better awareness, capture and reporting of incidents. There was a 45 per cent decrease in the number of significant environment incidents.

By the end of 2003, 92 per cent of all environment incidents and 56 per cent of significant incidents had been resolved¹. Significant incidents have greater potential for harm and as a result, the actions required to prevent recurrence may take longer to implement. As part of our internal assurance process, businesses are required to report significant incidents and the status of actions to address them until they are resolved.

Environment incidents
	2002	2003	% change from 2002
Low	1,419	1,796	27%
Moderate	443	466	5%
High	27	16	-41%
Critical	2	0	-100%
Total	1,891	2,278	20%

2002 data, mainly for low incidents, have been updated from what was reported last year as a result of recommendations made during a data quality review.

Fines for infringement of environmental regulations involved four operations and totalled US$126,000 (2002: two operations and US$2,000). The majority of the fines (US$122,940) were paid by Kennecott Utah Copper and most of the amount related to previous notices of violation for dust and opacity dating back to 2000 and 2001 that were paid in 2003.

¹ This includes incidents that occurred during 2003 as well as incidents which occurred prior to 2003 but had not been resolved.