Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

Although not involved in the original china clay mine, bridges to Eden were built through Rio Tinto's leading role in the now completed Global Mining Initiative. As part of this three-year programme, a Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project was set up to analyse the industry and recommend how it tackle sustainability in the future. The project was chaired by Richard Sandbrook, an Eden director. It was clear from this project that the two organizations had an overlap of agendas.

The most topographically obvious of overlaps is the theme of mine closure and rehabilitation. Having risen phoenix-like from the scar left by one of Cornwall's many exhausted china clay mines, Eden sits in its landscape like a shining beacon of an example of what can be done to a site once extraction has finished, in terms not only of land reclamation but also of socio-economic regeneration.

"All around Eden there is restoration work going on led by English Nature on the spoils of the china clay industry," explains Richard. "So it is the ideal place to showcase mine rehabilitation. With others in the area we can begin to show what is being done – at places as far from Cornwall as Richards Bay in South Africa and mines in Australia.

"The challenge is to break the mould where mining is seen as a negative. After all, the Eden project has helped revive the Cornish economy, why not try the same elsewhere?

"This partnership will not be a PR stunt – it is a serious attempt to get discussion going that we can not have all the products of mining yet always condemn the miner. The best in class are trying to look after the biodiversity around their assets and to generate livelihoods for communities."



Although not involved in the original china clay mine, bridges to Eden were built through Rio Tinto's leading role in the now completed Global Mining Initiative. As part of this three-year programme, a Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project was set up to analyse the industry and recommend how it tackle sustainability in the future. The project was chaired by Richard Sandbrook, an Eden director. It was clear from this project that the two organizations had an overlap of agendas. The most topographically obvious of overlaps is the theme of mine closure and rehabilitation. Having risen phoenix-like from the scar left by one of Cornwall's many exhausted china clay mines, Eden sits in its landscape like a shining beacon of an example of what can be done to a site once extraction has finished, in terms not only of land reclamation but also of socio-economic regeneration. "All around Eden there is restoration work going on led by English Nature on the spoils of the china clay industry," explains Richard. "So it is the ideal place to showcase mine rehabilitation. With others in the area we can begin to show what is being done – at places as far from Cornwall as Richards Bay in South Africa and mines in Australia. "The challenge is to break the mould where mining is seen as a negative. After all, the Eden project has helped revive the Cornish economy, why not try the same elsewhere? "This partnership will not be a PR stunt – it is a serious attempt to get discussion going that we can not have all the products of mining yet always condemn the miner. The best in class are trying to look after the biodiversity around their assets and to generate livelihoods for communities."
PAGE 3 OF 8

Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer