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Information gathering is still going on, ranking Group sites by hazard in order to target further more detailed assessment. During this stage, only innate hazards are covered, without take into account existing counter-measures and their effectiveness. When the full picture has been put together it will almost certainly show that stakeholders in the few Group mines that are prone to ARD, and the natural environments of those mines, are being well protected against the menace from acid rock drainage, while the additional information will help achieve further improvements in ARD prevention and management.

As Dave Richards sums it up: "ARD is a very complicated subject. In trying to explain it you have to be honest both about the potential risks and about the scale of the problem. But it must be kept in proportion. Under-reacting can be hugely costly, over-reacting can be very wasteful.

"In Rio Tinto we have some risk-prone sites, but also our ARD success stories. Our policy, and all the work we are doing on ARD, is designed to build on experience and give our decision makers the information they need to make choices for the future."

Chris Morrissey is a former chief geologist of the Group.



Information gathering is still going on, ranking Group sites by hazard in order to target further more detailed assessment. During this stage, only innate hazards are covered, without take into account existing counter-measures and their effectiveness. When the full picture has been put together it will almost certainly show that stakeholders in the few Group mines that are prone to ARD, and the natural environments of those mines, are being well protected against the menace from acid rock drainage, while the additional information will help achieve further improvements in ARD prevention and management. As Dave Richards sums it up: "ARD is a very complicated subject. In trying to explain it you have to be honest both about the potential risks and about the scale of the problem. But it must be kept in proportion. Under-reacting can be hugely costly, over-reacting can be very wasteful. "In Rio Tinto we have some risk-prone sites, but also our ARD success stories. Our policy, and all the work we are doing on ARD, is designed to build on experience and give our decision makers the information they need to make choices for the future." Chris Morrissey is a former chief geologist of the Group.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer