Life of our operations and products

Our operations

The nature of our business means we need to make long term commitments to our operations, and to the people and lands that are impacted by our activities. This commitment also lasts long after a mine has produced its last tonne of ore, or a smelter has produced its last tonne of metal.

Mines and mineral processing plants can have dramatically positive effects on the communities, regions and countries where they are established, and so we make careful decisions throughout an operation's life in order to maximise those opportunities.

For each business opportunity that we assess, we follow the same, defined path of testing and screening. It can take ten to 20 years from initial exploration through project evaluation to reach the stage of investment approval and operation.

We choose to build mines and plants that will have a long life, and so we often have to stand by our decisions for decades. Mines and mineral processing plants are capital intensive operations, and so we also have to pursue activities that will deliver best value for our shareholders, as well as making a positive contribution to sustainable development.

We can only build our mines in places where natural forces have created good orebodies. This often means we have to overcome the challenges of remote, undeveloped locations and put significant infrastructure in place to get our minerals and metals to our customers. As well as the railways, mining camps and warehouses that we need to run our operations, we often build roads, ports, schools and hospitals that are of wider benefit to local people and national economies. We are looking at new, more efficient means of developing, mining and processing ore as part of our Mine of the Future^TM programme.

Finally, when an operation reaches the end of its life, we close it safely and rehabilitate the land, often restoring such natural biodiversity to the area that you would never know that a mine, smelter or refinery had once been there.

Our products

Our products help make modern life work. It is hard to imagine living a day without using metals or minerals like iron ore, copper, aluminium or coal in one of their numerous downstream uses.

Just as we take responsibility for our operations throughout their working lives and beyond, we also take a life cycle approach to product stewardship. We strive to understand and manage the health, safety and environmental implications of our products at every stage of their existence.

We focus on maximising the opportunities and minimising the threats that come from the use, production and disposal of all our products. We don't do this in isolation, but work closely with scientists, customers, suppliers, communities, regulators and NGOs to improve our collective understanding.

Our support of sound science and best practice in product stewardship enhances our reputation, and helps us become trusted as an industry leader.