Lindsay Shand, partner and principal environmental geologist at SRK Consulting Supplied by SRK Consulting
By Sharyn Macnamara
Lindsay Shand (LS), partner at SRK Consulting in South Africa, recently unpacked the ICMM Water Stewardship Maturity Framework at the SAIMM ESG in the Minerals Industry Conference in October 2024. In an exclusive interview with African Mining (AM), Shand discusses the significance of water stewardship in mining and how the new framework can assist miners in this important journey.
Water is essential to all industries – and ultimately the survival of the human race – accessibility to this precious resource, however, is a growing challenge the world over. Per the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO) 1 global sustainable water supply is estimated to be 4 200km3 annually, while in 2000, global water use stood at 3 950km3 and demand is forecasted to reach 6 900km3, exceeding available sustainable supply by 40%. Under a business-as-usual scenario, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has projected that global water demand for manufacturing industries will increase by 400% from 2000 to 2050 and to achieve Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID), water use efficiency must improve drastically.
Join us on a deep dive into water stewardship – a topic of conversation high on the agenda within the global mining ecosystem and growing in impact on the sustainability of the industry.
Water stewardship is achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process that includes both site- and catchment-based actions. Black Mountain Mine (Ref: https://vedanta-zincinternational.com/media/photo-gallery/black-mountain-mining/#lg=1&slide=11).
AM: Lindsay, within the global context of water usage generally, and considering the fact that Africa is a water scarce continent, together with the current drive by African governments to focus on the beneficiation of minerals into the future, where does mining in Africa stand when it comes to water accessibility, usage and the management thereof?
LS: The current publicly available data regarding the mining industry’s water usage globally, regionally and locally is limited. In a nutshell, what we do know is that in 2015, on average global mining made up closer to 1% of the total water used2. This must be considered within the context of the fact that in 2017, 16% of the world’s critical mineral mines were located in areas facing high to extremely high baseline water stress, forcasted to increase by 20% by 20503. Moreover, based on the results of the Impact of Metal Mining on Global Water Stress and Regional Carrying Capacities paper4, 70% of the 147 Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) basins/catchment areas assessed in the study accounted for less than 0.1% of the total water consumption by mining, with 26% of the basins assessed as limited to ‘low’ water stress over the year, not surpassing 10% of the basins’ available water use in total, while 2% of the assessed basins’ water consumption exceeded 100% of the regional water availability – referred to as regional environmental water requirement (EWR) threshold or ‘economic carrying capacity’ – mining significantly influences the carrying capacity of the corresponding basin (Ref. 4, percentages calculated off the map supplied). Although, the consumption of freshwater in mining accounts for only a small proportion of the total water use at global and even national scales, at regional and local scales mining may result in significant impacts on freshwater resources particularly when water consumption surpasses the carrying capacities and also considering EWRs. Management of water therefore has a significant impact on the environment and the communities that surround mining sites.
In addition – to navigate the additional complexities presented by climate change, which are increasing demand on shared water resources, together with the need for more equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene for all in Africa – developing water stewardship based solutions that cross-cut disciplines to balance operational efficiency with environmental responsibility through cutting-edge technology and collaborative approaches will be key on Africa’s mining journey into the future.
ICMM Water Stewardship Maturity Framework. Supplied by SRK Consulting
AM: What does the full scope of water stewardship entail?
LS: The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), launched in 2019, defines this responsible management of water across all industries as “the use of water that is – socially and culturally equitable, environmentally sustainable, and economically beneficial, achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process that includes both site and catchment-based actions”.
This can be achieved by:
- Water efficiency – reducing demand for freshwater and optimising water use;
- Water quality protection – minimising pollution discharge into natural environments;
- Stakeholder collaboration – involving communities, businesses and governments in decision-making;
- Monitoring and reporting – tracking water use and impacts to identify areas for improvement.
Although water stewardship is currently a voluntary exercise for businesses across industries – rather than something one is forced to do by law – it is a business imperative for future sustainability as it results in real benefits and value, which include:
- Maintaining sustainable water resources – using water in a way that is environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial;
- Drought preparedness – being better prepared for water shortages;
- Reduced business risk – minimising social, environmental, and economic impacts;
- Supply continuity – ensuring a reliable water supply for businesses into the future.
Water Stewardship requires an integrated understanding and management of the water complex. An example of this is the surface water and groundwater interaction of gaining or losing streams. Surface water resources are recharged by groundwater, for example a gaining stream is one way groundwater feeds a river as it seeps into the river. Conversely, losing streams from rivers contribute to groundwater – and this changes with seasons. These interactions, as well as the chemistry of the two systems, must be fully understood. Often, particularly with mining, the way we construct and manage our water systems can interfere with this natural process. For instance, tailings facilities – particularly those built without liners historically – can impact this balance resulting in a raised water table, which contributes to surface water. Water stewardship requires a better understanding of the catchment context, beyond the site boundary – communities also use and need that resource and the impacts can be negative and far-reaching, if usage is not managed correctly and the balance is not retained.
Mines currently have usage targets they are forced to adhere to within their permitted water use conditions with different criteria associated with water quality and quantities. Although these are monitored, mines do not always fully understand what is happening with the resource further downstream or how mine use will affect communities there. If one releases less water, perhaps other users will not have enough – and as much as it is a volume concern, it involves quality as well. Using a structured approach to water stewardship, as a tool, with the help of expert consultants can assist in providing a comprehensive view of water management and the importance of community involvement to sustainably manage the full ecosystem.
Water stewardship is the use of water that is socially and culturally equitable environmentally sustainable, and economically beneficial. Image Credit Kate Steyn
AM: You have been an advocate for water stewardship for over 20 years now. How has this concept evolved over the years?
LS: Before the AWS was launched, the food and beverage industry was the first to focus on water stewardship as a key factor affecting industry as assurance of resource was critical for production.
Historically, regulation played a big part in protecting water resources, particularly in the mining industry where water permits are required. Certainly 20 years ago, businesses were focused much more on just meeting requirements. South Africa has been a world leader in terms of good water legislation. Built off an historical base 20 years back, the South African regulators have always had a good understanding of local catchments, groundwater resources and water availability. There is therefore a good handle on water allocation in the country. However, within the context of climate change, growing African economies and greater demand on critical minerals, all stakeholders need to be responsible and not transfer this to authorities, particularly where baseline data is lacking and government resources are stretched. Although updates on water resources are done – are we being wise in just assuming that governments have it all in hand?
Now realising that water is a shared resource, top industrial players in the global markets are far more focused on maintaining good, credible resource management. Although there are still entities, including mines, that remain in a ‘regulation-focussed’ phase because they are already so heavily hit with so much legislation, many mines have evolved with the concept and now have additional departments with more specialised teams that focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) requirements, versus the safety departments that would have focussed on these issues years prior.
Currently the challenge is that although some mines understand their water management really well within the boundaries of their facility – their water balance, their water use, their discharge and more – their catchment context both upstream and downstream and the cumulative effects on the water resource are not yet fully understood.
Within the bigger picture, managing the water resource is complex and interconnected. There is a fine natural balance which must be maintained within the demands of a growing populace and industry expansion and although mines are well regulated in terms of abstraction of water, there is often a concentration of some chemical – brine or waste – often associated with reduction in usage, and even that, in itself, carries a different type of risk in terms of ground water or surface water resource chemistry. Brines and waste must be disposed of and controlled, to not impact an on-site water resource or another catchment, if disposal is undertaken further afield. Disciplines like Hydrodoly, Geohydrology or Geochemistry are all required within this management process and none of them live independently of one another. This is where the assistance and role of independent expert consultants has come into play more recently.
As water risks intensify and attention on the environmental impact of mining continues, enhanced government regulations and stakeholder consultation requirements have increased and there has been a growing impetus for mines to adopt a water stewardship approach to build resilience into the business, to attract investment and protect people and the environment. According to the 2025 EY Business Risks and Opportunities Study report released in October 2024, water stewardship is receiving a significant increase in scrutiny from investors.
The report notes that environmental stewardship, the license to operate and climate change are among the top 10 risks for mining and metals in 2025. Also, over the next eight months the areas of ESG to face the most scrutiny from investors in the mining and metals sector, per the report, will be waste management, climate change, water stewardship and nature/biodiversity.
Furthermore, increasingly, mining companies, investors and governments recognise water as a key risk to the expansion of the sector, with projects constrained by a lack of water, too much water or social opposition because of impacts to water accessibility. Issues associated with water and mining are set to intensify and many mining companies have set targets and are committed to driving water stewardship going forward, including transparent reporting and stakeholder disclosure.
There is now more pressure on mining houses to follow water stewardship standards from an investor perspective, to start being more responsible and to prove that they are meeting international standards, like the ICMM Water Stewardship Framework, GISTM standards or the consolidated mining standard currently under review. None of these standards are however prescribed. It is a voluntary process, but it certainly goes a long way to improving the image of mining organisations.
ESG is also becoming more entrenched in the early stage of all projects as potential resources get vetted, guided and downgraded. There are more external factors that currently play a part in determining whether these projects are in fact viable and if the resource is available at all. Water is one of those key factors.
Appropriate Water Stewardship throughout the life of an operation is of paramount importance. Image Credit Kate Steyn
AM: What does the ICMM Water Stewardship Framework involve and what are its objectives – how does it practically assist in guiding the Mining and Metals sector?
LS: To build context, it is important to understand the history of water stewardship to the point of the publishing of the ICMM Water Stewardship Maturity Framework in 2023. The ICMM Water Stewardship Framework in 2014 spoke to responsibly managing water, but without specific commitment.
This was followed by the ICMM Water Stewardship Position Statement in 2017, which spoke to the organisation’s strong position on water stewardship and management, and the fact that stewardship should cover all aspects of ESG responsibilities.
The publication of the AWS Standard in 2019 proved to be a game changer for all industries because it laid the foundation for the current conversation and put water stewardship on the agenda. It provided a questionnaire to guide operations covering more than 300 conditions of understanding an operation’s water context.
The ICMM Water Stewardship Framework links closely to the AWS standard with specific modifications for mining conditions. It includes high level principles for governance and strategy; understanding water context risks and opportunities; integration in business planning and decision-making; and performance and transparency, aiming to improve water management and reporting. The framework provides a practical and structured tool to understand water while highlighting the gaps in the management of an operation’s water and wastewater. It assists miners to unlock strategic opportunities, predict issues before they occur, reduce costs and improve water availability through collaboration, contributing to a more water-secure future.
Through this framework and guidance, it becomes clear that water stewardship is a critical part of any business strategy. It is in fact a key component to mitigating corporate water risk and facilitating business growth. The use of global best practice tools like the ICMM Water Stewardship Maturity Framework or the International Water Stewardship Standard from the AWS provides support to an organisation on its water stewardship journey.
References:
- https://www.unido.org/our-focus-safeguarding-environment-resource-efficient-and-low-carbon-industrial-production-industry-and-adaptation/water-stewardship (Date not available).
- 2019: usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/mining-water-use (2015): “During 2015, an estimated 4 000Mgal/d were withdrawn for mining, about 1% of total withdrawals. Groundwater was the source for 72% of total withdrawals for mining, and 65% of the groundwater withdrawn was saline. Of the surface-water withdrawn, 77% was freshwater.”
- 2024: https://www.wri.org/insights/critical-minerals-mining-water-impacts (2017), “The USGS’s Global Distribution of Selected Mines, Deposits and Districts of Critical Minerals data set (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/pp1802/), last updated in 2017, spans 116 countries. An analysis of data from USGS and WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (https://www.wri.org/data/aqueduct-water-risk-atlas) reveals that at least 16% of the global critical mineral mines, deposits and districts located on land are in areas facing high or extremely high baseline water stress. In these locations, at least 40% of the water supply is required each year to meet existing demand, meaning that there is high competition for water among agricultural, industrial and domestic users and sometimes not enough water left over to sustain important freshwater ecosystems. “Research also shows that water stress is rising (many areas of the world. Under a business-as-usual scenario, (https://www.wri.org/applications/aqueduct/water-risk-atlas/#/?advanced=false&basemap=hydro&indicator=1b4f2592-09fd-4ac4-afcd-5a0a9a63617b&lat=36.05237781527792&lng=-365.3515219688416&mapMode=analysis&month=1&opacity=0.5&ponderation=DEF&predefined=false&projection=absolute&scenario=business_as_usual&scope=future&timeScale=annual&year=2030&zoom=2) the percentage of today’s critical mineral locations that would be located in areas of high or extremely high water stress would increase to 20% by 2050. “Arid, low-water use and/or highly water-stressed countries with the most critical minerals sites include the United States, Australia, South Africa, India, China, Mongolia, Russia, Mexico, Chile and Namibia.”
- The Impact of Metal Mining on Global Water Stress and Regional Carrying Capacities – A GIS-Based Water Impact Assessment, by Simon Meißner, Resources, 10(12), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/resources10120120 (2021): The figure below presents “mean annual water stress in 147 GRDC-basins as a result of water consumption in mining. Water stress was determined by the proportion of the overall water consumed in mining within a basin in relation to basin-specific water availability. Water availability is defined as natural runoff minus EWR. Depending on the monthly proportion of available water consumed, mining results in intra-annually varying water stress levels. Water stress caused by mining is predominantly limited to ‘low’ water stress over the year in many of the catchments, not surpassing 10% of the basins’ available water used in total. In most cases, mining had only an insignificant influence on the basins’ overall water stress, accounting for less than 0.1% of the total water consumption. However, there were also exceptional cases where the environmental flow requirements were completely surpassed by the consumption of freshwater by the mining industry during the entire year. This was the case when water consumption exceeded 100% of the regional water availability (referred to as regional EWR threshold or ‘economic carrying capacity’), mining significantly influences the carrying capacity of the corresponding basin within the given monthly time period.”