2007 Sustainable Development Report

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
  • About Resolution Copper
  • Sustainable Development: An Explanation
  • Stakeholder Assurance Review
  • Message from the President | The Land Exchange
  • 2007 Achievements and Challenges
    • Achievements
    • Challenges
  • Resolution Project Profile
    • The Resolution Project
    • Project Status
    • How We Operate
    • Resolution Project Development Steps | Pre-feasibility Study Update
  • Business Profile
    • Sustainable Business Development
    • Project Planning
    • Employee Training
    • Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Systems
    • Support of SD Policies and Regulatory Compliance
    • Government Affairs
  • Sustainable Development Performance/Targets
    • 2007 Sustainable Development Scorecard
    • Resolution Copper: 2008 Sustainable Development Targets
  • Social Well-Being
    • Safety First
    • Saftey Programs
    • Workforce Profile
    • 2007 Workforce Demographics
    • Employee Survey
    • Community Data
    • Social Well-Being
    • Consulting with Stakeholders
    • Attitudes Toward the Mine: 2007 Copper Triangle Stakeholders Survey/Result Highlights
    • Environment Is Top Concern of Those Surveyed
    • Other Concerns and Complaints
    • Philanthropy and Community Investment
    • Community Engagement
    • Engaging with RCM Stakeholders - 2007
  • Economic Development
    • 2007 Highlights
    • Hiring Locally
    • Corporate Philanthropy
  • Environmental Stewardship
    • Care and Concern
    • Mining Approach
    • Graphic Overview of Block Caving
    • ISO 14001:2004 Certification Achieved
    • Rehabilitation Process
    • 2007 Environmental Incidents
    • Tailings Management
    • Water Management
    • MARRCO Railroad Endures
    • Environmental Impact Study
    • Environmental Partnerships/Environmental Highlights
    • Land Exchange of Critical Importance
  • Reader's Survey

Environmental Stewardship | Chapter Contents

Mining Approach

If developed, the RCM mine will be completely underground, with no open pits and therefore limited waste piles. The mine is expected to have an effect on less than 2,000 acres of the surface immediately above the mined area. (This is a far smaller area than the acreage we will rehabilitate at the historic Magma Mining site by filling in and rehabilitating an old pit with tailings.)

The site will be mined using a technique called block caving, which uses gravity to extract ore. Below the ore body a series of tunnels is developed to ensure that the rock in the ore body will fall by gravity to the bottom of the cave, into a series of collection points. Loaders then collect the ore and transport it to underground crushers. Crushed ore from the Resolution Copper mine will be transported in skips up a shaft, and at approximately 1,500 to 2,000 feet below the surface will be transferred onto a conveyor. The ore will be conveyed through a large tunnel some 12 miles to a surface processing plant. During the mining process we will use new technology, including robotics, that will remove some of the safety risks inherent in traditional mining operations.

Rather than conduct on-site smelting, the company will transport copper concentrates off-site for smelting and refining. As part of our pre-feasibility study, we are considering a number of areas already impacted by mining as potential sites for our processing facilities and tailings areas. By doing so, we can reduce environmental impacts and help reclaim, re-green and restore lands impacted by earlier mining to more beneficial uses.

We are also evaluating energy— and water— saving technologies and considering a variety of advanced clean energy sources, such as using geothermal energy from the deep underground mine itself.

View the pdf version here.