SRK experts to share insights at SAIMM’s upcoming ESG conference
SRK Consulting will be an active participant at the upcoming Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) conference on pressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in mining in Africa.
The event, featuring plenary and parallel sessions, will focus on ‘ESG in the minerals industry: challenges and opportunities’. It will take place on 16 and 17 October 2024 at Glenburn Lodge and Spa in Muldersdrift near Johannesburg. SRK Consulting will be contributing several presentations – on topics ranging from water stewardship, climate change and air emissions, to tailings facilities, mineral reporting codes and the use of remote sensing technologies to track changes in pollutant concentrations.
ESG conference
“ESG is an evolving and vital field that has relevance in every aspect of mining today, and in which SRK has developed a depth of expertise over decades,” said SRK Consulting managing director Andrew van Zyl. “Celebrating our 50 th year in 2024, we have long supported the SAIMM’s valuable role in building professional skills and insights in mining, and look forward to another opportunity to share our insights and learn from others.”
The plenary session on the first day of the conference will include an address by SRK principal environmental geologist Lindsay Shand on ‘Unpacking the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) water stewardship maturity framework’.
The first parallel session on environmental matters will feature two speakers from SRK. Managingdirector Andrew van Zyl will provide the keynote address for this session, discussing the impact of climate change in the mining industry. Principal civil engineer Justin Walls will talk on incorporating mine closure into tailings storage facility (TSF) design in a paper entitled ‘Back to the future: reverse engineering TSFs for the end land use’.
Also contributing to the environmental session, SRK chairman Vis Reddy will draw on work undertaken by SRK in air quality offsets, in his presentation on ‘Opportunities to improve the wellbeing of the most affected communities by reducing emissions from sources other than mining and industry’.
In the parallel session on governance on the conference’s second day, SRK principal engineer Andy McDonald will present a talk on integrating ESG into the South African Mineral Reporting Codes (SAMCODES). The sustainability session on the second day will also feature a talk by SRK senior geophysicist Wesley Harrison, entitled ‘Harnessing multispectral data for sustainable mining: Advancing ESG objectives while navigating limitations and exploits’.
The conference is validated by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and the South African Council for National Scientific Professionals (SACNASP) so delegates can be credited with continuous professional development (CPD) points.
