Environment

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

We recognise the continued decline of global biodiversity, impacting the health and well-being of people and ecosystems, and presenting risks for economies, businesses and capital providers.

As stewards of the lands and waters upon which South32 operates, it is our responsibility to minimise our impacts to the natural environment.

Our Approach to Biodiversity Conservation outlines our commitments and management approach to addressing impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services, throughout the mining lifecycle.

WATER STEWARDSHIP

Water is a vital shared resource with high social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and economic value, and access to safe drinking water is an internationally recognised human right¹.

Water is also a critical input for our operations, where it is primarily used for processing, suppressing dust and managing tailings, as well as for sanitation and catering for our people.

Our Approach to Water Stewardship outlines our commitment to working towards sustainably managing water resources within our operations and addressing water-related risks and challenges in the catchments where we operate.

TAILINGS MANAGEMENT

The safe management of Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) is essential to protect our people, the environment and surrounding communities.

Our Approach to Tailings Management outlines our commitment to safe and responsible management throughout the lifecycle of the TSFs that we operate.

FY24 AT A GLANCE

• Recycled or reused 11.6% of total tailings produced. 
• Worked towards GISTM¹ alignment for our low to high consequence tailings storage facilities, building on the conformance achieved in 2023 for very high consequence facilities.
• Studied options to unlock value at our operations through tailings reprocessing and remining for mineral recovery, including for: 
  
  • Remining fine tailings at Australia Manganese 
  • Tailings reprocessing at Worsley Alumina, with a number of potential options being evaluated 
  • Reprocessing residual zinc, silver and lead from tailings dams at Cannington.

WASTE, CONTAMINATION AND AIR EMISSIONS

The safe management of waste, contamination risks and air emissions from our operations and projects is essential to operating responsibly and we are committed to minimising impacts to our people, communities and the environment.

FY24 AT A GLANCE

• Used artificial intelligence to improve manganese output and reduce waste at Australia Manganese.
• Continued our program of work to eliminate the use of PFAS¹ at our Australian operations.
• Participated in ICMM’s Innovation for Cleaner Safer Vehicles program, which includes a focus on minimising operational impacts of diesel exhausts.

CLOSURE

We are committed to closing our operating assets in a responsible manner that aligns with our purpose and meets our regulatory obligations and commitments to stakeholders. We prioritise effective closure planning from the early stages of development and throughout the lifecycle of our operations.

Our Approach to Closure outlines our commitments and management approach, including our approach to planning and provisioning, progressive rehabilitation, studies and preparative work, closure execution and outcome monitoring.

FY24 AT A GLANCE

• Continued closure engineering studies for our operations nearing closure within the next 10 years, specifically Cannington and Australia Manganese.
• Increased our closure-related engagement with communities and regulators at these operations.
• Developed a global progressive closure procedure to define key roles and accountabilities for implementing closure activities during an operation’s life-cycle.