Cominco earns rep as stalwart

Environmental stewardship and mining are often portrayed as being mutually exclusive, though Cominco (CLT-) is demonstrating that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Since 1995, the Canadian miner has reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from its Canadian operations to 31.3% below 1989 levels. Moreover, its ratio of GHG emissions to metal and concentrate produced has been reduced by 29% since the base year.

The environmental initiative represents Cominco’s commitment to Canada’s Voluntary Challenge Registry program. As the name implies, the program encourages participants from across the nation — be they private or public interests, regardless of industry — to curb their emissions.

Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Canada must reduce GHG emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2010. The mining industry accounts for more than 1% of such emissions, and of those, more than half are a result of refining iron ore.

Cominco’s particular success earned it the 1999 Leadership Award for the mining sector. In 1999, its Canadian operations emitted just over 0.4 tonne carbon dioxide per tonne of metal produced. (Carbon dioxide is the least heat-absorbent, but most voluminous, of the GHG emissions.)

In addition to reducing GHG emissions, Cominco’s Canadian operations are also discharging at least 73% less arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and zinc, and 53% less copper, than in 1988. The improvement represents a separate goal under Canada’s Accelerated Reduction and Elimination of Toxics program, which, like the Kyoto Protocol, calls for the voluntary reduction of toxic discharges to 50% of 1988 levels.

Cominco’s environmental efforts are not restricted to Canada. For instance, in Alaska, water discharge from its Red Dog zinc mine, the largest such mine in the world, is cleaner than streams nearby. Similarly, at the Cajamarquilla zinc refinery in Peru, discharged water is so clean that it is used by local farmers for irrigation.

Cominco is the world’s largest zinc miner, having cranked out 1.3 million tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate in 1999. It produces lesser quantities of lead, copper, molybdenum, silver and gold from its various operations.

Cominco’s Canadian operations include: the Trail and Highland Valley smelting and refining complexes in British Columbia; the Sullivan mine, also in B.C.; and the Polaris mine in Nunavut.

Highland Valley and Polaris are shared with Teck (TEK-T) and Rio Algom (ROM-T), though Cominco holds majority interests in both. This excludes Teck’s 49.96%-equity interest in the company.