A commitment too far? - World Risk Report

While operational mines usually have the necessary environmental and social approvals and permits, many struggle to keep on top of accompanying compliance obligations, which can number in the hundreds, even thousands, and be impracticable. This is important to rectify as industry incidents lead to more scrutiny and as regulator enforcement potencies increase – regulatory authorities are improving their tracking of compliance and are more inclined to take actions such as revoke permits and/or suspend operations with a history of non-compliance.

The compliance challenge is rooted in the planning stage of development when approval documentation is prepared and the government approval decisions are made. It can be exacerbated in the operational stage if the obligations are not recognised and conformance with these is not checked as part of the environmental and social management system...