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Water Stewardship

Water Stewardship

Securing a Critical Resource in a Changing Climate

Water isn’t just a resource, it’s a lifeline for people, industry and ecosystems. But across the globe, it’s under pressure.

Almost a billion people already live in high water-stress regions and climate change means this is increasing rapidly. Longer droughts, more erratic rainfall and depleting freshwater supplies are forcing communities, businesses and governments into harder choices about how water is used and shared.

For mining, responsible water management isn’t just an environmental challenge – it’s a make-or-break factor for long-term sustainability. Without responsible water stewardship, neither our operations nor the communities around us will thrive.

We don’t take water for granted. Our approach is built on action, investment and impact – grounded in real-world conditions. We recognize that climate risks, water risks and community needs are deeply connected and we are proactively working to ensure water security for our operations and our host communities alike.

Water Stewardship Sustainability Report 2024

Water use and access across operations

This image depicts a mining water management diagram showing the flow and usage of water in mining operations.

Management approach: Water stewardship

Governance and accountability

Our President and CEO is ultimately responsible for environmental management with our Group Sustainability Executive taking the lead in driving the implementation of our environmental policies, the associated procedures and overall performance - including water stewardship.
The Group Sustainability Executive is supported by regional-level environmental leads as well as dedicated site-level environmental teams who drive implementation at the operational level.

Policies and procedures

Our commitment to responsible water use is codified in our Environmental Policy and our standalone Water Policy. These documents commit us to:

  • Conserve and protect high quality water resources in areas where we operate;
  • Maintain basin-wide water balances that consider the availability of water resources, impacts from climate change, and the current and future water demands of our operational needs and the needs of other stakeholders;
  • Develop and implement site-wide water quality monitoring programs and management plans; and
  • Disclose our water use and management performance in line with the guidance and requirements of the ICMM Water reporting framework.

Each mine has its own site-specific water management plan, which takes into account the different water sources available, local climate conditions and the needs of local users and the mine.  We include water risks in each mine’s operational risk register. Risks are then rolled up and incorporated into the Group Risk Register. Our identified water-related risks include:

  • Managing excess water in regions with high rainfall;
  • Maintaining access to water in arid areas and regions prone to water scarcity; and
  • Regulatory risks related to permitting limits as well as municipal and national regulations for water use.

Each month, every site reports on their water use to our Regional Sustainability Leads and the Group Sustainability Executive.

We also track how much water we recycle and reuse because it helps us to understand all the water that goes in and out of our sites. Ultimately, this enables us to identify ways we can withdraw less from external sources. We also incorporate the data into our scenario planning.

Exposure to water risk

Our assessment of water risks uses tools such as the WWF Water Risk Filter to determine the potential impacts of each operation on their water catchment, as well as the potential risks to the business at an operational level.  The assessment also integrates each site’s water data including: 

  • Source of supply;
  • Withdrawals and discharge;
  • Consumption and entrainment;
  • Rainfall and evaporation.

This assessment enables us to better understand and then manage the water risks faced by each site.   

For example, our Jabal Sayid mine in Saudi Arabia is in an area of water scarcity; however, the mine receives water from a third party supply from a wastewater facility that does not have an impact on catchment water stress, and is not seen to operate under stress or water risk.  Despite this, our site-specific management plans take particular care to account for reduced freshwater supply for local communities and ecosystems, including Jabal Sayid and other operations in regions identified as water scarce or vulnerable to water scarcity.  At these sites, we aim to use low-quality water wherever practicable, and we prioritise the reuse and recycling of water in our processes.

We also regard regions of water abundance and high rainfall, such as Kibali in the DRC, and Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, as water stressed.  This is due to the sheer volume of water these sites and regions have to manage as a result of heavy rains and run-off. These mines have to either divert this water or temporarily store it as clean water to discharge back into the environment.

Key targets and metrics

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