3.2 Improve water stewardshipPriority action 2 Avoid, then reduce, water abstraction in mining operations and improve water stewardship across landscapes. Alongside addressing the other nature impacts of mining operations, companies need to improve water stewardship across landscapes, reducing the sector’s impact on water availability and quality, as well as its dependency on water. To address local shared water challenges, companies should conduct site-level water audits and risk assessments with a catchment-based approach and establish strategies to sustainably and responsibly manage water supplies, prioritizing basins facing water stress. Company strategies should be supported by robust enterprise-level water targets, including minimum ecological thresholds for water use. For example, Rio Tinto publicly discloses site-by- site surface water allocation, annual water use and associated average catchment rainfall runoff for their operations.247 BHP have set asset-level context-based water targets for many of their operated assets. These are informed by BHP’s view of catchment-level water-related risks and the shared water challenges identified through the Water Resource Situational Analysis.248 Several resources and tools are available to support company risk assessment and target- setting, including: –World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Water Risk Filter249 –SBTN’s Freshwater Technical Guidance250 –WRI’s Toolbox for Setting Enterprise Water Targets251 –ICMM’s Water Stewardship: Position Statement252 and Water Stewardship Maturity Framework253 –MAC’s Towards Sustainable Mining: Water Stewardship Protocol254 In order to avoid and reduce water abstraction, use and pollution, and work towards achieving water- neutral operations, businesses can use a number of existing practices and technologies alongside harnessing innovation opportunities: –Adopt less water-intensive processes, including new methods for extraction (e.g. switching from lithium evaporation to direct lithium extraction to remove the need for evaporation ponds) and dust suppression (e.g. Bind-X uses a powder containing biological and nutrient components for dust control instead of water).255 –Upgrade manufacturing operations to reduce reliance on water, such as switching from water-cooled to air-cooled processes. –Innovate to develop minimal water or dry mining and processing techniques. For example, Metso has developed an elliptical motion screen that reduces water use by increasing throughput and efficiency in dry screening applications.256 FLSmidth is currently co-developing a dry stack tailings system that can be applied to larger tonnage mines.257 –Promote water circularity by establishing integrated water systems and closed-loop recycling systems at production sites. –Switch to alternative water sources, including harvesting rainwater, treating wastewater or replacing freshwater with non-freshwater sources (e.g. through reverse osmosis or desalinating seawater). For example, Antofagasta Minerals has converted to 100% seawater use at the Minera Centinela mine in Los Pelambres, Chile, by acquiring and operating a 144 km water pipeline. They have also recently signed a consortium contract with Almar Water Solutions and Transelec, representing a $1.5 billion investment to double the current water supply.258 When switching water sources, companies should conduct a risk assessment of other potential environmental impacts, such as the impact of seawater abstraction on marine life or of discharged processed water on groundwater salinity. –Sustainably manage natural water flow regimes by avoiding abstraction in periods when the water supply is low and developing solutions to store water in periods of surplus. –Deploy effective wastewater treatment by investing in new microbial technologies to remove toxins from wastewater,259 for example, creating artificial wetlands or recycling treated wastewater into mining operations. To avoid and reduce water abstraction, use and pollution, and work towards achieving water neutral operations, businesses can use a number of existing practices and technologies. Nature Positive: Role of the Mining and Metals Sector 39

Nature Positive Role of the Mining and Metals Sector