Nature Positive Role of the Mining and Metals Sector

Companies should also partner with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities to improve water stewardship and strive for water replenishment260 across landscapes. For example, they could collaboratively monitor water quality across water basins, establish systems to treat local wastewater and actively improve and secure access to water for people and livelihoods. Several companies have already implemented initiatives in support of these objectives, such as:261 –Barrick Gold entered into a partnership model with the Community Development Committee local to their Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to invest in a water distribution project to pump and purify water to a network of 40 water fountains in the local city of Durba. –Anglo American has partnered with Peruvian communities near its Quellaveco mine for over a decade to improve the quality and availability of water for more than 6,000 local farmers. –BHP partnered with over 20 organizations in the Fitzroy Basin in Australia as part of a participatory approach to comprehensively assess river health in the region. 3.3 Expand circularity and source responsibly Priority action 3 Expand circularity across the value chain, embrace standards and transparency, engage with suppliers and source responsibly, and collaborate with customers. Expand circularity across the value chain Companies can minimize the nature-related impacts of metals by investing in circularity and adopting new business models to reduce demand for newly mined raw materials. This includes investing in providing re- use, remanufacturing and recycling services at scale and collaborating across the value chain: –Invest in new technologies for reuse and remanufacturing, automated processes, and large-scale facilities to increase cost- competitiveness, including enhanced scrap treatment facilities to better manage the increased volume and diversity of scrap. –Develop improved waste collection and sorting systems in factories for process scrap and end-of-life (EOL) materials to increase process efficiency and enable higher- value recovery. –Collaborate with customers to co-design low- impact, longer-life, recyclable metals and define requirements for EOL material processing to reduce downcycling. –Establish alliances to ensure quality scrap and EOL materials, such as battery metals, are tracked and returned without contamination and available for reuse. For example, Teck Resources is reusing rubber from old haul truck tyres, adding it into asphalt while paving to improve performance wear and prevent cracking.262 Companies should also partner with environmental NGOs, local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities to improve water stewardship and strive for water replenishment across landscapes. Nature Positive: Role of the Mining and Metals Sector 40 Nature Positive: Role of the Mining and Metals Sector40