Rio Tinto Timmins reduces environmental footprint.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: MINING

At a time when environmental concerns rage, Rio Tinto Minerals' Timmins-area talc operations have reduced their consumption of electricity by 16 per cent and fossil fuel by 41 per cent in the last five years.

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This has led to an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 25 per cent. These efforts have not only helped to make the business more cost-effective in increasingly competitive times, but they have also contributed to bettering the community as the Timmins Chamber of Commerce recognizes. In April, the Chamber gave Rio Tinto the 2007 NOVA Environmental Award.

Operating under the Luzenac brand, these facilities include the company's Timmins-area talc mill and the nearby Penhorwood talc mine and concentrator facility. They have achieved these reduction targets, while maintaining its annual production levels of 55,000 tonnes of talc since kicking off the initiative in 2002.

"We're the second-biggest mining company in the world behind BHP Billiton, so we have some big commitments to meet," says David Vodusek, environmental manager, Rio Tinto Minerals.

"It's pretty high on our platform because we need to make sure that our product is as competitive in the market as can be for our customers, not to mention we have a shared responsibility to the environment."

Five years ago, the company committed to achieving and maintaining the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management, following Falconbridge Ltd. as the second Canadian mining operation to do so.

Pursuing this standard means a company must minimize the harmful effects its activities have on the environment, and must also continuously improve this performance.

To this end, Rio Tinto has identified various efficiencies in its Timmins-area facilities throughout the last five years.

This includes the installation of a new grinding mill in its Timmins plant. By crushing much of the talc at the original site rather than transporting it to another location for that purpose, the company reduces the number of trips necessary between the two locations and therefore, the amount of gas being used.

Other measures include swapping out old, oversized motors with more compact and efficient ones in various stages of processing, as well as seeking out environmentally-friendly alternatives to propane.

Although corporate intentions have pushed the project along, Vodusek credits Luzenac's 60...