ARCADIS helps improve mining's public image through our own commitment to sustainable development. Like the mining and metals industry, ARCADIS is committed to integrating sustainability into every aspect of our business. Sustainable development is a core element of our business strategy - we recognize that every project is directly linked to the global environment. Our corporate plan contains policies and objectives that govern how we conduct our day-to-day business, and how we design our client's restoration programs. We understand the mining industry's commitment to sustainable development, and will take full responsibility to support this commitment.
Sustainability today requires that we manage public lands in a way that contributes to the environmental sustainability of open areas and the economic sustainability of rural communities. In practical terms, this means that ARCADIS designs reclamation programs to:
- Neutralize acid rock drainage to protect surfaces water quality at the mine site and downstream
- Modify pit lake chemistry to produce a chemically-stable environment now available for wildlife and/or recreational use
- Stabilize and revegetate heaps, tailing and waste dumps to make them available to wildlife and/or grazing
- In general, to repair impacted areas for use by future generations
Our commitment to sustainable development is also demonstrated by our dedication to research and innovation. Our mining clients strive to develop and improve environmentally responsible mining practices. We support our clients in this endeavor by developing new technologies to bring about mine closure in the most effective and efficient way possible, including in-situ treatment whenever possible. Our clients will benefit from using these technologies by avoiding further groundwater impacts, by using sustainable living processes, and by returning the materials impacted by mineral extraction to a form chemically similar to the state they were in prior to mining. This is sustainable mine closure.
