Abstract:
Environmental awareness has encouraged the implementation of environmental
management systems (EMS) in many companies, including the mining industry.
Although the general consensus is that “it must be good for the environment”, many
companies are unsure whether it is worthwhile the effort to implement a creditworthy
EMS. This holds true, especially for mining operations, under much pressure from
green lobbyists and increasing strict legislation.
Rather than to blindly integrate an EMS into an existing management system or to
implement a new one, this project offers an academic insight into the problem, clarity
regarding some obstacles to implementation and available solutions for evaluating
an EMS. A practical model is proposed which Exxaro’s Matla coal mine can use to
justify their recent ISO 14001 integration, or to provide a decision framework for
considering such integration into the existing quality management systems (QMS) of
Exxaro’s remaining operations.
