In environments as diverse as the jarrah forest and coastal heath in Australia, rain forest in Brazil and Africa, and open rangeland in the United States, Alcoa mines principally bauxite, coal and lignite: foundational building blocks for the creation of the aluminum-based products that help shape our lives.
Alcoa considers mineral extraction to be only temporary use of the land. Areas used for mining must be restored to a land use that is socially and ecologically sustainable. Future users of the land have the right to expect the same ground to provide as many options as possible for satisfying their own needs.
At Alcoa, when we speak of rehabilitation, we mean that the disturbed site will be returned to a form and productivity that conforms to a pre-determined land use plan. Rehabilitation implies that the site is returned to a stable condition that will not deteriorate substantially but will be consistent with the aesthetic, environmental, economic, and social values of the surrounding land.
This establishes the framework for Alcoa's mining operations and rehabilitation efforts, and opens the door for active collaboration with scientific institutions, local communities, non-government organizations, and government departments in pursuit of the world's best practice.
Case Studies
Texas - About 250 to 300 acres (100-120 hectares) of land are mined and rehabilitated each year at the Sandow Mine, which produces over six million tons of lignite coal annually for the generating station that provides power to the aluminum smelting plant in Rockdale, Texas.
What was once highly eroded, unproductive land is now rich and fertile, with abundant wildlife, wetland areas, legumes, pastureland, native grasses and trees.
Since the early 1980s, Sandow Mine has planted nearly half a million trees of more than 30 different species. Regulatory agencies have determined that Alcoa's re-vegetation program has resulted in more productive land that is more densely populated by wildlife than before mining occurred. In 1998, the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining confirmed by designating Sandow Mine as the "Best of the Best" of all surface mining operations in the United States for excellence in mining reclamation.
Australia - Alcoa and Western Australia's Department of Conservation and Land Management have pioneered the bauxite mine site rehabilitation program in Western Australia. This has required intensive research and development work to suit the specific soil and climatic conditions in the area, and to protect healthy jarrah forest against the dieback fungus, Phytophthora cinnamomi.
The objective for this program is to re-establish a jarrah forest ecosystem after bauxite mining. More than 80 percent of floral species, including all the dominant tree species, are being successfully re-established. Native insects rapidly recolonize the rehabilitated areas, which as they mature become increasingly used by animals and birds.
For example, one of Western Australia's rarest animals, the Noisy Scrub-bird, was introduced by the State Department of Conservation and Land Management in 1997 into bushland at Alcoa's Willowdale minesite. It is in an area where it was first discovered 150 years ago. The species disappeared soon after European settlement and was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery about 40 years ago near Albany in the State's south.
Brazil - Alcoa voluntarily launched its pioneering rehabilitation efforts in Brazil at its bauxite mines in Pocos de Caldas in 1978, before any legal obligations or regulations came to bear.
In July 1998 Alcoa's Pocos de Caldas became the first Alcoa location in the Western Hemisphere to be certified as conforming to Environmental Management System Standard ISO 140001.
Today the rehabilitated mine areas in Pocos de Caldas are part of the training and education program conducted for area schoolchildren. Just about every child in the city school system visits the ecological teaching center every two years. Alcoa built the Environmental Study and Research Center, known as CEPA-Alcoa, on the outskirts of Pocos de Caldas.
CEPA-Alcoa covers 40 acres (16 hectares) of forest and has three log buildings for ecology classes and three nature trails. More than 40,000 students and teachers have studied there since it opened in 1993.
Indiana - Land rehabilitation efforts are all but complete at Squaw Creek Coal Company, a joint venture between Peabody Coal and Alcoa that for more than three decades produced coal for the Warrick, Indiana, power plant.
Mining teams have restored 2,000 acres (810 hectares) of land, moving 2.5 million cubic yards (1.9 million cubic metres) of topsoil and grading 1.2 million cubic yards (915,000 cubic metres) of earth back to its original contours. The crews revegetated more than 1,900 acres (770 hectares), planting half a million hardwood trees, 400 acres (160 hectares) of prairie grasses, and fields of wildflowers. An outstanding wildlife habitat is in place, with the original system of country roads restored and improved.
Deeper knowledge; higher standards
Alcoa's Mine Rehabilitation Standards project is establishing target conditions for each of Alcoa's 13 mining sites around the world, in climates that range from Equatorial to Temperate. Total land area under Alcoa's care at these minesites is about 54,000 acres (21,850 hectares) of mined ground, of which 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) have been rehabilitated.
The rehabilitation quality was rated good to excellent at 89 percent of the mine sites - nine bauxite, three coal and one dolomite. None failed the performance ratings.
Alcoa has also joined the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project, an independent two-year effort bringing together the 30 largest mining companies in the world to understand how the mining and minerals sector can contribute to the global transition to sustainable development.
The United Nations has recognized Alcoa's commitment to best-practice mining and rehabilitation standards and inscribed the company as a laureate of the United Nations Environment Program's Global 500 Roll of Honor. Alcoa is the only mining company in the world to have achieved this honor.
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Rangeland Reclamation
Since 1980, Alcoa Rockdale Operations has reclaimed nearly 5,000 acres of land.
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Sandow Mine
The Alcoa Sandow Mine near Rockdale, Texas is nationally recognized for its commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, and land reclamation.
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Department of Conservation and Land Management-Western Australia
Learn more about this government organization's work in conservation.
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Alcoa Brazil
Alcoa has a significant presence in Brazil. (This site is in Portuguese only.)
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Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD)
The MMSD final report, Breaking New Ground: Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development, is now available for download.
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United Nation's Global 500
This roll of honor recognizes the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world.
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