INDEPENDENCE GROUP NL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2018

MATERIALS STEWARDSHIP IGO's approach to materials stewardship has three elements: resource stewardship, process stewardship and product stewardship. Resource stewardship is the process of maximising the benefits derived from the resource over its entire lifetime while minimising or mitigating the resultant negative impacts. The obvious focus of resource stewardship in the mining context is ore recovery and the avoidance of activities that will likely result in the ‘sterilisation’ of ore (i.e. doing something that is likely to permanently render an ore source as sub-economic to mine). However, resource stewardship extends over a wide range of materials including the natural resources on the lands surrounding and controlled by mining companies, the topsoil and biomass cleared from a site prior to the commencement of mining, the management of the waste rock extracted during mining, and the management of other wastes including tailings. Resource stewardship is central to IGO’s day-to-day environmental management (see Figure 33). Process stewardship is the set of activities required to ensure that we maintain effective control over our mining-related activities to maximise socio-economic benefits while minimising or mitigating the negative impacts. It specifically includes the way in which we manage process inputs such as water, power and other process consumables. Product stewardship is the process by which the producer controls or seeks to influence how their product is used and ultimately disposed of. For mining companies like IGO, resource stewardship and process stewardship are directly within our control. In the case of product stewardship (as is true for most producers of gold, nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc and silver), while we have some control in determining who the initial buyers of our products are, we effectively have no control over the materials once they enter the myriad of global manufacturing supply chains. Notwithstanding this, in general, we understand how our products are used and we know that most of their resultant forms are recyclable. Although we cannot track the individual units of metal we produce, we can speak to global recycling statistics. Approximately 80% of the primary (not recycled) nickel consumed in the world was used in alloys such as stainless steel and approximately 6% goes into batteries (with the projected exponential growth in electric Responsible consumption and production Raw Material Extraction Refinery Manufacturing Use Mining Refining Manufacturing LIFE CYCLE OF METALS Air pollution e.g. Greenhouse gas emissions are generated during production of nickel, copper and gold. Land degradation e.g. Land clearing and erosion lead to degradation; potential for soil contamination; impacts on post-closure land use due to open pits and mine waste. Biodiversity loss e.g. Loss of species; degradation of landscape and ecosystems. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS RELATED TO METAL FLOWS Water pollution e.g. Large consumption in mining and production can impact groundwater and surface water resources; direct discharge of contaminated water; seepage from ponds, tailings dams, or mine wastes. 84 — IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2018 FIGURE 33

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