REGULATORS' WORKSHOP I

17:00

Meeting of Session Chairs

Room (Duxton 5 - Board room)

18:00

Welcome and cocktails

Room (Duxton 2)

Session 1:

Welcome and Objectives of Workshop

Chair: Ms. Kathryn Tayles
Senior Consultant, Mining, UNEP

8:15-8:45

Registration/ Coffee

8:45-9:00

Opening address

Senator the Hon Robert Hill
Minister for Environment and Heritage, Government of Australia

9:00-9:15

9:15-9:30

9:30-10:00

Objectives of the Workshop

Media questions

Participants’ self introductions and expectations of the Workshop

Dr. Fritz Balkau ( Introduction and Issues) 
Chief, Production and Consumption, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP

10:00-10:30

Keynote Address

• Accident prevention through regulations - some lessons from recent failures

Contributing factors from design to permitting, from operation to weather, from inspection to response. What could have been done to make a difference? The role of regulation in an operational perspective.

Prof. Josef Brauns
Member, UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission-Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare, Romania

10:30-11:00

Break

Session 2:

Role of regulation in effective environmental management - government, industry and community expectations

Chair: Mr. Malcolm Forbes
Assistant Secretary, Sustainable Industries Branch, Environment Australia

11:00-11:45

Regulators overviews - Perspectives

Objectives and expectations/ tools including EIA and Risk Assessment/differentiating high risk activities/interface between Ministries/ interface between regulation and voluntary Codes/appropriate monitoring/effective reporting regimes/enforcement/ proscription versus control in high risk situations/ issues and constraints facing governments

Perspective 1

Mr. Bill Biggs
Department of Minerals and Energy, Government of Western Australia

Perspective 2

Mr. Horacio Ramos
Director, Mines and Geosciences Bureau,Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources, Philippines

11:45-12:00

Industry perspective

An industry view of what constitutes effective and efficient regulation/ what companies are doing/ the respective roles of regulators and management/ specific issues in managing and regulating tailings and chemicals/ standards commensurate with risk/ drivers for company and industry proactivity

Dr. Ian Gould
Member, Minerals Council of Australia Environment Committee

12:00-12:15

An NGO perspective

Expectations of regulation/ strengths + weaknesses/ issues/ tailings and cyanide/ approach to risk/ community consultation in decision-making/ monitoring and reporting/ enforcement

Mr. Michael Rae
Program Leader- Resource Conservation, World Wide Fund For Nature

12:15-12:45

Discussion

Panel: Speakers from the Morning Sessions

Session  3:

Evolution in Regulation from Country Experiences

Chair: Mr. John Gammon
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Northern Development & Mines, Ontario, Canada

14:00-15:15

"Case Studies" on modification to regulatory procedures from countries with accident experiences/issues of relevance to all/insights gained/key changes in procedures/future directions

• Sweden

Mr. Richard Holmgren
Environmental Director, County Admin Board of Norrbotten

• Romania (Baia Mare)

Mr. Cornel Florea Gabrian
Senior Inspector, Environment Ministry

• Guyana

Mrs. Karen Livan  
Manager, Environment Division, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission

• Papua New Guinea

Mr. Firoz Patwa
Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines

Discussion of issues arising from Case Studies and other experiences

Comments from others with accident experiences

15:15-15:45

Break

15:45-17:00

New directions in environmental law and regulation of mining:

Panel Presentation and Discussion: drivers/directions/tools/ (eg in EIA & permits) /enforcement/liability issues/ transboundary law/ the interface of corporate systems and voluntary activities with law/practicality/transparency and public consultation/risk communication

Mr. Peter Briggs and Clayton Utz

Mr. John Allan
Newcrest Mining and Member, MCA Environment Committee

Mr. Steve Tatzenko  
Manager, Environmental Assessment and Policy, Department of Mines Energy, NT and Chair, ANZMEC Environmental Taskforce

17:00-17:30

Summing up and discussion

Chair

19:30 

Conference Dinner hosted by the Minerals Council of Australia

"Confessions of a Regulator – practical experiences, what worked, what did not" Mr. Hugh Jones

(Hugh Jones was formerly the General Manager, Environment, in the Western Australian Department of Minerals and Energy. He is now a Senior Consultant with Golder and Associates Pty Ltd)

Session  4:

Best Practice Environmental Management in Mining - tailings and chemicals management

Chair: Mr. Zulkifly Bin Abu Bakar
Director of Mines, East Zone Malaysia

8:45-10:15

National Directions for Regulation

• USA

Mr. Dave Gaskin
Division of Environmental Protection, State of Nevada, USA

• Ghana

Mr. Albert Boateng, 
Acting Director, Mining, EPA

• Canada

Mr. John Gammon

• Eastern Europe

Mr. Jerome Simpson,
Head, Information Programme, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe

Discussion

10:15-10:45

Break

10:45-12:30

Examples of Contemporary Approaches to Regulation

• Ireland

Mr. Ben Dhonau 
Senior Geologist, Exploration & Mining Division, Dept. of the Marine & Natural Resources

• Tanzania

Mr. Edwin Ngonyani
Ministry of Energy and Minerals

• New South Wales, Australia – Lake Cowal

Mr. Greg Unwins
Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales

• International Council on Minerals and the Environment – Tailings codes

Dr. Irwin Itzkovitch
Executive Vice President, Environmental Stewardship

• Voluntary Industry Code for Cyanide Management

Ms. Kathryn Tayles
Senior Consultant, Mining Review, UNEP

Discussion

12:30-13:30

Lunch

Session 5:

Cross-cutting issues

Chair : Bill Carr
General Manager, Land Access in the WA Department of Minerals and Energy and Chair, ANZMEC Land Access Task Force

13:30-14:30

• Reliance on expert advice – the role of consultants and proponents

• Mr. David Elias, GHD P/L

• Training/Skills of Regulators

• Dr. Thomson Sinkala (Part I ,  Part II )
  Southern African Centre for Training and Research on Environment, School of Mines, University of Zambia

• Driving the Safety and Accountability Culture: What can regulators do?

• Mr. Martin Knee
  General Manager, Mining Safety; Western Australian Department of Minerals and Energy & ANZMEC Mine Safety Working Group

• Awareness and preparedness for emergency response at the local level

• Dr. Fritz Balkau

Discussion

14:30-15:00

Break

Session 6

15:00-17:30

Strategic Options and Future Directions. Conclusions and Recommendations

• Discussion to be drawn from workshop discussions: possible focus on what regulators need/ issues/ follow up/ where to/future actions

Co- Chairs: Mr. Phillip Glyde and Dr. Fritz Balkau

Concluding remarks

• Australian Govt. wrap up

• UNEP wrap up