We recognize that our mining operations are the first link in the supply chain to make thousands of items. By reducing the environmental footprint at each of our mines, we reduce the environmental cost to manufacture each of these items.
The mining process is designed to extract valuable metals from rocks efficiently. It involves finding, excavating, blasting, hauling, crushing, milling, and disposing of waste rock. Every mine around the world modifies parts of this process to suit the type of ore they seek using the resources and technologies available.
Mining, particularly mineral processing and transportation, uses large volumes of energy and water and produces greenhouse gases (GHG), dust, and other potential pollutants. At Fortuna, we set goals and targets to track our energy and water use in order to mine more responsibly, including:
- Minimize freshwater consumption and maximize water reuse
- Use less energy and renewable energy sources where possible
- Reduce GHG and dust emissions
- Monitor tailings according to regulations
- Protect and conserve plants and animals
- Close the mine according to the closure plan
We explain the details of our mining processes in our technical reports and report on our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint in our annual sustainability reports.