INTERNATIONAL JUNE 201158

Beneficiation First, Diamonds Can Come LaterMining giant Rio Tinto’s Bunder diamond project has yet to come on-stream, but its beneficiation programme has already begun to reach out to local communities in a big way.

n a region of India renowned for bringing ancient history alive, a distinctly modern structure is taking shape.

Rio Tinto’s newest diamond mining venture – the Bunder mine in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh – is delivering state-of-the-art technology to the country’s culturally historic heart: a place where medieval temples recall the art, architecture and lifestyles of historic

Hindu and Jain dynasties, where diverse tribal groups remain virtually untouched by mainstream development and daily activity is informed by age-old cultural traditions.

The $7 million sample processing plant installed at Bunder to progress the mine’s development plans is a testament to utilitarian technology and design and thoroughly modern mindsets: the fully modular plant requires no permanent structure, uses no chemicals, is designed

to reduce water consumption through recycling and water harvesting, and employs sophisticated noise and dust controls to further minimise environmental impact.

With the government of Madhya Pradesh recently signalling its commitment to seeing the mine fully developed, and early sampling producing encouraging results, all indicators are that this project will continue to expand and

MINING

Stefanie Loader

turn Madhya Pradesh into one of the top 10 diamond producing regions in the world in terms of volume and value.

And, while the presence of an ultra high-tech mine in one of the most economically and underdeveloped regions in India might seem like a strange anomaly, Bunder project director Stefanie Loader says local communities are already beginning to see the enormous benefits India’s first world-class mine might bring to their lives.

“The Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh where the mine is located is very disadvantaged,” she explains.

“The population has very limited access to health, education and communication services, child malnutrition rates are high, illiteracy rates are high and the largely infertile land they rely on is often subject to drought.

“Even though we’re still in the testing stages, and further exploration and approvals are required before the mine can move ahead, we’ve been doing a lot of consultation with local communities to work out how this significant asset in their midst might be used to improve their lives.

“Local employment is obviously an immediate benefit – at the end of 2010, the project already employed 400 people, of whom at least 65% were from the local region – but we’re also looking at much broader scale capacity-building within communities, initially focusing on the needs of women and children.

“From the early days of the project we’ve had community relations staff on the ground, collecting information about local needs and circumstances and building constructive relationships with local communities. That’s a very important aspect of our work here.”

To progress these efforts, Rio Tinto signed a Memorandum of Understanding with children’s aid organisation UNICEF in 2008, supporting initiatives that empower local women to improve their future prospects and those of their families.

Workshops have been held with women from local villages to discuss a range of topics associated with health, nutrition, childcare and employment, including how flexible employment arrangements can help to make Rio Tinto a key driver of women’s employment in the region.

Already things are moving forward – quite literally – with a group of local women recently becoming the first graduates of Rio Tinto’s driver training programme. As well as learning how to handle a vehicle, the programme teaches the women about the mechanics of a car, basic repairs and the like.

According to Bunder’s community

Sample processing plant at Bunder.

relations advisor Santosh Pathak, much greater progress is possible on the social development front when Rio Tinto partners with credible organisations, like UNICEF, that are already working in the field.

“While our community relations team has done a great job in building community data and determining the scope of the assistance required, it’s the local partnerships that help provide the quantum leap needed in delivering change,” he explains.

“We’ve also recently worked with another local capacity-building group, Gramodyog Sansthan, to help educate

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Local communities are already beginning to see the enormous benefits India’s first world-class mine might bring to their lives. The Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh where the mine is located is very disadvantaged.

INTERNATIONAL JUNE 201160

Bunder mine fast factsnRio Tinto has been exploring for diamonds and other minerals in India since

1996 and first discovered diamonds in the Bundhelkhand region of Madhya

Pradesh in 2004.

nA prospecting licence was granted in 2006 and the company has since

applied for a mining lease and installed a sample processing plant to

evaluate drilling results. An order of magnitude study has revealed that

Bunder is the largest hard-rock diamond discovery in India to date.

nThe defined resource has been deemed suitable for conventional open pit

mining and diamond processing technology. Detailed technical, social and

environmental impact studies are currently underway to determine the

mine’s best development options.

nRio Tinto is expecting to invest approximately $500 million in the mine,

which is anticipated to produce 27.4 million carats of diamonds.

local communities about HIV/AIDS, sponsoring a travelling AIDS awareness show. The show was developed in consultation with local and national AIDS organisations and performed by locally trained theatre artists in public spaces.

“Street theatre can be a very powerful communication tool where literacy rates are low and we reached an audience

Workers in action at Bunder.

of approximately 12,000 people in 32 different locations.

“This was the first time we extended our community-building efforts beyond our core villages and it has provided a very good model for how we can effectively spread the word about other important local issues.”

Improving educational opportunities for young children in the region is another key priority, according to Santosh. When the local school in Dardonia – a village in a beautiful, remote valley deep in the forest of Madhya Pradesh – was set to close in 2008 because student numbers were inaccurately reported as being unsustainably low, Rio Tinto Diamonds stepped in to help. It effectively adopted the school as its own, providing a teacher and education aid to keep classes running while it negotiated with local and state education authorities for the school to be officially reinstated. It also took the opportunity to introduce activity-based learning into the school, an education development initiative operating under the auspices of its partnership with UNICEF.

Santosh said that saving the school – it was officially reopened in February this year – was a tough battle, but one worth fighting.

“Given that the only alternative for the school’s 30 or so students was to travel several hours by foot to the nearest primary school, this was an important

thing for us to do. How can these children share the benefits of what new industries like ours bring to the region if they don’t even have the most basic of schooling? They are our workforce of the future.”

Also mindful of the mine’s strong potential as a major local employer, the Bunder team recently produced an activity book for local children that helps explain the new and unfamiliar activities taking shape in their neighbourhood. Containing dot-to-dot drawings that reveal different aspects of the mining process in action – from earth-moving and rock-sorting to water testing and the monitoring of computer control systems – the booklet provides a child-friendly account of what modern diamond mines do, what they look like and what jobs they involve. More than 600 copies were given out at an annual Children’s Day Festival in November.

As director of the Bunder project, Stefanie Loader knows that the company’s efforts to build local capacity have hardly scratched the surface, but she is confident that significant gains will be made over time.

“I get very excited when I look at all the positive change that has occurred around Rio Tinto’s other diamond mines, especially for local communities,” she elaborates.

“Communities around the Murowa mine in Zimbabwe also live a traditional, subsistence lifestyle and have to battle drought, poverty and the country’s ravaging AIDS epidemic. In the relatively short time it has been operating at Murowa, Rio Tinto Diamonds has done a lot to help improve local agriculture and livestock yields, to improve local schools, build health clinics and encourage AIDS awareness and testing.

“At Diavik (Northwestern Territories, Canada) and Argyle (Kimberley region, Western Australia) there has been enormous investment in training, employment and business development opportunities for local indigenous people to help them improve their prospects long-term.

“We’re building on a pretty impressive track record.” n

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