Jale Şakiyan Ateş

Upon my internship at the General Directorate of the Turkey State Hydraulic Works (DSI), I realised the importance of groundwater reservoirs as a reliable freshwater source for all means of life.  However, as you know, its consumption keeps increasing and sustainable management of groundwater resources is becoming more and more crucial every day. With this in mind, I decided to expand my geological engineering profession in the area of hydrogeology so that I could focus on the mutual relationship between groundwater and society. During my M.Sc. study, I gained enough experience on hydrogeology, water quality, groundwater modelling, and established sustainable development and management policies for the Küçük Menderes River Basin Aquifer System in western Turkey.

Upon completion of my masters’ degree, SRK Consulting was in the process of opening a branch in Turkey. They offered me a job. Given their global knowledge and expertise in mining, environment, and water management, I wanted to be a part of their team. While working at SRK Turkey, I had a chance to contribute as a team member on environmental impact assessments and baseline studies for numerous mining projects. I was given the opportunity to learn about and develop my skills on environmental impact assessment (EIA). To me, EIA goes well beyond acquiring a permit: it is a great decision-making and planning process spanning through an entire life cycle of a mining project. I learned a lot from my consulting experience, as we were a small team where everyone was involved in all tasks. We worked well together and often collaborated with multidisciplinary technical experts.

My current employment is with Eldorado Gold Tüprag since 2007. I am in charge of managing environmental and cumulative impact assessments, mine waste management plans, closure plans, as well as the implementation of management and monitoring requirements. I am fortunate to be working with colleagues with high technical knowledge, skills, and expertise on all aspects of mining. We worked effectively together, share, and learn from each other, that is—as you can imagine—very crucial for successful outcomes. My colleagues’ continued support is the one thing I can always count on to continuously improve.

Complexity of environmental challenges is globally increasing. To be successful in this field in the long run, I felt like the next right step for me was to further increase my knowledge of environmental science. For that matter, I enrolled in the PhD programme at Hacettepe University’s Environmental Engineering department in 2018 and am planning to be done with my studies by next year.

It’s a known fact that sustainability has been an increasing issue over the last two decades. There has been a growing awareness about this matter, both in public and among the mining companies. The sustainable development concept can be applied to most aspects of mining, so quite a number of mining companies have integrated sustainability into their business strategies.

Early EIA process emphasis was on both the physical and biological environments, such as air, water, soil, land use, or flora fauna, which could easily be evaluated by scientific and technical methods. Over the years, the notion of sustainability required more commitment and drew attention to health, social, and economic aspects of mining projects. Therefore, the focus has shifted to the inclusion of all stakeholders of the project in the EIA process. Emphasis on the importance of public disclosure and effectiveness of the EIA has led to the emergence of new branches of environmental impact assessment, such as social, cumulative, ecological network, and biodiversity-inclusive impact assessments, and mine waste management and risk assessment, just to mention a few. The EIA process has been adopted as best practice by development banks, and also by mining companies that are willing to comply with best practices to create a favorable net impact from mining development.

In addition to changes in the EIA process, the mining sector is increasingly adopting and implementing global sustainability standards and management systems to address sustainable development issues and to demonstrate their commitment to best safety, environmental, and social practices. The stakeholders have been asking for an assurance that environmental commitments are met. In the past two decades, mining companies have responded to that concern by presenting their performance on health and safety, environmental, and social issues through sustainability reporting standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that is widely adopted by the industry, as well as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) which Eldorado is now using.  Besides, internet and social media are the fastest and easiest way to get information in today’s society. This allows mining companies to inform a wide range of stakeholders about their sustainability performance.

Considerable advances have been made in mining and environmental technologies over the past decades. In conjunction with best-available techniques, control of mining waste management and emissions have improved significantly. It’s a fact that integration of the environmental management system as an element of operations further decreases the potential environmental impact, and the “design for closure” approach can minimize emissions to the environment as low as possible with modern technology. Besides, the best techniques available for today may not be so in the future. For this reason, there is a need for continuous development to improve existing practices and techniques. The mining industry is willing to cooperate in research together with governments and academia to address issues of common interest.

It’s a known fact that mining is as old as human civilization, and the mining industry is simply producing minerals and metals to satisfy society’s demands. Unfortunately, only few people realise the importance of mining for the social and economic development of many countries around the world. In this context:

“What do we want to sustain?”

I really like this question. Let’s keep in mind that sustainable development goals not only cover environmental preservation and resource use, but also improve the development of human lives and reduce inequality through economic growth. Minerals and metals are vital for modern living. On the other hand, world population constantly increases, living standards are raised, and the technology advances so fast. For these reasons, worldwide mineral and metal demand will increase.

There is a strong link between sustainable development and climate change. Scientists call for urgent actions to fight against climate change. To combat climate change, there are net-zero carbon emission commitments by companies and countries that bring increasing renewable energy demand. Besides, people want to use green vehicles and car companies’ productions will switch to only electric and hybrid vehicles by 2030 to 2050. Additionally, modern technologies like mobile devices are becoming more and more metal-intense. We need to understand and accept that we cannot have wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and mobile devices without minerals and metals. I believe renewable energy and mining industries will be great partners as mining companies will also rely more on renewable energy to become green.

The combined forces of mining and renewable energy industries can create a negative feedback mechanism that can reduce carbon emissions and slow down global warming. So, any sustainable future from climate change and reduced carbon emissions points of view relies highly on the mining industry.

While the mining industry is historically perceived as an anti-environmentalist, we need to be open-minded and accept that mining is essential for a greener future and the well-being of society. Given these facts, we need to sustain mining activities, while preserving our planet through implementing integrated decision-making processes and environmental management systems in our operations. Under these circumstances, taking responsibility for our future and using our knowledge and skills in environmental science to understand, conserve, and protect the environment as a member of the mining industry is highly satisfying.

– Empathy

– Growth mindset

– Self-awareness

– Social skills

– Accountability

– Resilience

Thirteen years ago I gave a birth to a beautiful girl. I named her Nil, like the legendary River Nile. Being a working mom can be really challenging, as you’re constantly trying to figure out how to balance work with motherhood. To be honest, sometimes it can get really overwhelming as you continue to take on a whole new set of responsibilities. But now I would not trade it for the world, seeing how amazing my daughter has turned out to be. Lessons I have learned from this experience are priceless. You learn to manage your time and prioritize things as you’re running against the clock. You have to be more focused and act efficiently because you don’t have time to waste. Another gift is building resilience, as things often do not go as planned, so you have to adapt.  Communicating and asking for help is crucial in relieving stress as a working mom and that teaches you valuable lessons about empathy, helping you become a more compassionate person. Being a working mom is challenging but amazing: those lessons assist you in your working life as well.

Knowledge is the key to success and confidence. Knowing that you are skilled at your job will make you more confident. Confidence and good communication skills will give you the ability to express yourself. Expand your personal, social, and professional skills through lifelong learning. Believe me you will not be disappointed, and you will be in more demand. When I was at the beginning of my career, I wish I had known the importance of emotional intelligence in achieving personal and professional goals. As David Goleman refers to it as a “different way of being smart.”