A User-Friendly Tool To Support Sustainability Assessment In The Mining Sector

While there are several frameworks available to support decision-making in the mining sector, results from the current literature showed that sustainability assessment and communication is still an emergent process in this sector, since only a few large companies have been reporting their sustainability initiatives. The results provide also evidence of the existing gap between large and small companies, with the latter showing lower levels of awareness of the impact of their activities. In this context, this research aims to contribute to an evaluation of sustainability in the mining sector and its companies, focusing in particular on aspects related to economic, social and environmental dimensions. Based on these findings, a user-friendly IT tool for sustainability assessment of mining is proposed. This IT tool provides then a graphical interface, aiming to simplify the evaluation of sustainability for public mining agencies and companies and to raise levels of knowledge and awareness within companies, towards sustainability practices and communication initiatives.