The ICMI Board of Directors has approved revisions to two International Cyanide Management Code (Code) documents.
Auditor Guidance for the Use of the Gold Mining Operations Verification Protocol: Revisions have been made to four sections of this document. Additional guidance regarding a certified gold mine’s use of cyanide that was not produced by a certified manufacturer has been added on page 12 to the discussion of the second question under Standard of Practice 1.1. A similar revision was made to the discussion of the second question under Standard of Practice 2.2 on page 17, with respect to a certified gold mine’s use of cyanide that was not transported by a certified transporter. The new guidance provides criteria for an auditor to consider in determining the mine’s compliance status when an operation’s certified cyanide supply has been disrupted and it cannot immediately re-establish an alternate certified supply.
The word anecdotal has been deleted from the discussion of question 1 under Standard of Practice 4.4 on page 35. This term had been used to characterize the nature of the evidence regarding the recommended guideline of 50 mg/l WAD cyanide for protection of wildlife. The change reflects ICMI’s view that there is sufficient data to support this value as a reasonable threshold to assume that solutions exceeding this concentration are toxic to wildlife. On page 37, in response to this same question, a detailed discussion of the peer review process needed for scientific studies in support of alternatives to the 50 mg/l guideline has been added. A reference to this new discussion of the peer review process has also been included on page 41, in response to question 2 under Standard of Practice 4.5. The revised document, now dated September 2007, has replaced the previous version at http://cyanidecode.org/pdf/RevisedAuditorGuidance.pdf. The revised document is currently being translated into Spanish and French, and the translations, which will also be dated September 2007, should be available on the ICMI web site later this month.
Signatory Application Form: Item 6, the provision requiring signatory companies to notify ICMI in the event of a significant cyanide incident, has been expanded to require that ICMI also be notified if a certified mining operation’s normal supply of cyanide is interrupted and it must purchase cyanide and/or have it transported temporarily by operations that are not certified and have not undergone non-certification Code-equivalent audits. Several other procedural changes to this provision have also been made regarding the time frames and methods for the necessary notification. The revised Signatory Application Form, now dated September 2007, is now posted at http://cyanidecode.org/pdf/1_SignatoryApplication.pdf.
Date:
Thursday, September 6, 2007