The Ambatovy Nickel Project is located in Madagascar and comprises an open pit mine system located in a near primary forest mosaic. Other Project components include a pipeline transferring ore slurry to a plant near the port town of Toamasina on the east coast, a tailings facility, a port expansion allowing the import of raw materials and export of finished products and a limestone quarry project located in south-western Madagascar. The Project is currently under construction and operation is scheduled for 2010, with an expected duration of 30 years.

Biodiversity management
The Ambatovy Project’s mine footprint is located in an area recognized for its high regional biodiversity. Hence, the Project’s setting implied the necessity for very stringent biodiversity management, as reflected by the Ambatovy Project’s Biodiversity policy that states: “… to cause no net harm to biological diversity where we operate, to mitigate unavoidable impacts, and to practice responsible closure procedures; … assure the conservation of habitats, flora and fauna, using all reasonable actions and technologies; … ensure responsible attention to the maintenance and, where possible, enhancement of biodiversity in the best interest of our business, the communities in which we operate, and the world at large”.

The heart of the Ambatovy Project’s biodiversity strategy is to compensate its residual impacts on biodiversity through the implementation of an offset programme. This programme will achieve measurable conservation outcomes that can reasonably be expected to result in no net loss of biodiversity and strive to attain a net gain. Upstream of this compensation effort, the Ambatovy Project is implementing appropriate avoidance and minimization measures according to the mitigation hierarchy.

Social aspects
The Ambatovy Project offset is designed and implemented with stakeholder participation to ensure its long term sustainability and regional integration. In Madagascar, natural resource management and biodiversity conservation cannot be addressed without taking social aspects into consideration as natural systems constitute the direct life support system of many human populations.

The Project’s offset program will deliver conservations outcomes that will ensure a no net loss of biodiversity, while favoring sustainable social development of local communities at both impact and offset sites.

Pierre O. Berner, Ph.D is Environmental Manager, Ambatovy Project.

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(1) http://www.sherritt.com/Operations/Metals/Ambatovy.html