Integrating sustainable economic,
environmental and social solutions
About Us
Sustainable Solutions is an independent consultancy experienced at providing economically, environmentally and socially sustainable solutions for Australian and international projects.
Led by Dr Geraldine McGuire, an experienced project manager and scientist, Sustainable Solutions integrates the client’s needs with scientific, consultation and management expertise to direct projects towards the optimum outcomes for the client, local community and the environment.
Sustainable Solutions' clients include the private sector, government and non-government agencies. Our specialist expertise is particularly suited to managing projects in developing communities within tropical environments.
What's New at Sustainable Solutions...
Planning for the sustainable closure of a project from the very beginning is now the expected standard in the mining industry. This can be a challenging experience at sites with difficult technical issues such as geotechnical instability and acid rock drainage. These difficulties are further enhanced at operations located in remote areas surrounded by developing communities which have become dependent on the mine income. Geraldine McGuire had to take all these issues into consideration while leading the Mine Closure Steering Committee, established to agree the closure options for Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) gold mine in Indonesia. This knowledge was then incorporated into a project undertaken in 2006 for International Council of Mining 
and Metals (ICMM) industry survey of mine closure planning and practice. This ICMM project was undertaken by Sustainable Solutions in cooperation with Dr Catherine Macdonald of Social Sustainability Services. The culmination of this work is the recently released ICMM guide - Planning for Integrated Mine Closure Toolkit. Designed to provide essential tools to support multinational companies and medium/small sized enterprises it can be obtained by visiting www.icmm.com/mineclosure
For further information on planning and developing options for mine closure, contact Geraldine McGuire on gmm@sustainablesolutionsglobal.com
The ability to effectively engage and consult with communities to understand and respond to their concerns about a project is critical to the long term success of an operation. Often termed the “social licence to operate” this reflects the tolerance of the local population to the impacts (positive and negative) experienced from the project. In many developed countries the negative impacts relate to noise and air pollution or loss of visual amenity associated with the operational activities. However in some developing countries the land and water 
resources required for the project are directly linked to the sustainable livelihoods of the adjacent communities. These situations are often coupled with an inability of the population to participate in the employment opportunities of the project due to poor health and/or inadequate educational achievements. In such circumstances, creative livelihood programs and business development initiatives may be required to overcome the loss of resources that will be taken by the project. It is usually wise to work with local government and experienced non-government agencies to ensure the sustainability of these ventures beyond the life of the mine. Furthermore, unless there is wide support and acceptance by communities many “good ideas” are doomed to failure. Using a range of techniques broadly termed participatory planning, communities can be actively engaged to develop and prioritise programs. Information on these topics can be found in the Community Engagement and Development Leading Practice Booklet www.ret.gov.au or in the International Council of Mining and Minerals Community Development Toolkit www.icmm.com.
For further information on community engagement and participatory planning techniques contact Dr Geraldine McGuire on gmm@sustainabesolutionsglobal.com.
