Because we produce copper, a key component enabling the green transition, we understand the concept of sustainability in its fullest sense.
At Atalaya, we want our operations to persist over time and to maximize our efficiency, we want to contribute to the natural environment, reducing and minimising any harmful impacts on nature and, we want to benefit the communities around us by fostering economic and environmental development.
Our actual mine site, Proyecto Riotinto, constantly works to improve its performance according to its Environmental Policy and, to promote compliance, Proyecto Riotinto has implemented an environmental management system certified to the ISO 14001:2015 standard.
Environment guiding principles:
- Respect the natural environment, maintaining a preventive approach that pursues continuous improvement in the environmental performance of our operations, and integrating the fight against climate change in our strategy.
Proyecto Riotinto highlights 2024:
See more detailed data in Sustainability Documents section
Environment and Climate Change Topics
We strive to promote and exemplify responsible use of natural resources, especially water, which is essential to our business and the communities in which we operate. This is especially true given that we operate in an arid region like Southern Europe, where our primary operation Proyecto Riotinto is based.
Our focus, as responsible operators, is to minimise our freshwater consumption while maximising our recycled water and mine water consumption. By doing this, we are reducing the risk of climate change effects and future demand developments.
Addressing climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. At Atalaya we are working to be resilient while minimising our carbon emissions.
In this context, our big step forward in terms of reducing GHG emissions is to switch energy sources and increase our consumption of energy from renewable sources, a primary contributor to shrinking our Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint. We are therefore that our solar plant at Riotinto started its commissioning in 2024 with a full capacity expected in 2025
Atalaya published its Climate Change reports following the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures recommendations (TCFD).
See Climate Change reports and commitments in Sustainability Documents section
Our Sustainability Policy acknowledges our respect for nature in the places we operate and we endeavour to make a positive impact, both environmentally and socially, through the design of our mining projects.
At the sites where we carry out geological exploration, we abide by official environmental authorisations and we restore all sites where drilling has taken place.
At Proyecto Riotinto specifically, we follow a dedicated methodology for the conservation of a protected plant and animal species:
- A bat (chiropteran) conservation project: Riotinto is actively developing a bat habitat
- A protected plant species (Erica andevalensis): heather endemic to the province of Huelva.
Atalaya’s current mining projects are in Spain where there is robust legislation on mining waste management. Nevertheless, aware that poor management of mining waste can pose serious risks to people and the environment, we have established safety and monitoring measures which go far beyond what is required of us by law, with the ultimate goal of zero harm.
Beyond legal compliance, in 2023 we committed to align our tailings management with the Global Standard on Tailings Management for the Mining Industry (GISTM).
We are adapting our internal governance systems according to the standard and overseen by the Sustainability Committee. In 2024 we conducted a gap analysis with GISTM and published our first report in compliance with Principle 15 on disclosure.
We are moving forward on governance by identifying the main roles of the standard inside and outside the company. We also have an advanced corporate policy on responsible management of these facilities applicable to all Atalaya operations.
See the GISTM public disclosure report in Sustainability Documents section
