Even though innovative resource conservation and recycling initiatives in mineral processing projects satisfy the aims of corporate sustainability principles and polices, such initiatives are often bypassed in favour of tried and tested solutions which are perceived to have lower technical and financial risks. This is, in part, a result of project management systems lacking a suitable systematic and rigorous framework to allow sustainability aligned initiatives proper consideration, analysis and assessment. In an attempt to address this shortcoming, a collaborative research team has developed the Sustainable Operations framework, SUSOP (R), a guiding framework for projects to make a proper contribution to sustainability without compromising on financial rigour. This paper argues the need for a framework to address sustainability objectives, presents the key elements of SUSOP (R), highlights the learnings from industry case studies, and discusses why such a framework will have growing importance into the future. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.