Partnerships - The Key to Sustainable Mining in Africa

The relationship between the companies mining the earth’s precious resources and the people who have made their homes upon these treasured lands for time immemorial, is evolving into productive partnerships that benefit communities and mining operations.

Mining companies are at the foundation of the global resource supply chain, providing natural resources including metals and minerals to satisfy the world’s appetite for progress. With this huge task comes the social responsibility to be a functional partner in the communities in which they operate, and the recognition that sustainable practices are critical to corporate success.

People are part of that resource supply chain as well, supplying the social license to operate in a community. The concept of social license evolved from the more established notion of Corporate Social Responsibility and is based on the idea that mining companies need not only government permission [or permits] but also “social permission” to conduct their business.

Managing Expectations

Successful management of stakeholder expectations begins with thorough and effective communication, and acceptance of accountability as a participant in the community.

Mining companies that are not yet onboard with creating partnerships within the community need to start thinking differently, and many are. The old way of doing business was to look only at what the law requires and check off those boxes without looking at the broader picture, which is that they are operating within a community of people who have social concerns, values and needs that include the environment and infrastructure of their community. Time and again we have seen how poor relationships cause social outrage that could have been avoided.

Big Change

The ICMM offers a free Community Development Toolkit. This set of 20 tools is intended for use throughout the mining project cycle. The tools are aimed at fostering constructive relationships, building capacity and improving opportunities for the sustainable development of communities around mining and metals operations.
WSP has also developed software tools that facilitate the decision-making and management processes around sustainable mining, with respect to community issues and concerns, geographic project requirements, and project planning and design.

Measuring Success Along the Way

This means holding community meetings that educate the public in a way that targets various demographics (age, gender, socio-economic level) so everyone will understand. Measuring the success of these meetings goes beyond counting the number of people who show up, it’s about getting a broad spectrum of the population to participate.

As each project milestone is achieved, stakeholder engagement managers do an evaluation with all of the stakeholders and base the assessment of success on the feedback received.

Essentially, it’s about helping people understand each other. The long-term goal is to manage expectations and the effect the mine has on a community, so that the work we do today will impact positively on the community long past the life of the mine.

The good news is many companies do get it right. They go the extra mile to do what’s right for the community — environmentally, economically and socially. Sometimes doing the right thing takes a little longer, due to the education process and the collaborative meetings, but at the end of the day it saves time and money and creates a strong foundation of mutual respect and productivity which is valuable to the community and the mine. Everyone wins.