Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
In 2021 Gemfields announced the ‘G-Factor for Natural Resources’, a measure promoting greater transparency around the level of natural resource wealth shared with the governments of host countries.
Gemfields on Friday announced updated figures to the end of December 2022 and invited governance bodies, mining organisations, industry observers and host governments to adopt the G-Factor for Natural Resources to improve transparency when it comes to the share of natural resource wealth paid to a host country’s government.
The G-Factor for Natural Resources is intended to be an uncomplicated indicator of the percentage of a natural resource company’s revenue that is paid to the host country government in primary and direct taxes, plus – where the host government is a shareholder – dividends.
The G-Factor for Natural Resources takes its name from the “g’s” in “government”, “governance” and “good practice”.
“Given the evolution of resource nationalism on the one hand, and increasing strategic competition by companies and states for access to resources on the other, it seems to us that a practical measure allowing more direct comparison of the sharing of natural resource wealth would assist greatly in identifying responsible custodians of host nations’ resources,” Gemfields CEO Sean Gilbertson said in a media statement.
“We hope the G-Factor for Natural Resources will be voluntarily adopted by other companies, insisted upon by host governments and incorporated into projects such as EITI,” he said.
Gemfield’s updated G-Factor numbers are here.
