Boliden closing in on deal for Lundin’s European mines
A deal would cement Boliden’s position as one of Europe’s biggest producers of zinc.
When Canada’s prime minister attended the America’s summit a fortnight ago he provided a snapshot of the contribution of mining to the country and the broader world.
Mining accounts for more than 20% of Canada’s exports. 60% of the world’s mining companies are listed in Toronto and the industry owns assets worth close to $200 billion all over the globe. Canada’s miners have pumped some $100 billion into South America and Africa since 2004.
Harper also told Latin American business leaders Canadians are “justly proud” of their mining industry “for its elevated sense of social responsibility,” signalling how important community cooperation and wider social involvement are for miners operating abroad.
Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives by mining companies operating in emerging markets in South America, Africa and Asia have become a crucial part of doing business as, in the words of research house Eurasia Group, “above-ground risks are quickly gaining equal footing to traditional geological and engineering considerations for mining projects.”
The Vancouver Sun takes a look at CSR in its current issue and under the headline Extracting the risk from mining writes “current markets give Canadian companies the opportunity to put fair and effective policies in place:”
In the past, many companies increased spending on poorly considered “feel-good” projects when prices were high, and then cut them when prices dropped. So it is no surprise that global best practice – including recent revisions to the IFC standards – puts more emphasis on social management.
Growing global understanding of social-management systems – made up of assessments, policies, management oversight and deployment of teams with appropriate budgets and training – reflects a deeper understanding of CSR as a basic operating obligation for all extractive companies, regardless of size or global location. CSR is scalable, just as other risk-management systems are.
Comments
Sdhe1534
Reading this article made me think about the social investments made by mining companies (more particularly in Australia) and I had the following idea to get more value out of those ones. Here is my initial thought:
Large mining companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale are spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year on social performance initiatives. Although this is evidence of an increasing interest in social performance, the current initiatives are often criticised for being disengaged, focusing on monetary inputs instead of the value of outcomes.
This issue could be addressed in the context of a professional services firm, capitalising on existing tools and capabilities to facilitate their client’s management of social projects to optimise the value of their investment.
The firm would be engaged for the lifecycle of the project. Initially hosting a ‘kick off’ event, bringing together representatives from clients, NGOs, research institutes and community groups to brainstorm valuable problems and to define desired outcomes and boundary conditions of each group.
Once valuable projects are identified and agreed upon, the firm would act as a ‘behind the scenes’ facilitator. Customising existing strategic project management tools to focus on social performance outcomes would enable the firm to provide clients with valuable guidance on the progress of their social investment. The technological and reporting capabilities of a professional services firm would be a powerful tool, clearly articulating the outcomes of the social investments (both societal and the resultant improved financial performance).
This proposal suggests that such an offering would facilitate company’s (particularly mining companies) management of social projects to optimise the value of their investment.
Do you think that this idea is valuable and could be implemented?
Thanks in advance for your insights and comments!