Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold mining companies should not prefer one stakeholder class above another but ensure that all benefit equitably from their activities, Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Mines and Money conference in London, he stressed that in emerging regions, where the gold mining industry’s operations were now largely based, the host country was a particularly important player and should not only be embraced as a stakeholder but also as a partner.
“Mining anywhere, but particularly in emerging regions, exploits a country’s national assets and so it’s important that the host country and its people benefit from it.
“Arguably, a mining company’s primary responsibility is to its host country, although, of course, shareholders are also critically important because without investment there would be no mining projects. [As such], mining companies and their host governments should be aligned in the drive to attract such investment and to ensure that all shareholders benefit,” Bristow explained.
He said gold mining companies could only satisfy the expectations of shareholders, as well as other stakeholders, through sustainable profitability, which needed a long-term vision, not merely an urge to exploit a passing market trend.
“In a cyclical sector, it makes no sense to run a business that relies solely on a rising gold price to be able to deliver value,” Bristow concluded.