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Policy documents, commitments often not matched by company action – index

11th April 2018

By: Marleny Arnoldi

Deputy Editor Online

     

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A range of mining companies are demonstrating responsible practices with regard to various issues, the ‘Responsible Mining Index (RMI) 2018’ reveals.

The RMI, which was released by mining industry performance assessors, the Responsible Mining Foundation, on Wednesday, assesses and compares company policies and practices across six different economic, environmental, social and governance (EESG) areas – economic development, business conduct, lifecycle management, community wellbeing, working conditions and environmental responsibility.

The index is an independent, evidence-based assessment of 30 large-scale mining companies that are headquartered across 16 countries, with collective assets of more than 700 operating mine sites.

It measures the extent to which companies can demonstrate, rather than simply claim, that they have established responsible policies and practices.

The index also focuses on 127 individual mine sites in 40 developing countries.

The companies assessed in the RMI 2018 represent about 25% of the total value of production of all mined commodities worldwide.

Nineteen out of the 30 companies assessed in this year’s index ranked among the ten strongest performers in at least one thematic area of the index.

“Leading practices are found even on issues for which performances are generally weak, such as addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in mining-affected communities. These results all point to the strong potential for continuous improvement, based on existing practices already demonstrated by a number of different companies,” the Responsible Mining Foundation stated.

The range of companies demonstrating responsible practices on particular issues indicates that performance does not necessarily depend on company size or commodity focus, the home countries where they are registered, or the producing countries where they operate.

However, the results showed some market limitations in current practice. Companies tend to put in place policy documents without always backing these up with systematic, effective and company-wide action, the foundation reported.

“This is seen even for topics where commitments are common and commonly expected, such as human rights, occupational health and safety, business ethics and environmental-impact management,” it pointed out.

The scale and persistence of severe adverse impacts is at odds with the widespread existence of such commitments.

For example, worker fatalities and violations of human rights are among the most frequent adverse impacts found in the RMI analysis. In the face of such evidence, strong company commitments are sometimes not matched by company actions, which clearly need to be more effective.

The RMI found that companies typically show a lack of systematic attention to monitoring their performance on EESG issues and reporting their performance to other stakeholders, including mining-affected communities.

“This lack of ‘knowing and showing’ their own performance is most evident at the mine-site level. The vast majority of the 127 sites assessed provide little or no data on key issues of direct interest to local communities, workers and other stakeholders.

“This includes information on how a site is managing local employment, local procurement, grievances, water use and biodiversity impacts,” said the foundation.

Without open sharing of such data, it is difficult for companies to build trust with local communities. Nonetheless, a few companies and a few sites are showing the way by putting into practice open data principles to ensure the information that is reported is easily accessible, understood and used by local communities.

“A lack of public reporting is most likely one of the main factors limiting company scores in the index. Performances might be considerably higher if companies were more transparent about their management of EESG issues. Greater openness would also enable more learning and sharing of good practices,” the foundation said.

While many companies have clearly developed systematic approaches to address occupational health and safety, and environmental-impact management, the most frequent adverse impacts found in the RMI analysis relate to worker fatalities and environmental pollution.

“Similarly, the widespread existence of commitments on human rights is at odds with the fact that violations of human rights, including forced evictions, land grabs and violent attacks on community members, are among the ten most common types of severe impacts identified in the RMI research,” the index reported.

Stronger performing companies generally demonstrate company-wide approaches to managing EESG issues, rather than only being able to show action in a specific country or at a specific mine site.

The strongest performing companies have formalised their approaches by establishing company-wide systems – for example, management standards or guidelines, and tracking the implementation of these systems, to ensure they have been effectively integrated across all business units.

“Companies that take systematic action demonstrate that their individual achievements can be successfully multiplied,” the foundation reported. 

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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