The Australia-Africa Minerals and Energy Group’s (Aameg’s) premier event for recognising best practice in mineral exploration across the African continent will have its second iteration on November 4 as part of the Africa Down Under (ADU) conference in Perth, Australia.

The event was founded in 2019 to celebrate Australian companies in the minerals and energy sector that champion a transparent, equitable and mutually beneficial mineral resources industry in Africa.

Aameg CEO Bill Witham says Australian explorers in Africa are doing some exemplary work in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space, forging meaningful connections with their host communities and contributing to their host country’s socioeconomic development from the junior end of the scale right through to the large multinationals, but he laments that “much of it goes unnoticed in Australia”.

The Aameg Africa Awards therefore present an opportunity to celebrate visionary approaches to ESG which deliver long-term benefits for communities, vastly improving their outcomes across employment, health, education and environmental conservation.

Archetypal of Aameg’s efforts to bolster the capacity of junior companies in Africa, this year’s event will introduce a new category called the “Emerging ESG Leader Award 2020 Aameg Africa Awards”, which acknowledges junior explorers or service companies (with a market capitalisation below $100-million and less than 25 employees) whose company initiative delivers sustainable and tangible benefits for their host communities.

This award joins the existing categories of Best Innovation in Corporate Social Development and Best Workplace and People Development Initiative. The former acknowledges companies which have gone above and beyond traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ESG efforts, showing collaboration and engagement between the African community and government, and the latter acknowledges companies which have empowered local populations through innovative training programmes, mentoring or apprenticeships.

A panel of judges has been appointed to evaluate the entrant submissions and includes the likes of the Consulate of the Republic of Ghana in Perth’s Consul Fred Soale, BHP Curtin Alliance manager Muza Gondwe, as well as Aameg vice-chairperson Ben Gargett and Witham.

Nominations for the second annual event will be open from July 15 through to October 8, with full application details to be available soon.