Just imagine for a moment that there is a fabulous new ore body in your state (province if you are Canadian). Now imagine that this ore body is up for bid: one lucky mining company will win the right to mine it and make a fortune. The only requirement re the bidding process is that the winning company should get a vote of confidence from the local populace–a kind of social license to mine.
Let us now assume that three mining companies are in the running. Here is what each says about its core philosophy:
Company A: We will fully implement the ten principles of Sustainable Development as set out by the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM).
Company B: We will use only renewable energy to mine. Or at least as much as possible once we get that wind farm running and the solar panels in place.
Company C: We will sequester carbon thereby earning carbon credits which we will sell to coal-fired power plants.
Now which company would you vote for to be allowed to mine our fabulous new ore deposit?
I suspect, although I have no way of proving it, that Company A implementing the sustanability principles would do a good job. But I confess that I have never been able to internalize the principles. Every time I try to read them, my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders to other places and times. Those ten priciples just don’t seem to grip; they have no resonance; they are too complex for my simple mind to capture in a golden spoon. So forget about Company A–they are just another of those big word, fancy lawyer, fund the in-power-politician entities.
We can dismiss Company C out-of-hand. Most do not even know what “sequester” means, net alone what the benefits of a carbon credit for a coal-fired power plant are likely to be.
That leaves us with the exciting prospect of Company B. They are setting up wind farms, solar stations, growing corn, and minimizing use of non-renewable power. Obviously they get my vote. And I bet they will get the average citizen’s vote. It such a simple, powerful, easy to support concept: use renewable energy to mine. Bravo Company B.
All this could be just another fairy tale of horcruxes and hallows. But it is not. As I noted in my posting on this blog yesterday, Barrick has taken the high road of Company B. Bully for them!!
Plus Barrick is doing this in concert with the senior Senator from Nevada, who also happens to control the U.S. Senate. I refer to Senator Harry Reid. Seems like Nevada is leading the way in redefining what it takes to get a social license to mine: use renewable energy to mine.
Late yesterday a pile of glossy books landed on my desk. They are all from the International Council on Mining & Metallurgy (ICMM). They must have cost a fortune to produce. Including the umpteen times they set out those ten principles of sustainable mining. I notice that Barrick is not one of the exclusive club of ICMM Corporate Members. Innocently I asked a colleague why. He said that only the big guys are allowed to be members of ICMM. He said that ICMM is a kind of exclusive London club of companies that want to earn the kudos it takes to get the right to mine. He said that you don’t want to throw away all that good strategy away on mid-tiers and juniors. I admit I see some pretty good advice in these expensive books on how to manage the community relations process and to manage disasters. Could he be correct?
Whatever. I prefer a solar-panel, wind-farm miner to a pin-strip-suit miner. It seems so much more American; so keeping-up-with-the times; so free-enterprise; so damn clever. And I can understand it: use renewable energy to mine.
Unlike those two-page ten-principles that go on and on and on. Better stop now, for I am off to buy Barrick shares.
