2015-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS 2015 Volume 4: Meech Intl. Symp. / Mining Operations
| Editors: | Kongoli F, Veiga MM, Anderson C |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2015 |
| Pages: | 275 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-27-0 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
< CD shopping page
The Management of Socio-Political Risk through Corporate Transitions at Mining Projects
Garth Thomson1;1UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Vancouver, Canada;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 501
Topic: 4
Abstract:
Management of socio-political risk, the fabled social license to operate, has become one of the most pressing issues facing the mining industry today. Failure to develop mutually beneficial relationships with local and regional stakeholders can lead to significant costs to proponents. These include project delays, reputational damage, and even the abandonment of projects. Corporate transitions – such as the acquisition of a project, management turnover, or change in the development stage of a project – at mineral properties and mining projects can cause regression in corporate-stakeholder relationships, as the changing faces and attitudes can lead to breakdowns in communication, misunderstandings, and conflict. There is currently a lack of dialogue on the management of risk through these changeovers, and this study fills acute need for an industry where the standard business model includes the transactional exchange of mineral properties and projects in various states of development. This research analyzes how corporate transitions at mining projects can be best managed to mitigate socio-political risk, resulting in lasting and mutually beneficial corporate-stakeholder relationships. By examining the Mount Milligan mine in central British Columbia, as a case study, the author analyzes how successive management teams incorporated stakeholder concerns and evolving regulatory requirements in mitigating socio-political risk during their tenure, and specifically how this risk was mitigated through successive changes in management and ownership. Findings from interviews with past managers, First Nations groups, and other stakeholders, in addition to a review of public documents, examines the project's complex history. Analysis of this data has informed the development of key strategies that can be employed in the management of corporate transitions at future projects.