The Intelligent Miner Newsletter March 2024

Trust is a funny old thing, isn’t it? 

It’s the most valuable quality or attribute of a business, yet it’s one that’s often overlooked in favour of more tangible gains. It’s incredibly transient and can take a lifetime to build, yet just one poor decision to dismantle. Trust cannot be bought, only earned through a sustained commitment to honesty and integrity. It’s also very hard to measure and manage, and so, as is the case for many traditional industries, society’s broad-based trust  continues to evade the mining sector (n.b. I’m talking about the collective here; there are always exceptions). 

This is a problem because a lack of trust now threatens organisation’s access to permits, capital, talent and the support of local communities, as Rohitesh Dhawan, President and CEO of ICMM, pointed out in his keynote speech at the 2024 BMO Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference.

At the same event in 2023, Dhawan also spoke about the value of trust, citing some shocking statistics: “Trust in our industry is at an all-time low,” he said. “GlobeScan, the global polling and analysis firm, has been collecting data in 31 countries since 2001 and measuring the public’s trust in different industries. When asked the question: to what extent do you see these industries fulfilling their responsibilities to society? mining comes in at the very bottom. Below oil and gas… Last year, at a time when the world finally started to recognise how critical our products are to the world’s most pressing sustainable development challenges, our score was the lowest it has been since records began.”

There are many things that can be done to change this; Dhawan emphasised the importance of nature-positive actions in his 2024 presentation. But, at the most basic level, trust is earned by doing what you say and saying what you do. I.e., by companies sticking to their word and being transparent about their actions. This also means that the mining sector and the companies it comprises, need to own their pasts, both good and bad. Failing to do so will not only undermine the hard work that businesses are doing today to turn their reputations around, but it also disrespects the people, places and environments that have been impacted by poor decisions. 

In short, part of being a responsible mining company today involves taking responsibility for the past (and saying sorry, where necessary). I’m not saying that’s easy, but it’s a vital step towards winning over society. 

There are lots of other things that can be done too, including good communication, strong governance and ensuring positive mining legacies, and we’ll be digging into some of these on the blog during March. As always, you can email me with your own thoughts and join our community conversations on Linkedin.

Carly