By ANDREW VAN ZYL
As leaders from across the minerals sector gather in Cape Town in February for the Investing in African Mining Indaba, they will be bringing with them a growing appreciation of the value of trust and collaboration.
The theme of the Cape Town event this year – Stronger Together – should resonate on many levels with delegates, most of whom understand the value of meeting in person and building trust through personal relationships. The theme should also inspire us to think even more deeply about how critical it is for us speak and act with integrity and to build trust through all our engagements.
There is not much that we, as an industry, can do to counter the rise of misinformation and the mix of private and state actors using various platforms and tools for their own ends. However, we can continue to build trust – among one another and the communities we impact. We should all recognise that our primary defence is speaking and acting with integrity, while minimising the filters between us.
We are ambassadors – for our companies, our countries and our industry; but we can only make a positive difference if we are authentic and in direct contact with our stakeholders. The Indaba presents an opportunity for key stakeholders to meet – including government, mining companies, consulting companies, equipment providers, media, investors and NGOs. The interactions between us can set the tone for the message we take out – but this message must be taken directly to our other stakeholders who are not attending, especially those communities directly impacted by our activities.
African mining has grown because we have worked together to become more responsible and transparent, sometimes through necessity but often through voluntary collaboration – such as the development of the mining codes and conferences to share best practices.
Sound relationships with partners in our mining endeavours are the basis of how we build the rules and institutions which underpin our industry. Consider how much Africa’s mining sector has progressed overall in recent decades in terms of national mining codes and regulations.
Governments and mining companies have interacted to produce the legal ‘bricks’ of the continent’s economy that make mining an investible enterprise.
These policy innovations do not have the glamour of some of the sector’s technological achievements and inventions, but they are essential to the advancement of exploration and the
establishment of mining operations. We need to remind ourselves how these constructive changes came about, and of the continuous and patient effort of all the stakeholders involved. We also need to encourage participation of all stakeholders in these voluntary forums – balancing the need to facilitate investment with the recognition of the potential negative impacts.
This kind of progress generally does not begin easily, as all players in the sector have their own interests to advance – and these are not always in alignment. Through enough engagement, however, relationships are built and conversations are conducted. Over time, trust can be cultivated, and that trust – importantly – is based on each player’s true assessment of the other. It is all about gradually proving your bona fides to others in the mining ecosystem and receiving the same consideration from them.
We have tended to take these things for granted, especially in the days when almost all important engagements were held‘in person’–physically rather than remotely using digital communication. This gave us a better sense of who we were dealing with, how they saw the world, what their values were, and how their views compared to our own.
Most importantly, the personal connection gives us the opportunity to find ways through our disagreements. Once the trust is there, it gives more scope to explore a positive route that may be unfamiliar to both parties.
Indeed, this issue has become critical to the mining sector – for instance, in terms of mines’ relationships with communities. In the same way that the industry has made momentous strides in finding engineering solutions, we are learning how to effectively engage with communities.
It is clear from the sector’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments that questions of communication and trust are now front and centre in efforts to mitigate social risk. With smart devices now carrying messages in real time across all sectors of society, the airwaves are literally crammed – meaning that mining companies need to be more proactive in communicating.
This is not only a technical issue, however. While there is always scope to improve the frequency, accuracy and targetting, of communication, it is still the alignment of ‘what is said’and ‘what is done’that creates the true foundation for credibility and collaboration.
In the same way that the industry has made momentous strides in finding engineering solutions, we are learning how to effectively engage with communities.
It is probably a truism that trust suffers when there is conflict – or even where there is inequality of any sort. Most mines must therefore face situations where their messaging conflicts with what is coming from other sources. This is to be expected, as a diversity of views is simply part of life.
Where this issue is becoming more of a challenge, though, is where digital and other media are harnessed to spread untruths – leading to situations where a mine and communities cannot even agree on a set of basic facts. One of the tasks facing us as an industry is to build upon the trust and partnerships that exist in our respective ecosystems, to ensure that there remains a common factual basis for a relationship of mutual trust. It applies to our relationships with all stakeholders – from government and regulators to customers and suppliers
This is where the argument returns to where it began: the vital importance of regular and continuous engagement with our partners in mining – real engagement, authenticity and reasonable levels of transparency. This is how individuals learn to trust each other, and how legal entities like companies agree to do business. Business becomes significantly less efficient and more expensive when our interactions are primarily contractual – when our trust is in our contractual terms rather than in each other.
Our engagements are now also competing with multiple other channels of communication – many of them misguided but quite believable on face value. To continue with the instance of mine- community relationships, a mine’s leadership is now frequently called upon to refute the allegations – or at least the alternative version – related to their plans or actions.
The rise of AI may contribute to innovative technical solutions but it is also likely to lead to even more misinformation, making it harder to preserve and build trust. This is exacerbated by the fact that past mistakes by the industry are more likely to stick in the minds of the public than the many ways in which we have become more responsible.
So, there is an even greater onus on the sector to build relationships that will withstand the inevitable impact of misinformation. The trust that can be developed in this way provides parties with firmer ground on which to base their decisions and interactions. Consistent integrity should, at the very least, allow us to engage and retain our social licence to operate, even when misinformation is rife.
As we gather again in February, it is worth remembering that every interaction in those myriad halls, passages and meeting rooms around Cape Town, can contribute to building stronger partnerships of trust. These are the building blocks of the industry, as they can give some assurance to parties that they know who to believe.
*Andrew van Zyl is the Managing Director of SRK Consulting, South Africa.
