Community, Industry and Local Government

This report explores the relationship between mining companies and host communities, including a description of mining projects and the companies managing them. It also discusses the nature of the relationship between the companies and host communities, community projects implemented by the companies, and how they report on community relations activities.

Community, Industry and
Local Government

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Brief description of mining projects and the companies managing those projects.....................3
A brief description of the host communities associated with the mining project.......................4
The nature of the relationship between the company and host communities including an
overview of key issues between the companies and their host communities.............................4
Community projects that the companies are implementing, the level of involvement of the
host communities........................................................................................................................5
Overview of how the companies structure their community relations effort............................6
How do the companies report on community relations activities...............................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Mining refers to the extraction of valuable geographical materials or minerals from earth,
usually from seam, lode, reef, ore body or placer deposit. It is the procedure of placing
explosives where these will burst (Etzkowitz and Zhou, 2017). The report is based on two
mining projects that are Boddington gold mine and Olympic Dam metal mine which are
managed by two different mining companies, Newmont Goldcorp Corporation and BHP Billiton.
This assignment covers description of mining projects and of the organisations managing those.
It also includes description of host communities related with mining projects and nature of
relationship between firm and communities along with key issues exist between them.
Moreover, information about community projects that firms are executing and the way they
structure and report community relation efforts and activities are mentioned in the project.
MAIN BODY
Brief description of mining projects and the companies managing those projects
Boddington gold mine project is one of the largest gold mine of Australia which has been
managed by Newmont Goldcorp Corporation since year 2009, when the company purchased
controlling share in project from Newcrest and AngloGold Ashanti. At that time, the company
has heavily invested in Western Australian open pit mine. It was a 2.4 billion dollars project
which was a three way joint venture initially between Newcrest, Newmont and AngloGold
Ashanti. The project has an ascribable budget of between A$0.8 to A$0.9 billion. The project
along with treatment plant's construction was completed on 23rd July 2009. In year 2018, the
mine produced 20.1 tonnes of gold and 35000 tonnes of copper. The company employs around
12,000 employees in order to carry out its operations in an effective way (Friend and Jessop,
2013).
BHP Billiton is a multinational Anglo Australian trading entity of BHP group plc and
BHP Group limited. It is a dual listed public organisation that deals in petroleum, metals and
mining. The company was founded in year 1885 and its headquarter is located in Melbourne,
Australia. The firm perform its operations worldwide and has 4 operational units and its products
includes natural gas, coal, petroleum, nickel, copper, iron ore and uranium. Olympic Dam metal
mine is one of the largest mine of South Australia and is most productive in entire world (Super
mines: Australia’s biggest mining projects, 2019). The mine has proven reserves of 154 million

tonnes including a gold grade of 0.68 gm and copper grade of 2.06% per tonne as of year 2018.
As of last year, the Olympic Dam was on 5th position in the world in producing copper and
boasted the largest uranium deposit which making it more versatile operations of mining on
planet (Gordon, 2013).
A brief description of the host communities associated with the mining project
The host communities associated with Boddington gold mine project includes
Environmental protection authority, department of petroleum and mineral to analyse the
effectiveness of closure plans in environmental influence assessment process. On the other
hand, the host community related with Olympic Dam metal mine project includes members of
business of South Australia, stakeholders and community organisations (Malalgoda,
Amaratunga, Keraminiyage and Haigh, 2016).
The nature of the relationship between the company and host communities including an
overview of key issues between the companies and their host communities
BHP Billiton has struggled to extract vast resources of mine since buying initial owners
WMC resources in year 2005 as the production totals of mine has harmed in short term by
constant expansion projects. The production of copper was slumped to 137,000 tonnes in year
2018, a diminution of 18% over figures of 2017. Technical faults like eight week shutdown of
acid plant of mine have also hamper the production process. The sustainability related issues of
company is oversees by sustainability committee of firm's board. There are some sustainability
issues that are faced by company such as greenhouse gas emission, occupational and community
health, management of resources and eliminating fatal risks. Access to affordable metals, energy
and minerals is critical factor of social and economic development and poverty alleviation. It is a
challenge for company to meet the energy and minerals needs of world while meeting the
potential influence of emissions of greenhouse gas on climate. In order to overcome this
challenge, company is seeking the ways to decline the emission by controlling it through making
improvements in operational process (Gottlieb, 2013). The another challenge that firm face is to
attain access to resources while addressing societal and political expectations associated with
acquiring and maintaining license to operate. For overcoming this challenge, the company's
approaches includes execution of biodiversity, land and water management plans at sites, skills
development programmes, formal risks and influence assessment, advocacy and proactive
stakeholder engagement.

The nature of Newmont community relationship diverge between distinct sites. For this,
some of the reasons are to be found in events prior to company's arrival and local context
whereas majority appears associated to components that are partially or wholly in firm's control.
The critical issue that is confronting by company is compensation for failure of land rights in
activities related to mining. The firm is facing issues related to CSR in which there is an
obligation on business to pursue the policies that are desirable for attaining values and
objectives of society. The process of mining cause harm to environment and community as
well. In order to overcome this issue, firm follow environmental laws and policies and made
changes in their operations to reduce the emission of harmful gases and prevent environment
from being polluted. There were various concerns raised by non governmental organisations and
stakeholders along with interest groups like Wassa association of communities who are affected
by mining. The firm follow legal framework in order to run operations successfully and attain
sustainability (Murphy, 2013).
Community projects that the companies are implementing, the level of involvement of the host
communities
The community projects that are implementing by BHP Billiton includes BHP
Foundation works to address critical sustainable development challenges that are facing by
current generation. The sustainable communities of company aims on some large scale projects
like National projects and donations, Flagship MDG programmes, donations to charities and
natural disaster relief as a part of matched giving program. These charities works by making
grants to organisations to help people with disabilities, young people and voluntary bodies and
other charities. The community projects of company are in three broad areas, education, health
and governance. The company is working in partnership with host communities to determine the
appropriate way by which it can minimize the negative influence and contribute to develop
lasting benefit. Olympic dam maintains storage systems for waste products. The plant is
developed in such a way that it do not harm environment. A comprehensive equipment has been
included in it in order to control air pollution (Olympic Dam Environmental Considerations,
2019).
On the other hand, Newmont Goldcorp Corporation makes direct investments in social
programmes and community infrastructure. It also developed community foundations that
supports their priorities during mine life. In order to ensure the participation and ownership of

community in efforts of foundation, the board involves community members. A transparent
process is utilized by company for all community donations to document and review the
contribution and ensure compliance with foreign corrupt practices act and partnering against
corruption initiatives. In order to address opportunities and local challenges, Newmont Goldcorp
Corporation pursue partnerships with government agencies, non governmental organisations and
development organisations (Parsons, Lacey and Moffat, 2014).
Overview of how the companies structure their community relations effort
The company supports economic well being and health of community where it perform
its operations. The community strategy of company is emphasized on principles of inclusiveness,
engagement and participation. BHP Billiton is being an environmentally responsible company,
investing in community and putting their health and safety first. There are three ways through
which company is investing in communities. At local level, firm is investing through its
operations and assets. At global level, it investing through contribution of people by matching
their financial investments and time in communities and by corporate charities. The company
provides sustainable benefits to community by focusing on local economic development,
employment, capacity building and training. It also aligns with partner companies that share its
values and have suitable expertise, local knowledge and skills (Ramukumba, 2012).
Newmont Goldcorp Corporation also supports health and safety of community by
focusing on fatality prevention. It implements environmental and social practices for
sustainability and maintaining external relations. The company signed community partnership
agreements to ensure that Boddington operations of Newmont establishes suitable protection
and management of cultural heritage and administers an opportunity to GKB community
members to benefit from mine by training and education. This agreement has formalized
commitment of company to traditional landowners and it aids to develop a more diverse
workforce by structured programmes like GWR. The company is engaging its community by
digital story telling by using audio and short videos to guide users. The company constantly
works to improve water accounting frameworks. In order to improve relations with community,
company puts constant to progress strategic initiatives and long term partnerships which focused
on alignments to SDG 6 and STG 17 (Ruhanen, 2013).

How do the companies report on community relations activities
BHP Billiton reports on community relation efforts by Matched giving program in which
personal donations to community based companies and charities are matched and firm made
monetary contribution to community organisations in acknowledgement of time that employees
of BHP Billiton dedicate to volunteering for it. It is a flexible program that provides an
opportunity to employees to support companies they are passionate about (Yang, Ryan and
Zhang, 2013). The board members of the firm has responsibility to ensure that each decision of
company related to investment is made according to BHP Billiton charter. There are various
factors that are taken into consideration such as health and safety of people, influence of
operations on environment and host community and potential impact of change in climate on
organisation. On the other hand, Newmont Goldcorp Corporation has an open and transparent
procedure in which the complaints of stakeholders are addressed fairly and timely. The firm sets
up an advisory panel in order to resolve the issues and complaints of community. The company
use three tire system in which tire 1 complaints can be resolved between complainants and
Newmont without the requirement for legal proceedings or external mediation. In case the
complaints can not resolved timely, these are intensify to tier 2 in which an autonomous
mechanism determined by community like committee or local leader is used. The disputes that
can not be solved by parties included will require legal intervention and are categorized in tier 3
complaints (Zilliox and Smith, 2017).
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that mining is the process of
mineral extraction from earth. There are various effects of mining on environment like loss of
biodiversity, water pollution, formation of sink, soil pollution etc. Boddington gold mine project
and Olympic Dam metal mine are among the largest mining projects in Australia which are
undertaken by Newmont Goldcorp Corporation and BHP Billiton. There are some host
communities which are associated with these projects. Some key issues are exist between
companies and host communities which are related to environmental aspect. Some issues that
communities face includes greenhouse gas emission, resource management, community health
etc. that needs to be taken into consideration by mining organisations. In order to resolve these
issues, companies formulated various strategies that leads them towards sustainability and
success.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Etzkowitz, H. and Zhou, C., 2017. The triple helix: University–industry–government innovation
and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Friend, J. and Jessop, N., 2013. Local Government and Strategic Choice (Routledge Revivals):
An Operational Research Approach to the Processes of Public Planning. Routledge.
Gordon, G.L., 2013. Strategic planning for local government. ICMA Publishing.
Gottlieb, C., 2013. Residential Short-Term Rentals: Should Local Governments Regulate
the'Industry'?. Planning & Environmental Law, 65(2), pp.4-9.
Malalgoda, C., Amaratunga, D., Keraminiyage, K. and Haigh, R., 2016. Knowledge gaps in the
construction industry to increase societal resilience: a local and national government
perspective. Tampere University of Technology. Department of Civil Engineering.
Murphy, P.E., 2013. Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge.
Parsons, R., Lacey, J. and Moffat, K., 2014. Maintaining legitimacy of a contested practice: How
the minerals industry understands its ‘social licence to operate’. Resources Policy, 41,
pp.83-90.
Ramukumba, T., 2012. The local economic development in the Eden District Municipality,
Western Cape Province, South Africa: a case study of emerging entrepreneurs in the
tourism industry. American Journal of Tourism Research, 1(1), pp.9-15.
Ruhanen, L., 2013. Local government: facilitator or inhibitor of sustainable tourism
development?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(1), pp.80-98.
Yang, J., Ryan, C. and Zhang, L., 2013. Social conflict in communities impacted by
tourism. Tourism Management, 35, pp.82-93.
Zilliox, S. and Smith, J.M., 2017. Memorandums of understanding and public trust in local
government for Colorado's unconventional energy industry. Energy Policy, 107, pp.72-
81.
Online
Olympic Dam Environmental Considerations, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.mining-technology.com/projects/olympic-dam/>
Super mines: Australia’s biggest mining projects, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.mining-technology.com/features/australias-biggest-mining-projects/>