For the last few decades, like hamsters on wheels, we’ve made little tangible progress in effective communication. We believe we simply need more ESG scores, sustainability reports festooned with buzzwords, and metal demand infographics — pushing “facts” to coax people into appreciating mining’s importance. We also take umbrage when people are not as evangelical about our beloved industry as we are. So perhaps we should ask ourselves whether our current product-centric self-promotion of critical minerals for the energy transition will build trust.
As an industry, we have traditionally defaulted to engaging with civil society to be understood, rather than understand. We prefer to direct our messaging through friendly and predictable channels to a largely passive audience. We avoid those who are vocally critical of us. We defensibly feel the need to “correct” misperceptions by talking up mining’s great benefits: local jobs, contracts, government tax revenues, and local socio-economic benefits when today, these are considered the bare minimum. We don’t put enough effort into understanding our real-world impacts, fear being transparent about our mistakes and struggle to recover from them.
Meanwhile, the biggest media stories that shape the narrative around mining today are mostly negative: environmental pollution, fatalities, bribery, corruption, human rights abuses, tailings dam failures, workplace harassment, sexism and racism, artisanal mining, conflict minerals, and the destruction of cultural heritage. In this interconnected and image-dominated era, these controversies stay fresh in the minds of the public and investors who look to our recent past to gain confidence about the future. Some of these controversies have also shown that legal obligations are no longer a reliable proxy for ethical ones. Culture and leadership matter.
We have made tremendous strides in so many ESG areas, but we still have a long way to go. It is not just a matter of telling our story better. We must acknowledge that there is mounting globalized anti-mining sentiment (coupled with increased resource nationalism) and we need to become more reliable and dependable; better match our words and actions; and actively address historical legacies rather than exacerbate them.
What is trust?
Sociologists have defined trust variously. Trust is a prospective judgment (though influenced by past experiences) about how much individuals can rely on others to act according to rules and norms. Some view trust as an expectation — one trusts because one has a reasonable set of expectations regarding the actions of another based on experience and norms. Others define trust as the willingness to be vulnerable or connect it to how confident we feel about predicting another’s future actions.
Trust is a vital ingredient for gaining community acceptance and securing a social licence to operate. However, virtually every mine locality is characterized by varying levels of inequalities (income or status), institutional voids, community capacity and power imbalances which all interrelate to either promote or more often, erode trust. Miners perhaps need to learn from social psychology that trust has both cognitive and emotional dimensions, which require different approaches.
So, what does it take then for local communities to put their trust in an unknown foreign mining company?
The answer lies in the idea that trust is a “contact sport” requiring regular, meaningful, and transparent effort. This concept, espoused by Steve Martin, Faculty Director of Behavioural Science, Columbia Business School, at ICMM’s Responsible Mining Leadership Forum last year, means empathy, authenticity and trust cannot be assembled remotely in a corporate office or delegated to a third-party communications guru. Miners and their investors need to roll up their sleeves and put in the effort. If we don’t, we will cede control of our industry to regulators and other stakeholders, spending disproportionate amounts of time and money responding to increased levels of scrutiny and compliance, rather than growth and shareholder returns.
‘Say-do’ gap
My experiences in mining have taught me that trust is often hard to define and learning how to build it is not always intuitive, but we know with certainty when it is lost. There is no predictable formula — and once lost it is difficult to regain.
As with a lot of ESG issues, the devil lurks in “how.” It is especially complicated across geographical borders and cultural barriers, but the foundation is integrity, competency, and intent. Trust is earned when actions meet words but regrettably, there is often a disconnect between miners’ ESG rhetoric and their on-the-ground reputation and performance: some call this the “say-do” gap. Companies often have wonderfully scripted corporate ESG policies that are not properly, or consistently, executed on their mine sites. Miners need to help garner broad industry-wide trust whilst nurturing trustworthiness for their own company and their individual assets, as trust is very localized.
Some miners lose track of their social obligations and commitments and break their promises. This causes disillusionment, outrage, loss of trust and ultimately conflict. Trust requires miners to be predictable and have the integrity and competency to match actions to commitments while they authentically engage about their true intent and impacts. Trustworthiness requires miners to be more vulnerable and transparent about their real agendas, which is often out of the comfort zone for boards and executives. It also requires self-awareness that they often act in blatantly self-interested ways.
We are facing an unprecedented surge in demand for minerals and metals but no matter how amazing the resource, without societal trust it will remain in the ground, and we can’t develop mines faster than we can build credibility and trust. The old-fashioned reputational management playbook of messaging, deflection, and neutralization will not build trust. Instead, our industry must be willing to unlearn past habits. We must accept that our world is a changed place, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Public trust has been further eroded and the absence of controversy around a company does not affirm good performance. Civil society’s relationship with business has shifted and it’s become resistant to reasoned argument. Polarization and misinformation flourish. De-globalization and protectionism are increasing, and the voices of local communities have strengthened.
People-centric approach
That means individual company actions and industry-wide collaboration, goodwill, and perseverance matter because it will be messy. We need to be in it for the long haul as trust can’t be built through commitments to terse, forgettable pledges, but through daily actions that demonstrate respect and an enthusiasm to learn. We must foster true curiosity about the impacts of mining — warts and all — but with genuine respect and humility, soliciting perspectives from those affected.
To start, we must be prepared to learn and focus on listening. This calls for a deep-rooted change in our mindset from the comfortable inward-looking product-centric narrative to an outward people-centric approach, striving to better understand and address existential impacts instead of trying to convince people of mining’s benefits. Miners should be willing to collaborate more and be ready to work with critical and impactful stakeholders (not just the more friendly ones) to genuinely learn from each other and define what “good” looks like.
To build legitimacy, we must collectively examine and agree on our societal utility and then consistently deliver on responsible mining commitments — without greenwashing, workarounds, or other excuses. A genuine willingness for joint decision-making and developing more sustainable, mutually beneficial (not patronizing or transactional) partnerships with a wider group of stakeholders will help build resilient and reciprocal relationships. Such stakeholder engagement needs to be a mindset as well as a process.
Trust is essential for a free, democratic, and functioning society. It is the true currency of life and business — the basis for almost everything we do. If we want to develop and nurture enduring trust with a more socially conscious and tech-enabled society, our industry needs to re-imagine itself and focus on demonstrating a genuine sense of collective societal purpose. Building societal trust is not about assessing risk and returns and is not an ordinary process. It won’t be easy. So let’s get to work.
Kevin PCJ D’Souza is a mining ESG executive and advisor with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He has worked in more than 50 countries for juniors, mid-tier, and major mining companies. kevinpcjdsouza@gmail.com
