Exploration, feasibility and construction
When asked what they thought would be the biggest challenges during the exploration, feasibility and construction stages of a mining project, 74% of webinar respondents chose ‘managing community expectations’ as most challenging; 13% chose ‘assessing future project requirements’; 9% selected ‘procurement’; 4% chose ‘developing a local content plan’ and no one thought ‘assessing skills and competencies at a local level’ was the biggest challenge.
Ensuring that you have the trust of the local community can only be achieved if you deliver on what has been promised. Commenting on the result, Christian highlighted how working closely with the local community is essential for success.
“When you experience unrealistic expectations from the community, it could be a sign of unsuccessful engagement or an over-saturation of grant-funding. It’s important that the project is viewed as a partnership where you work closely with local organisations, businesses and government. If you don’t connect your socio-economic activities directly with local stakeholder priorities and business milestones, you are going to be in trouble.
“You need to involve local organisations, NGOs, banks, government and local partners from exploration to closure to ensure that a social infrastructure and a mind-set of self-dependency remain in place once the mining company wants to leave the area. It makes the process of closure smoother and less costly, demonstrating the business advantages of our SED strategy,” he added.