DIGITALIZATION
Digital technologies are making it easier to collect and share environmental data. CREDIT: ADOBE STOCK/TOM SPARK
ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY & TRANSPARENCY: Rebuilding trust with stakeholders
It’s no secret: After decades of considering environmental performance as second priority, the mining industry urgently needs to regain the trust of communities, project stakeholders and funding partners. Using digital technologies to provide transparency through real-time environmental information can help the industry improve its reputation and rebuild trust. By Jerome Pelletier
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n the past decade, mining companies have been improving their practices to prove that they are responsible corporate citizens. Canadian firms were the first to embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR) and they have adopted stricter environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in response to new regulatory requirements and national initiatives like Towards Sustainable Mining and ECOLOGO certification. These strides are important, but more still needs to be done to convince the general public of the commitments made by the mining
MAY 2021
industry. With growing worldwide concern about issues like water and air quality, the industry needs to step up its efforts to reassure the public that it is committed to environmental stewardship. Without a major concerted effort, mining companies will continue to face challenges such as push-back from communities – especially from the younger generation – as well as permitting issues and a labour shortage. In today’s world, digital technologies make data monitoring simple. It’s easy to monitor environmental indicators and share data in real time on the web. Also,
considering that other ESG factors, such as worker rights or health and safety records, can’t be so easily measured by technology, being transparent about environmental factors is relatively simple to achieve. “Transparency and accountability are the cornerstones of good governance in all economic sectors, and especially in mining,” said François Vezina, vice-president, technical services at Osisko Development Corp. “Gaining public trust is crucial to the future of our industry. With the right actions, we can improve conditions for
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