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"Striking disconnect" between miners and sustainability, RMI report finds

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International miners must work harder to ensure sustainability targets are met and social impacts must be taken more seriously, the latest Responsible Mining Index (RMI) has revealed.

The report, which was conducted by the Responsible Mining Foundation, looks at 40 companies and 250 mine sites across 53 countries and found that many top miners are still not incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their operations. Although some progress has been made.

The authors highlight a "striking disconnect" between corporate commitments and mine site action on critically important ESG issues.

Read more: "Green mining is a myth": EU must be tougher on mining, report suggests

A number of humanitarian crises caused by mining activity have occurred in the last two years including Rio Tinto's destruction of the Juukan Gorge cave complex in Australia, the Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil, and the Kabwe lead mine leak in Zambia. 

As a result, the mining sector is under increased pressure to clean up its act, work with local and national governments to minimise habitat destruction and take environmental factors into account.

94% of the mine sites score an average of less than 20% on the fifteen basic ESG issues assessed, while a few mine sites show significantly better results, showing that it can be achieved. Typically in these situations, higher-ups in the company, such as the Board of Executives, will be actively aware of risks and how they are being managed.

The report urges miners to move past consolidated reporting and aggregate figures to meet stakeholders’ needs for relevant information and meaningful engagement.

The RMI shows an average improvement of around 11% at the corporate level compared with the 2021 RMI, with some lower-performing companies, such as Rio Tinto, having made some strides in transparency and working with local landowners or communities.

In addition, 37 of 40 companies show up among the best performers in at least one of the improvement indicators: commitment, action and effectiveness.

Anglo American, which has made great strides in attempting to make its operations greener, tops the list in all categories except for workforce wellbeing, where it came in second.

However, the report states that even amongst the top performers, there is still little evidence of improvement regarding responsible practices and policies at a corporate level, or corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The RMI suggests that public commitments to ESG factors have become the norm in the mining community, such as pledges to become net-zero, or Rio Tinto's attempts to work with traditional landowners in heritage reforms. However, these have had relatively mixed results.

Read more: Fortescue acquires WAE in race to net-zero

It also finds little correlation between corporate measures on specific ESG pledges and action on mine sites. For example, most companies show some level of corporate protocols on water management and to engage with worker representatives on occupational health and safety, but few of those analysed have implemented these actions.

There has also been slow adoption of "good practices", such as caring about employee wellbeing. The RMF shows an increase since the 2018 report, but progress has been slower than it should have. Despite this, the report indicates a roughly 30% improvement on average regarding policy on ESG issues.

However, on that note, many of the miners surveyed had significant disparities between their best and worst performing sectors - sometimes exceeding a 50% difference.

The RMI also regularly adds new parameters for tracking with each successive report to allow for better analysis on which companies track performance against specific targets for "progressive rehabilitation".

The evidence for these targets was extremely weak with practically no cases of companies setting targets on these issues, despite the fact that the mining industry is familiar with using targets for tracking other issues, such as greenhouse gas emissions or the gender balance of boards", the report states.

"Given the importance of targets for driving improvement and tracking progress, it is important that companies set specific targets for the full range of their ESG-related initiatives."

The RMI also found that more "well-established" issues such as community-company relations, disaster relief funding, financial surety and paying a living wage still show weak results when compared with previous reports. The report finds these are rarely addressed in external requirements or reporting frameworks.

Miners have also not taken more recent issues, such as preparations for future public health crises, the shift to automation and protection of the deep sea into account. Conversely, actions on human rights abuses, anti-bribery and corruption and responsible sourcing have all seen marked improvements in recent years.

As normal, the RMI suggests 12 key improvements for miners to make ESG goals more attainable. These include: 

In conclusion, few miners have made significant strides in meeting sustainability goals, but some steady progress has been made.

Read more: COP26: SSAB pledges fossil-free steel products by 2026

A lot needs to be done in order to allow the mining sector to reach the goals it has pledged, and without heeding the major recommendations laid out in the report, many may be impossible to achieve. CSR should also be at the heart of future sustainability drives.

- The full report alongside its modules can be accessed here.

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