Australian Mining Wakeup Call

Compared to other sectors like banking, retail, telecommunications, Australian mining companies are leading in the way in making social, economic and environmental contributions to areas such as education, health, economic development, indigenous communities, recreation, safety and wellbeing, and the environment. However, mining is still leaving a bad impression in some parts of Australia. This raises the question; how can we make a good impression and drive the concepts futuristic sustainable mining in a transparent manner in mining communities? This article highlights social contributions made by mining companies and their impacts. Then finally, to provide a strategy as to how to minimise conflicts between mining companies and communities, and how to move forward to a sustainable future. 

Australian companies’ contributions to sustainable projects – Pre Covid 

In Australia, Rio Tinto contributes $256milion, the largest amount of all the other companies in different sectors. Next comes BHP with $134.6m. This is based on the following data. 

Australian companies’ contributions to sustainable projects – During Covid  

We can see a similar pattern during COVID-19 where mining giants such as BHP and Rio-Tinto made considerable contributions in social, economic and environmental areas. Mining companies alone contributed over $100 million between February and August 2020.

As shown in the diagram below, top contributors such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Newcrest, South32 spent money on education, recreational activities, health, the environment, diversity and safety. 

Building trust in mining using digital technologies 

Recent incidents which happened in the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in the Pilbara, Western Australia led to the Rio Tinto CEO stepping down. This type of incident happens on and off with mining due to a lack of transparency between mining companies and communities. 

We at Mine Connector help to build and  gain trust between mining companies and communities by increasing transparency using digital technologies.

Did you know that nearly 300 people were killed when a tailings dam collapsed at Vale’s iron-ore mine in Brumadinho?

Did you know that Vale had to pay $107m in compensation?

Ask yourself whether you could ever pay enough to compensate for a loved one, who experienced such a tragic disaster?

Imagine how such tragedies could be avoided by connecting with mining communities in a transparent manner.

Dams collapsing is not the only issue faced by mining companies. There are other conflicts with mining communities as well. 

Our aim is to improve the impression of a mining business by successfully connecting mining communities with mining companies. We see 3 problems

1. Mining companies have a bad reputation
2. Mining companies and communities are not well connected
3. Conflicts between mining companies and communities are increasing

At Mine Connector we build community dashboards to show vital information in mines which helps to

• be transparent and pragmatic
• drive the UN sustainable development goals 
• reposition a mining company for a sustainable future  

Our recommendation is to drive futuristic mining by following 4 principles

1. Bridge - Bridge the gap between mining companies and communities by showing vital information, finding new schemes and accelerating current initiatives based on community demand
2. Rebrand - Rebrand a mining company by changing the way people see mining companies in the future, and actively supporting mining communities
3. Impact - Help mining companies to become more sustainable, and make an impact on mining communities socially, environmentally, and economically
4. Sustain - Redesign mining operations according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), increase the awareness of the UN SDGs in mining, and foster interaction with mining communities

Smart mining communities 

We develop dashboards to show what really happens in mines, to share important information transparently, and to speak out if something is wrong. This includes matters such as dam levels & pressure, water quality, waste management, waster consumption, power generation, community projects and $ contributions, air quality levels, incidents and employment rates and productions. 

Dashboards can be installed at mining villages, community centres, entrances to the mines, and mining headquarters so the people know about the impact of social, economic, environmental initiatives run by a mining company. Information on dashboards directly impacts on the UN sustainable development goals and shows sustainable initiatives being implemented by mining companies.

Our dashboards can be easily scalable so that they can be used by other communities of a mining company and share sustainability initiatives between mining communities in a transparent manner.

Siloed mining village – build dashboards targeting one mining community  

Global mining village – vital information between two mining communities shared by one mining company or multiple mining communities. 

In conclusion, we strongly believe that we can change the way mining companies are working in the future in a more transparent way using digital technologies. If you are interested in our solutions, we are happy to engage and work with you for a sustainable better future for the mining sector.

 About the author:

Kash Sirinanda has a doctorate in mine planning and optimisation from the University of Melbourne, Australia. During his PhD studies and post-doctoral work at the University, Kash developed algorithms for generating designs that maximise the NPV of a mining operation. That work provides the basis for software that assists mine planners to design more profitable mines. Kash was also a visiting scholar at the Colorado School of Mines, USA.

He has worked on various mining projects which include due diligence, operation, analytics, AI, optimisation and digital in different commodities around the globe. He is a keynote speaker and provides mining leaders with strategic direction, and visionary leadership.

Kash′s vision is to engage, partner, and collaborate with leaders and decision makers to transform a business into a best-in-class, advanced digital and sustainable-enabled competency company.

Founder of www.mineconnector.com & www.elitefuturists.com

References:

https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/leaders/australia-s-top-corporate-givers-revealed-20191030-p535o6

https://strivephilanthropy.com.au/corporate-australia-givinglarge-through-covid-19/

https://strivephilanthropy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GivingLarge-Report-2019.pdf

https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/rio-tinto-ceo-steps-down-executives-axed/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/16/vale-brazil-mining-dam-collapse-brumadinho