TCCS at the Mines and Money Conference

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COP26 resulted in the Glasgow Declaration. It is well documented that the signatories agreed on taking proactive steps to reduce emissions and introduce measures that lead to a Carbon Zero economy. Less well documented is that without mining we cannot achieve the Carbon Zero economy campaigners demanded and governments have committed to deliver. If we want to transition to a green economy mining becomes essential. For a long time, mining has been neither fashionable nor popular, that may not change but at TCCS we want to help the industry do better.

Mines and Money 2021
Mines and Money 2021

Our attendance at the Mines and Money Conference held at the London Business Centre on the 2nd and 3rd of December vindicated our view that ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) was something mining needed to take seriously and get on top of. ESG was the hot topic at Mines and Money 2021. It was a good moment to meet with delegates and introduce a service to help them start something new in their business or improve their existing Community Operations.

The conference was well organised with many breakout talks on specific issues and challenges. It was, of course, also a great opportunity to network with industry leaders. Hats off to Andrew Thake and the Mines and Money team for delivering a constant stream of relevant and educational events. We were particularly interested to hear Jamie Strauss, the founder and CEO of Digbee ESG, set out how his platform enables practitioners to report their ESG standards to the financial markets.

Speaking at the conference Jamie Strauss said, “The mining industry carries the hope of the world, but you would be forgiven for not realising this given mining wasn’t included in the recent COP26 climate conference,” Strauss said. “Mining offers so much to the world, but it needs to prove its ESG credentials to remain credible to the wider world.”

He expanded on this point when speaking to media later in the day: “I think the debate on ESG has moved on quickly during the past 12 months. There’s now a realisation that every company – from explorers all the way up to the biggest producers – must prove their ESG credentials. Ultimately, these credentials will have an impact on the pricing of the commodities in question, and whether or not some trade at a premium to others.”

It was also fascinating to hear Sarah Gordon talking through Satarla’s learnings at COP26 and what they meant for an industry not part of the Glasgow summit but  with such an important role to play in our low carbon future. Among a number of noteworthy panel discussions, one that stood out for us considered how the mining industry can work better with governments and local communities, which stimulated a fascinating discussion between Taiwo Adeniji, of Africa Finance Corporation, Ignacio de Calonje, of the International Finance Corporation, Louise Wrathall of Central Asia Metals (and their experience from a spill that has created a best practice case study in crisis management) and Sylvia Tonova of Jones Day.

This, and much else grew our confidence in what we want TCCS to do; that is instil communication disciplines and methodologies into the operational teams of essential businesses. Our work will result in people doing their jobs better. In learning from our best practice communications processes, businesses reduce their operational risks and demonstrate investor value through improved community communications. In turn, improved community communications build stronger community relations and that helps with the advancement of each community and the societies of which they a part. Words do have consequences.

Giles Bancroft
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