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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT nology demands, the mining narrative now faces one of its greatest sea changes: The advent of Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. Or Sustainability or Social License to Operate, or, as others have termed it, the "Triple Bottom Line"—"people, planet, profit." What Makes a Mine 'Responsible'? After two decades of rapid global private sector growth, cross-industry CSR itself remains relatively new—though it has generated vast participation. Pharmaceuticals, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and chemicals all have their CSR footprints. In ways, the most high-profile CSR of all has been the push for renewable forms of energy—or "cleantech." Mining CSR, in the words of miningfacts.org, a Canadian website, refers to "voluntary actions undertaken by mining companies to either improve the living conditions (economic, social and environmental) of local communities or to reduce the negative effects of mining projects. By definition, voluntary actions are those that go beyond legal obligations, contracts and license agreements." Most often, according to the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, this CSR usually consists of investments in infrastructure (e.g., schools, roads, hospitals, health equipment, electricity, clean water and drainage repairs), investments in building social capital, (e.g., information on HIV prevention, family planning and improving hygiene), and investments in human capital (e.g., providing education, training and skills). Other activities include fostering microbusiness, aquaculture, crop cultivation, animal rearing and textile production, while technology maintains environmental standards. No mining CSR implementation is easy: Ongoing evaluation must be tailored to local needs; trial and error is inevitable, and environmental, social and economic factors predominate—some of which can halt a project in its tracks. Although direct land use by an operating mine is limited, for instance, the process affects huge areas via emissions and waste. Mining and exploration pose equal challenges. To reach deep deposits, access is needed to land thousands of times bigger than the mine itself; frequently, areas that are inaccessible because they're already in use—or, rather, populated. www.e-mj.com "It's not a short process," said Bruce Harvey, global practice leader-communities and social performance at Rio in an interview with Achieve, a magazine produced by consulting firm SKM. "It's not transactional; it can't be done by commercially focused lawyers. It must be made in a multidisciplinary way with sociologists, anthropologists, with legal help and with resourcing to community groups." One way or the other, based on a growing consensus, CSR is no longer an optional balance sheet expense as miners push ever-deeper beyond "tier one" areas to mine for all the things our changing world requires. Risky Business Beyond biotic impacts, mines can also increase local food and housing costs, and sometimes generate an influx of immigrants, accompanied by pressure on public health and public services, with prostitution, gambling and alcohol consumption added to the mix. "Quantitative evidence confirms what many have long known or suspected: Capital project delays due to 'above ground' or non-technical risk issues are substantial and more common than any other technical or commercial factors," said Michael Oxman, director of Advisory Services at BSR, a CSR consulting firm. Many inside, and outside, the mining community agree. Accounting advisory firm Ernst & Young ranked "maintaining a social license to operate" as its No. 4 risk facing the mining and metals sector in 2011 and 2012. This includes "increased expectations" from governments and communities, while building "strong partnerships with stakeholders and communities right from the start so they understand every aspect of the project." Statistics by the Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America, for example, underscore this: 176 mining projects in the region, it reported, are in conflict with 231 communities—five extending across national borders. CSR can also be used as an excuse to trigger resource nationalism when a government exceeds taxation through increased royalties or all-out ownership. All can be "implicit recognition that CSR programs are coming up short in having a transformational impact on their host countries," said James Smither, head of the mining and engineering practice at Maplecroft, a U.K.based risk advisory firm. In some cases, of course, even careful community ties can be irrelevant in the eyes of a predatory government. Last year, for instance, despite support from 43 indigenous communities near South American Silver's Malku Khota mine in Bolivia, three opposed groups managed to bring unwanted attention from President Evo Morales whose government went on Vale engineers work as volunteers to improve education in the Brazilian State of Maranh‹o. (Photo courtesy of Vale) SEPTEMBER 2013 • E&MJ; 31