NEWS

17.09.07
ICMM and members present at CASM conference in Mongolia

ICMM's Aidan Davy participated in the 7th Annual Communities and Small Scale Mining (CASM) Conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 7 -10 September. The focus of this years' conference was on "Effective Partnerships for Sustainable Small Scale Mining (ASM) Communities". Some 300 delegates were inattendance, including representatives of governments, civil society, international institutions, artisanal and small scale miners, and large-scale mining (LSM) companies.

Representatives of three ICMM member companies participated. Toni Aubynn of Gold Fields and Prishani Satyapal of AngloGold Ashanti made presentations in the plenary session on day1 on the interfaces between large-scale mining and ASM. Toni is co-Chair of CASM's recently formed LSM-ASM working group, and both Prishani and Toni participate in the Strategic Management Advisory Group (SMAG) of CASM. Jeffrey Davidson of Rio Tinto presented a thought-provoking summary of the challenges of achieving development synergies between large-scale mining and ASM, and chaired a number of presentations on the same subject.

On day 2 of the conference, Aidan facilitated an afternoon session on achieving development synergies between LSM and ASM, which focused on mutual cooperation between LSM-ASM toachieve outcomes such as improved environmental protection and enhanced social development. The discussion centered on better understanding: what was meant by development synergies; possible approaches to achieving such synergies; and practical actions for CASM and its partners to capture and encourage the spread of best practice. He presented a summary of the outcome of the discussions in plenary on the final day of the conference.Finally, a side-meeting was held on the last day of the conference between the CASMSecretariat, ICMM and the two ICMM members represented on CASM's Strategic ManagementAdvisory Group to discuss the outlines of an ICMM-CASM partnership on issues of mutual concern.

The CASM initiative, chaired by the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and housed at the World Bank in Washington D.C., was launched in March 2001 in response to international recognition of the need for an integrated approach to address the challenges facing artisanal and ASM communities. It is a multi-donor networking and coordination facility that engages with practicing miners, their associations and communities, governments and non-governmental organizations, and development assistance agencies.

News home

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Community Development Toolkit
Read more
Download PDF

RELATED LINKS

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

Principle 09:

Contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which we operate

© International Council on Mining and Metals 2008. The ICMM logo is a trade mark of the International Council on Mining and Metals. Registered in the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.