Stakeholder Newsletter: March 2023

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Dear friends,

Every day, I ask myself what it will take to make our industry even more sustainable and responsible (that, and how great it would be if dogs could talk). It’s also a question I get asked a lot on panels at conferences — and around the dinner table from some of my more sceptical friends and family. Now there’s a conversation starter for you!

Ultimately, this is a question about trust. “Why should we trust the industry when past mistakes have shown us that maybe we shouldn’t?” I recently spoke at BMO Capital Market’s mining conference about just how precious a commodity trust is, and how trust building is a team sport.

I firmly believe that partnerships are key to building trust through action. An example of how our members are getting this right is our Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiative. By focusing the collective ambition to introduce zero-emission vehicles to mine sites, we have delivered a genuine call to action that technology and equipment manufacturers have responded at scale. This will help the whole industry, as manufacturers in the initiative are now looking set to deliver zero-emissions vehicles ahead of target. This week, we’re stepping this action up even further, through a partnership with an association of equipment-makers called CharIN that will remove technical bottlenecks around battery-electric infrastructure. Through this partnership, we are showing that we can deliver on issues that matter.

At the PDAC conference earlier this month, I was pleased to see a firmer focus on another driver of trust. Responsible mining, anchored by critical minerals is climbing up the global agenda. The question of “how” we secure minerals critical to our energy transition is rightly being seen as just as important as “from where, and how much” we want to secure.

For ICMM, the question of the “how” is through collaborative leadership aimed at the highest calibre of responsible mining. This theme will be expanded upon at the Economist Impact’s Sustainability Week where I will be on a panel about how heavy industries can decarbonise while remaining competitive.

We are facing a watershed moment for our industry on diversity, equity and inclusion and our members have responded by taking bold steps to update our Mining Principles. As part of International Women’s Day, we published facts and figures on these updates, and actions companies are taking to prioritise progress and help drive change in our industry’s workforce, host communities and broader society. Evolving our industry’s culture into one that focuses more on actions that build trust, and the inclusion of marginalised voices is a core tenant of our work here at ICMM. It is encouraging to see the progress so far, but we have a responsibility to turbocharge our efforts to go further, faster, together.

Warmly,
Ro

Features

ICMM talks Nature Positive with Mining Weekly

ICMM's Director of Environment Hayley Zipp talks about the ambitions of the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the solutions that mining can contribute towards making a world in which nature is more healthy, abundant and resilient.

Read the article here.

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ICMM and CharIN Launch New Mining Taskforce to Accelerate Progress on Zero-Emission Mining Vehicles

ICMM is partnering with CharIN to address technical bottlenecks in the interoperability of battery-electric charging systems to allow for the faster roll-out of zero emission mining vehicles. CharIN is a global association of over 300 members in the e-mobility community, including manufacturers and technology suppliers. Find out more about the partnership here

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ICMM Publish Fact Sheet on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Mining Industry

This month, on International Womens Day, ICMM published a fact sheet about our updated Mining Principles and the action being taken by our members to address key challenges and drive the necessary change on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Read the fact sheet.

Upcoming Events

The Economist 8th Annual Sustainability Week
London, UK, and virtual • 31 March, 15:50 BST

How are heavy-emitting sectors tackling emissions reduction? How much can businesses do themselves, and what do they need from other stakeholders? Join Rohitesh Dhawan, Teck’s Sepanta Dorri, Volvo’s Karin Svensson, Balfour Beatty’s Joanna Gilroy and BRANDi and Companies Piyachart Isarabhakdee for this panel session. Register here.

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Water in Mining Global Summit
Toronto, Canada • 26 April, 09:30 - 10:30 (EST)

Join ICMM's Water Programme Manager Dr Emma Gagen discuss the role of mining in achieving a nature-positive future, demystifying how to strengthen stewardship and coordinate at a landscape level to enhance stakeholder inclusion. She will be analysing site and catchment-based approaches to be more aligned with the stewardship maturity framework and how it works with the water accounting framework. Register here.

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CIM Expo and Conference 2023
Montreal, Canada • 3 May, 10:30 - 11:45 and 14:00 - 15:15 (EST)

The mining industry is a large user of water, a scarce and valuable resource. Join Dr Emma Gagen to discuss how the mining industry is innovating how it uses water at operations. Register here.

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FT Future of the Car Summit
London, UK, and virtual • 9 - 11 May

The supply chain chaos of the last few years has highlighted the fragility of global trade networks. Rohitesh Dhawan will discuss mining and metals’ role in building secure and reliable supply chains to help facilitate the transition to zero emission vehicles. Register here.

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Innovation Zero
London, UK • 25 May, 12:15 - 13:00 GMT

Rohitesh Dhawan will share how the mining and metals industry is helping with the decarbonising of the automotive supply chain. Register here.

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