Involving the Public - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 128

TABLE 3.1
Example Outline for a Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan (PCDP)
Introduction
● Overall purpose of consultation and disclosure
● Structure of PCDP
Mine Proposal
● Key elements of mine proposal
● Time line
Stakeholder Mapping
● Project affected people
● Other affected people
● Stakeholder profi le
● Key issues that need to be managed
Principles and Policy Objectives
● Legislative requirements
● Emergence of international standards
● Company's internal requirements
Review of Past Disclosure and Consultation
Strategies for Continuous Communication and Stakeholder Involvement
● Applied methods
● Risks and opportunities
● Grievance mechanisms
Resource Allocation
● Funding
● Organizational structure
Time Line
Monitoring
● Indicators
● Reporting
Step 3 Consultation and information sharing (gathering diverse opinions and contributions) .
Tens or even hundreds of stakeholders may initially participate in one way or another in
the project. They are likely to present a diversity of perspectives e.g. different concerns,
different suggestions, different local expectations and needs, and different priorities. In
many cases this step includes mechanisms to integrate these perspectives into project plan-
ning, supported by technical evaluation.
Step 4 Option building, (possibly) converging in opinions, and a decision . Eventually, con-
vergence in opinions and perspectives should start to emerge, and fewer stakeholders may
be directly involved, until a decision is reached. The i nal decision may not necessarily
develop as a consensus of all the participants, but it may be simply a formal decision by the
mining company based on the various inputs received.
Step 5 Consensus-building for the long term (during project implementation) . The highest
level of public participation is collaborative decision-making which involves consensus
building procedures. There are many reasons why collaborative decision-making, while
desirable, is restricted to selected project aspects such as designing community develop-
ment programmes. This level of participation will only be reached at the later stage of
mine development.