Looking Ahead - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 867

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Creating a regional development coordination mechanism that is representative of all
regional stakeholders, and

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Developing and implementing programmes to strengthen the regional non-mining sec-
tor capacity through the provision of i nancing and economic development programmes.

This model is now at the cutting edge of more innovative international mining and natu-
ral resource industry activity in developing countries ( Case 22.5 ). However, there are good
reasons to argue that this model for sustainable regional development and mining compa-
nies should go further.
Essentially within the framework of this model lies the potential for mining companies
to explore, identify and develop a variety of BOP business enterprises. These may be part-
nerships with local interests and communities. The novel idea promoted here is that they
should be treated as part of the core business of mining and natural resource exploitation.
This requires the following changes in approach:
●

A more fundamental and deeper commitment to regional partnerships;

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Deployment of resources into research and development to identify regional business
enterprise potential;

●

Employment within mining companies of a new suite of professional skills to address
diverse BOP business potential (e.g. economists, micro-business analysts, organizational
change experts, international cross-cultural management experts, economic anthropolo-
gists, sustainability scientists, etc);

●

Change management and business analyses to develop new and more appropri-
ate business models that allow concurrent i nancial differentials to operate within a
corporation;

●

Culture change within the corporation that allows acceptance of the legitimacy of
opportunistic business initiatives outside the conventional 'core business' mindset;

●

Acceptance that 'cost-neutral' low return or nil-return business activities are entirely
legitimate within a business model, if it can be demonstrated that such activities derive
tangible qualitative or quantitative benei ts to either the corporation itself (i.e. cor-
porate reputation, good regional politics and relationships) or the wider community
(stable society, social harmony, growing regional economy, progress toward regional
self-sufi ciency and sustainable local economy), and

●

Realization that small beginnings in BOP micro-enterprises can lead to regional, national
or global business growth, and hence to a valid economic engagement of the world's four
billion poorest people.

22.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

As noted in the opening chapter, mining is a human activity that long predates civilization.
It was a fundamental element in the growth of most historical civilizations, and is one of
the essential foundations of the industrial and post-industrial societies of the twenty-i rst
century. However, in its modern industrial phase mining can have a profound impact on
the physical environment, and environmental consequences may extend far from the mine
and may last for many years even decades after the cessation of mining. For years, this was
considered the price of extracting the minerals necessary for building and maintaining the
vast consumer societies of Europe, North American and Japan, whose products are now
found around the globe. But in the 1970s, concerns about the health and aesthetic impacts
of increasing air and water pollution led to the passage of laws which established the basis
for what is now the nearly universal process of EIA or environmental impact assessment.