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Shifting the mining sustainability priority mindset

Balancing profit delivery to shareholders with responsible resource stewardship is an ongoing challenge.

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Due to growing awareness of the urgent need to address climate change and protect the planet’s natural resources, society’s expectations of mining resource companies has shifted to prioritise sustainability. Consumers, investors, and Governments alike are increasingly demanding that companies demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and are rewarding those that do so.

Balancing profit delivery to shareholders with responsible resource stewardship is an ongoing challenge. To operate sustainably, organisations must be committed to both short and long-term responsible mining through continual improvement of ESG practice. However, when considering their operations, coupled with the need to deliver for the market, these implications can be difficult to quantify. The reality is that a one size fits all approach does not always work.

Real change and building a sustainability mindset across an organisation requires a sustained and multi-faceted effort that involves everyone from the top down. But with the right focus and commitment, it is possible to embed sustainability into the very fabric of an organisation and drive meaningful change.

Ultimately, the key to making sustainable decisions is to undertake a comprehensive and inclusive approach that factors in the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders, and that balances short-term and long-term considerations. This may involve accepting a certain degree of uncertainty or ambiguity, and being open to adjusting your approach as new information becomes available.

With mining resource companies having a risk-driven mindset, it’s challenging to appreciate nuances in social, environmental, and governance performance. Frameworks like the ‘triple bottom line’, that examines economic, social, and environmental impacts, can help evaluate performance against business value. Changing long held mindsets from incremental change to long-term change, can also be challenging.

Through years of experience in the mining industry and our award-winning business simulations, BTS provides customised offerings that deliver breakthrough mindset changes, whilst uncovering the short and long-term impacts of decisions, and quantifying non-financial metrics.

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