University of Lapland

3rd MIREU SLO workshop shows that different understandings exist of acceptance and civil participation in mining in Europe Ryan Titley Mon, 16/12/2019 - 17:20

Under the title "Ensuring SLO is adaptive and resilient", GKZ and the University of Lapland organised the third (and final) SLO stakeholder workshop of the project MIREU - Network of Mining and Metallurgy Regions in EU - in Brussels. The host was the Saxon Liaison Office, which is increasingly dedicated to mining issues and has become an important port of call in the heart of Europe in this regard. As the leader of the SLO work package in the MIREU project, the University of Lapland team would like to thank GKZ and all the partners who helped design and run the workshop as well as a big thanks to all of the participants.

The workshop was split between the main event and an optional session with KU Leuven. The topics for discussion in the main event included (1) the different view of stakeholders and applicability of SLO at the regional level; (2) understanding how continuing to empower communities could affect the administrative, legislative and political decision-making processes; (3) the general negative perception of mining across Europe and whether the industry can borrow experiences from other industries, for instance, forestry; (4) examples from different European regions that encourage SLO via a non-binding approach; (5) how SLO is seen outside of Europe and what it means for a European mining industry that is operated by global industrial players; and (6) what should be taken into consideration when developing an SLO guiding framework tailored for Europe.

The two-day workshop showed that the understanding of SLO varies across Europe and, more often than not, SLO is not the term used when addressing acceptance issues at the regional level in Europe. Also of note was the debate around the general trend toward citizen empowerment. For example, the climate change movement Friday-for-Future, and the concerns some in the mining industry have as to how far that empowerment could go, and therefore the potential for SLO to be used as a veto to stop any development. Two important questions arose “does civil society need to be accountable to anyone?” and how do we reconcile SLO, which is defined as voluntary measures, with current legislation that already gives substantial participation to the public? MIREU partners and stakeholders from both Europe and overseas determined the core drivers of and barriers to SLO fitted in the European context in order to improve SLO’s resilience and adaptiveness.

The SLO measures introduced by different partners and presenters ranged from strategies to raise raw material awareness, to improvements in the educational system, to government changing stakeholders’ perceptions by directly involving stakeholders in (technical) evaluation processes, to companies adopting voluntary-based standards schemas created by governments and/or mining associations, to creating a neutral space for stakeholder communication - the list goes on.

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3rd MIREU SLO workshop shows that different understandings exist of acceptance and civil participation in mining in Europe

Social License to Operate

Fri, 19/07/2019 - 09:00

University of Lapland

GKZ

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Public

SLO experiences from across the globe - 1st MIREU SLO workshop

Ryan Titley — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:35:24 +0000

SLO experiences from across the globe - 1st MIREU SLO workshop Ryan Titley Thu, 19/12/2019 - 12:35

The first MIREU Social Licence to Operate (SLO) workshop with the theme Linking SLO and Sustainability: challenges in Europe and lessons from abroad was organised in Rovaniemi, Finland, between 8-9 May 2018. The workshop sought to understand what sustainability – social, environmental, and economic - looks like across Europe’s mining regions and how SLO both reflects this understanding and furthers it. The workshop consisted of a variety of conversations, story-telling and discussion topics, through which we explored international SLO guidance and practices from countries across the globe; the challenges facing junior mining companies in Europe and whether there are practical solutions; SLO as a driver of innovation; and at how emphasising the link between the coming energy transition and necessary ramp-up in minerals and metals production can change the negative perception of mining pervasive throughout much of Europe.

In one of our panel discussions, the panellists discussed the concept of SLO and shared experiences of SLO from different parts of the world. The discussion amongst the international panellists brought the audience many insights into SLO practices and the success of SLO guidelines in countries like Australia, Chile and Canada.

Daniel Franks from the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme at the UNDP reminded that the concept of SLO came from the mining industry itself, and that it essentially means the relationship between the productive process and communities that live around the process. According to Franks, the relationship between the community and a mining company is more important for gaining legitimacy than any social development accompanying a mining operation. But how can today’s mining companies create such relationships with the people living around the mining operations? According to Michael Hitch from the University of New South Wales, it is important for mining companies to understand the respective roles and responsibilities between the surrounding communities and the companies themselves, in order to create successful relationships. These relationships are therefore also imperative for the social licence.

Ian Thomson from Shinglespit Consultants, Inc. emphasised the importance of local-level, project-based SLO, as opinions concerning the mining industry are not influenced by best practices of companies, but by the problems created by the lowest performing units. According to Thomson, the most important elements that contribute to SLO are stakeholders’ perceptions of contact quality and procedural fairness, i.e. the degree to which they think that their concerns and interests are being protected, and how they see themselves in relation to the process - whether they can influence the way a project or a company affects their lives or not.

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Social License to Operate

Tue, 11/12/2018 - 09:00

University of Lapland

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Public

Future of EU mining regions collaboration

Hilary Webb — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 14:49:45 +0000

Future of EU mining regions collaboration Hilary Webb Fri, 26/02/2021 - 15:49

The Industrial modernisation S3P Mining industry and the CoMMER (ERRIN Task Force on Raw Materials) invite you to an online roundtable discussion on the future of the EU mining regions collaboration. It will be an opportunity to learn more about the initiatives supporting the networking of mining regions.

The online roundtable will take place on 4th March 2021 from 13:00 - 15:00 CET.

During the session, the S3P Mining Industry and the task force will be introduced as two sides of the same coin having a common objective to develop responsible EU mining. In addition, we will have an introduction to the H2020 project SCRREEN2 - Solutions for Critical Raw materials - a European Expert Network 2.

The meeting will the share aims and current status of these collaborations and to invite you to a brainstorming session exploring the good practices supporting and strengthening the EU mining regions collaboration. A more detailed agenda and instructions will be shared with registered participants from 1st March 2021 onwards.

Please register here before 18:00 CET on 3rd March, the link to join the meeting on Microsoft Teams will be sent on the morning of 4th March.

Agenda

The roundtable will be moderated by Ryan Titley, Director of Projects, ERRIN

13.00 - 13.05	*Opening and introduction*, Ryan Titley, Director of Projects, ERRIN
13.05 - 13.25	*Industrial modernisation S3P Mining industry – Supporting the development of the EU Regional Innovation Hubs of Responsible Mining & Metallurgy Business Solutions*, Ilkka Nykänen, partnership coordinator, Business Joensuu, North-Karelia, Finland and supported by the partners
13.25 - 13.45	*CoMMER, ERRIN Task Force on Raw Materials – supporting the regions in project making, policy shaping, partnering, and profiling,* introduction and background Juha Kaija, Geological Survey of Finland – GTK, MIREU project manager, and commented by the Brussels regional offices’ representatives
13.45 – 14.00	*CoMMER and SCRREEN2 - Synergies for improving the raw materials awareness across the EU regions,* W. Eberhard Falck, Vice-President, International Raw Materials Observatory
14.00 – 14.45	*Open roundtable* – moderated by the Ryan Titley, Director of Projects, ERRIN What are your expectations from the European regional collaboration? How the regions can operationalise their role in the implementation of the responsible mining and metallurgy industries? How to maximise the EU investments to develop sustainable regional and interregional mining ecosystems? How can regional cooperation promote a competitive mining & metallurgy sector and sustainable solutions? How the existing platforms Mining industry S3P and CoMMER can support each other?
14.45 – 15.00	*Conclusions and next steps,* Mika Riipi, County Governor, Lapland, Finland