Start Date: Sep 2012 End Date: Sep 2012

From 1 – 3 September 2012, The University of Queensland’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining in collaboration with Insitu Development Consultants, conducted a community relations (CR) foundation course at MMG-LXML’s operation in Lao PDR. 

MMG-LXML is currently in an expansion phase with several new pits either in planning or underway. The projected life of mine is around 20 years. Land access and acquisition was a priority for securing the future of the operation. Nevertheless, the current operating environment is cost constrained given the increases in cost of production and a predicted softening of commodity prices. At the corporate level, MMG is finalising a new set of new Social Sustainability standards, which will soon be rolled out across its global operations.

The training covered:

Day 1 – Introduction to community relations and external engagement

• Mining and sustainable development and the emergence of the CR profession
• Models of company-community interaction
• Social inclusion
• Types of relationships
• Principles and key concepts of dialogue
• Applicability to the Lao context    

Day 2 – Internal engagement (change agents)

• Dimensions of CR work
• Strengths and weaknesses at this operation
• Strategies for internal influence

Day 3 – Grievance mechanisms

• Substantive, procedural and relational justice
• Effectiveness criteria for best practice grievance mechanisms
• An analysis of the operation’s approach
• De-brief and future strategies
• Presentation of certificates

Each session used the following general sequence:

• concept/framework overview and explanation
• shared discussion and clarification
• application and analysis (scenarios, workshop, small group discussions)
• reflection and re-cap.

The foundation course is focused us on developing skills in ‘thinking’ (i.e. analysis and diagnosis) rather than simply ‘doing’. As such, the emphasis is on introducing a range of conceptual frameworks and schematics to enable practitioners to make sense of their work environment. A shared approach to analysis enables a team-based understanding of issues and problems.