That may be very true, but the general public still doesn’t quite believe it.
We saw that at play in Melbourne & Perth recently at international mining conferences. Climate change protesters clashed with police in both cities, with one saying “our aim is to shut down the conference”.
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan responded by saying the protesters were out of touch with the community who want jobs, and want to improve the environment “but they don’t think we should do so at any cost”.
The clash of opinions goes to the heart of a dilemma for mining. While the world has always relied on its products-and in copper’s case the keys to modern life like electrification & clean energy-the resource sector has done a poor job convincing anyone of it.
That was highlighted by Resource Capital Funds partner Ross Bhappu at a London conference this week, a long time critic of mining’s ability to sell itself.
Talking to Mining News, he said, ”the perception of mining is very negative. It’s a shame because if it isn’t grown it has to be mined. Metals are green. What’s more green than copper? Look at the UN sustainable development goals. Mining can impact all of them in some way.”
If anything the criticism of mining has only grown more vehement in the last decade as debates about climate change have escalated. The resources sector does have a responsibility to reign in carbon emissions and do things “greener’, there’s no denying that.
I can only talk about the copper industry, but I believe it’s taking a much smarter approach to those issues than it used to. There is now wide spread action to address ‘no impact’ mining via technology & renewable energy-something we’re fast tracking here with a Copper Mining Tech Roadmap.
I think this is the right approach. We’re already telling the world how copper makes electric cars go and solar panels & wind energy turbines work, but people are worried about the mining itself.
Miners have to get a lot better at, well, mining as we face much tougher questions from the community about our licence to operate. I think by working together, being innovative & embracing change we can significantly improve our performance.
Cheers,
John Fennell