Home  >  Sustainability  >  Community & People  >  Listening

Listening

Listening

Building robust trust-based relationships with our host communities and countries is the foundation of our approach to community and relations.

We believe that effective community relations are best developed, managed and delivered at site level and, like our CDCs, is underpinned by participation from the community. For this to work, however, it is critical that we spend time with and listen to our stakeholders, particularly the communities in which we operate. At each site we develop stakeholder maps to understand the breakdown of our communities, areas of influence and who we need to talk and listen to and on what aspects. From there we develop our stakeholder engagement plans. These set out the cadence with which we engage and listen, and the methods we use to do so.

Details on our approach to the establishment of community relations is set out in our Social Performance Policy and are further detailed online.

How we Engage

How we engage varies by site and is informed by the social and operating context of the site. But the engagement philosophy is consistent; engagement must be open and honest, and the community must be at the heart of it.

Modes of Engagement

Dedicated specialists at each site
To drive on-the-ground implementation of strategy and plans.

Community site visits
To show local communities what happens at the mine and the standards we apply.
Our Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic hosted such site visits throughout 2022.

Participatory water monitoring
At our operations such as in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Tanzania, we partner with local community members to collaboratively monitor water quality and share the results with the communities.

Grievance mechanisms
We have community grievance mechanisms at all our sites. These enable community members to formally lodge complaints and raise concerns. They are a fundamental way we monitor and assess the strength of our community relations. We track the number of grievances received each month and aim to resolve all grievances lodged through the mechanism within 30 days of receipt.

 

Listening to and Resolving Community Grievances

All our operations and projects have active grievance mechanisms in place to enable the local community to raise concerns or complaints in a formal manner. Our grievance mechanisms are designed to meet the requirements of the IFC Performance Standards and the United Nations Global Compact.

We believe that the success of a grievance mechanism, or the measure of a mine’s relationship with its communities, should not be measured by the number of grievances received. A lack of complaints can indicate a mechanism or company that is not trusted or is regarded as unapproachable by local stakeholders, while a large number of grievances can indicate open lines of communication and robust community engagement activities. We work to constantly raise awareness with our communities of the grievance mechanisms and how it works. This includes using trusted partners and external bodies where appropriate to also raise awareness and build trust. A good example of this is at our North Mara mine in Tanzania. Since we resumed operational control of North Mara, a key focus has been to rebuild trust with the community. Part of this work has been to use local

Performance

During 2023, we received 508 grievances across the group. Of these, 205 (40%) were resolved through our grievance mechanisms within 30 days, with the majority that don’t meet this internal target being associated with resettlement. Due to the nature of these grievances and land valuations, thorough process is followed and an agreeable outcome takes priority.

Of the grievances received during 2023, the majority were linked to the resettlement process at Kibali. Resettling people and communities is a complex and challenging process and an increase in grievances during the resettlement process is not unusual or unexpected. For each resettlement we undertake, we develop resettlement-specific grievance mechanisms to ensure they are promptly resolved.

As we reopen Porgera, one of our priorities is to resolve the
265 legacy grievances which are mostly associated with grievances requiring on the ground investigations, such as blasting impacts, dust and relocation. See the Human Rights chapter and a New Start for Porgera for our commitments and reopening action plan.