Environment, Social and Governance Risk Assessment
The Norge mining project is an early-stage project with exploration licences that are in the principal zones of economic interest in the Bjerkreim-Sokndal Intrusion. The main minerals of interest are titanium in ilmenite, phosphate in apatite, vanadium, and magnetite.
SRK was requested to prepare an early stage Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) risk assessment, identifying potential ESG risks to the project at the exploration stage. The scope of work included a review of the existing stakeholder engagement process for Norge Mining PLC (NMP).
The assessment included both a desktop review and field visit to understand the environmental and social context. Stakeholders were identified and an analysis was undertaken to assess their influence and importance in relation to the project. The field visit involved a review of the social landscape, ground-truthing the natural resource use, and meetings with identified stakeholder groups.
Social issues and communication and consultation issues were identified as the greatest potential risk for NMP. These findings and subsequent recommendations were presented to and discussed with NMP during a workshop led by SRK. The workshop facilitated a detailed discussion on stakeholder engagement and key messages to be expressed by all involved in the project.
NMP noted its responsibility to ensure stakeholder awareness of the What, Where, and When of its exploration activities. As part of the ongoing engagement, NMP wants to present information on the specific minerals being explored in the area and how the mining of these minerals can contribute to the green economy. Additionally, NMP wants to ensure that stakeholders are aware of NMP’s willingness to be transparent and to address concerns raised through the stakeholder engagement and management processes being developed.
SRK’s bespoke stakeholder engagement management system – srkEngage – has been developed and introduced to enable NMP to record, track, and report on all engagements and grievances. SRK remains at NMP’s disposal to support implementation of the stakeholder engagement strategy and provide technical support and advice on srkEngage.
