With mining companies in Asia taking a growing interest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects of their operations, SRK Consulting engaged over 40 of its clients and other companies in a workshop dedicated to these topics in Beijing recently.
This followed an internal SRK knowledge-sharing workshop in which staff from its Asian and African offices discussed ways to integrate ESG issues into the company’s range of other resource-related disciplines. Vis Reddy, current chairman of SRK Consulting South Africa and now Africa regional coordinator at SRK Consulting, said the topics presented to clients included the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), climate change and responsible sourcing.
“There is considerable concern about ESG issues among many of the Chinese-owned companies that operate in Africa,” said Reddy. “These workshops were an important way in which SRK’s Africa and Asia practices are jointly reaching out to clients with our experience and insights – to build ESG awareness and capability wherever we operate.”
Other related topics for discussion were water stewardship and mine closure – both growing in importance globally on the responsible mining agenda. With several China-based mining companies active in African countries, the sessions were able to draw on case studies from SRK’s work in Africa, specifically in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sharing the challenges that Asian (Chinese) mining houses encounter when working on the continent and how these challenges can be overcome.
Read the full article on First Mining DRC Zambia.
