Mining is critical for the planet – Cutifani – by William Lawrence (Mineweb.com – October 10, 2013)

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Anglo American CEO, Mark Cutifani, is the new chairman of the ICMM Council and has already made it apparent where he would like the organisation to focus in the year ahead.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – “Mining is critical for everyone on the planet” said Mark Cutifani at an ICMM reception yesterday evening in London, as he set out his stall on what he thinks the International Council on Mining and Metals should be focussing on as his term begins as the august organisation’s chairman.

According to its website, the ICMM’s basic brief is as follows: to improve sustainable development performance in the mining and metals industry. Its core membership comprises 21 mining and metals companies (the world’s largest miners) as well as 35 national and regional mining associations and global commodity associations working, in combination, to address core sustainable development challenges.

The ICMM now serves as an agent for change and continual improvement on issues relating to mining and sustainable development. It requires member companies to make a public commitment to improve their sustainability performance and report against their progress on an annual basis. In addition, to augment these efforts, it engages with a broad range of stakeholders (governments, international organizations, communities and indigenous peoples, civil society and academia) to build strategic partnerships.

To an extent though the ICMM is largely working with the already converted, and Cutifani, the new CEO of Anglo American Corporation who has become ICMM chairman almost by default as some other possible top mining company CEO contenders have fallen by the wayside in the past few months of bloodletting in the industry, obviously feels the organisation should go further in getting ‘the mining is critical’ message across to the general public rather than just raise standards in the industry itself, at which it has proven to be an excellent guide.

Talking to Mineweb at the reception, Cutifani comes across as a grass roots miner who has an inherent understanding of the industry, and its flaws, which he brings into his management style. He strongly believes that mining is indeed critical to the welfare and standard of living of everybody on the planet and insists that his troops, i.e. his employees down the line, should also be proactive at getting their message across to the community at large. They should be proud of their industry, which perhaps contributes to about 45% of the global economy, yet only takes up a minute portion of the planet’s land surface.

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