Translated from the PERUMIN - 32 Mining Convention article at http://ow.ly/Syfee.
Pictured (L-R): SME Executive Director David Kanagy, Javier Salazar of San Martin and 2015 President of SME, Steve Gardner, while participating in PERUMIN - 32 Mining Convention.
Maintaining good relations with communities located within the area of influence of mining operations remains a major concern for mining companies. Such concerns are shared by organizations worldwide.
So said Steve Gardner, President of SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration) who believes that a good way to address this scenario is more proactive in communicating.
Gardner suggests that companies are the primary source of information and not only the events that occur around them, but also when it comes to the whole sector. "We have to get the facts to be offered to the public. Many people do not know a mine, do not know how it operates and have heard many negative things about mining and then thought to be bad, "said the president of SME.
In that sense, the Presidentof the SME advised the miners who know in depth the sector have a much more active approach. "They sho talk about their work, discuss it with their friends, their neighbors, sharing their opinions on social networks and thus be generating a stream of favorable opinion".
On the institutional side, Steve Gardner considers it important that the industry is going engaging in academia and its officers teach at universities and institutes to share their experiences. "This is also a way to spread the corporate culture of a mining company."
Another aspect that should not be neglected is the political field. For Gardner is an area where mining should go, because that is where often starts current negative opinion. In short, the connection of companies, universities and the political sphere is a necessary way to generate social support.