Our experience indicates that the viability of a mining project begins with good social management from exploration, focused on:

• Initial contact: clear communication, internal alignment and expectation management
• Viable initial land use agreements
• Prior consultation with indigenous peoples
• Management of available benefits: employment, local purchases and others
• Building a climate of trust and support for the future development of the project, avoiding liabilities

• Communication and relationship strategy with an expanding area of influence:
  • Relations with local governments and other political actors
  • Management of concerns about impacts on water resources
  • Management of expectations in the area of indirect influence
• Land acquisition and resettlement
• Impact studies, stakeholder engagement and management plans
• Prior consultation with indigenous peoples
• Negotiation of benefit agreements related to construction and operations
• Management of informal or illegal mining

• Profit management: employment and supply chain
• Establish social management requirements for contractors, and support their training and supervision.
• Complaint management, engagement and conflict prevention
• Social strategy for transition to operations: job cuts and changes in the supply chain
• Social strategy of transition to operations: decrease in employment and changes in the supply chain

During the operation, the implementation of the Social Management System is consolidated to:

• Consolidate community relations, establishing spaces for long-term multi-stakeholder dialogue.
• Monitoring and management of commitments and grievances and conflict prevention
• Management of available local benefits by managing expectations
• Strategic management of social investment
• Management of social information to generate performance indicators and accountability to management, shareholders, investors, authorities and stakeholders.

A good closure plan starts from the project design and should consider and update key social aspects such as:

• Assessing and managing post-closure social risks, including potential land invasions or illegal mining
• Define with local stakeholders viable post-closure land use alternatives that complement and support environmental measures.
• Management of the end of local employment and supply chain, through anticipated reconversion programs.
• Focusing the social investment strategy to promote resilience and avoid dependence
• Build alignment and understanding of the closure process with authorities, regulatory agencies and local population.