The mining world has quickly embraced environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles and more companies are seeing the need to meet those priorities, even on the level of investment, said Michel Brutti, founder and president of Clear Skies Investment Management, at the Mining Investment Event of the North conference on June 21.
"On the 'E' side, we can see there are solutions out there to go net zero maybe even before 2050 with the electrification of mining operations that's happening today," Brutti said during the "Beyond compliance: Transformational ESG" discussion panel, which was moderated by Anthony Vaccaro, president of The Northern Miner Group.
"This is really happening at a fast pace in the mining industry. [And] I think the industry had an epiphany with Rio Tinto's report [on bullying]. I'm assuming Rio Tinto isn't an exception. The great thing is that... they're already trying to address these issues," Brutti added.
Daniella Dimitrov, EVP and CFO of Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG), who also spoke on the panel, said miners need to spend more time taking concrete actions towards meeting ESG goals rather than just "checking boxes" in reports to say they've done something.
"How can we be more innovative around cleanup [after mines close]? Can we work with renewables and think about what we can do with the areas we reclaim? I think there are opportunities to be creative and [work with] capital providers, government and industry and for us to make more progress in reclaiming during operations than at the end of it," she said.
The invite-only event, held in Quebec City, was organized by VID Conferences.
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