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6 SEG NEWSLETTER No 65 • APRIL 2006PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVEConnecting with CommunitiesA recent series of anti-mining articles inthe New York Times and other U.S. mediaillustrates the problem the mineralsindustry continues to have with widercommunity perceptions of its business.This should be a real concern to SEG asa learned society, as two-thirds of ourmembers are employed within the miningindustry.Outside the United States, in othercommunities where mining is animportant aspect of the economy, weare frequently portrayed as an industrywhich is dirty, distant, and dangerous.Until the recent boom in mineral commodityprices we were regularly cast asa sunset industry whose time was up.It amazes me how these images,mostly the product of an earlier era,continue to haunt the modern miningindustry. It shows how easy it is to get abad reputation and how hard it is toturn things around.Today, exploration and mining arehigh technology industries; there havebeen orders of magnitude improvementin safety performances over the past 10years, and most miners got their environmentalhouse in order years ago. Inmore remote locations the switch to flyin/fly-outoperations has removed someof the disincentives of distance. Miningwill rarely be a big-city business, but asa career it by now should haveimproved its appeal to top talent.It is easy for knowledgeable insidersto condemn the crusading nature ofinvestigative journalism with its factualerrors and emotive language and wonderat the motives of the authors. But inan age when the media is as muchabout entertainment as it is about reliablereporting, this stuff sells newspapersand in the process perpetuates thepopular prejudices and negative stereotypesof mining.Why, then, is there this continuingunfortunate public perception? Thereare several reasons, but let me suggestthree.1. Miners and explorers have notalways seen themselves as an integralpart of wider society. It is easy for themto work in isolation in remote locationsand have little daily contact with thewider community. They hold strongviews on the economic value they contributeto society but can have anotherwise shallow perception of mining’sother social impacts. Remember thebumper stickers “Earth first—we’ll minethe other planets later” or “If it can’t begrown it must be mined”? That level ofin-your-face intellectual hubris is whatused to pass for community debate.2. Communities nearer to mines perceivethis disdain, too. They ask, notunreasonably, what benefits will flow tothem after the neighborhood is minedout?3. Indigenous communities, stirredup by anti-mining and anti-global nongovernmentalorganizations, and nowlinked globally to the internet, havewaged very effective media campaignsagainst miners large and small. Theviewpoint of responsible miners can belost in the clamor.Since the Mining, Minerals andSustainable Development project firstgalvanized the world’s leading miningcompanies in 2001, the notion of leavingsomething sustainable after miningis over has gathered widening support.Sustainable development is what communitiesare now demanding, and leadingcompanies are seeing that engagingconstructively with their communitystakeholders is not only the right thingto do but also makes smart businesssense, as well. This is probably the bestopportunity for miners to win back theircredibility with the wider community.What Can SEG Members Do?Developing improved community attitudesand awareness requires the commitmentof all of us who make our livingfrom earth science. We have a role toplay and values and opinions to sharewith friends, neighbors, our children’sschools, and elsewhere. If we avoid thepublic debate it is no wonder that publicattitudes towards the minerals industryhave become so unbalanced.There are many good things beingdone by the professional bodies thatspeak for our industry. However, if weexpect our communities to take morenotice of the personal and corporatevalues which guide exploration andoperational decision-making and whythese are important for all of society,then we need to personalize the issuesand stand up and speak about themourselves. My sense is that most of ushave personalvalues not thatdifferent fromthose of ourstrongest critics.JOHN A.S. DOWSEG President2006SEG itself canbe more proactivein fostering debateand improving social and communityawareness and understanding amongall of our members. We should encouragesenior managers in the mineralsindustry and our leading academics tobe more visible socially and politically.And we should be more forthcoming onour website in advancing ethical behaviorin the minerals industry and in recognizingthe strong community connectionto our profession.There are other practical developmentsin the pipeline. For example,there will be a keynote address on sustainabledevelopment at the Society’s“Wealth Creation” Conference atKeystone, Colorado, in May this year, aswell as a workshop on the same topic.We need to become more aware of thiscritical aspect of our business.Another very useful source of informationon sustainable communitydevelopment has just been published bythe International Council of Mines andMetals (ICMM) in conjunction with theWorld Bank. A practical toolkit andhandbook with a wealth of information,as well as the social and economicrationale for community development,can be downloaded from the ICMMwebsite, .Finally, as an example of an articlewhich does provide a better balance,take a look at Patrick Moore’s reportfrom the Ntotoroso mine developmentproject in Ghana (Rocky Mountain News,February 4, 2006). Moore, one of theoriginal founders of Greenpeace, concludes,“Since my entry into the globalenvironmental movement in 1971—and especially in the last decade—mininghas contributed to a more sustainableworld economy, and keybeneficiaries of this progress are miningworkers, families and communities.How unfortunate the media is missingsuch an important part of the sustainabilitydiscussion.” 1
APRIL 2006 • No 65 SEG NEWSLETTER 7FOUNDATIONOfficers and Trustees for 2006Officers and new Trustees were elected,respectively, by the Board of Trusteesand the Foundation Members at theirmeetings last November in Salt LakeCity, Utah, and took office on January1, 2006. The SEG Foundation electedofficers and new Trustees are as follows:President – John A. Thoms. John willserve a second term as President. Heagreed to stand for re-election at therequest of the Board following advicefrom César Vidal, the then VicePresident who was to succeed to thepresidency. Due to increased responsibilitiesat his company, he regretfullyhad to decline the opportunity. Thedecision by César produced an in-depthdiscussion among Board members onsuccession planning.Vice President – M. Stephen Enders.Steve is the Vice President World WideExploration for Newmont MiningCorporation. He is a fourth-year Trusteeand currently serves on the SEGF Executiveand Nominating Committees, andthe joint SEG-SEGF Budget Committee.Secretary – Donald M. Davidson, Jr.and Treasurer – Harold J. “Harry”Noyes. Both Don and Harry will continueto serve respectively as Secretaryand Treasurer. Don is a fourth-yearTrustee (Class of 2007), and has heldoffice for three years. Harry has servedas Treasurer for both SEG and SEGFsince 2003. Both the Secretary and theTreasurer are elected annually.Trustees – Class of 2010. The three newTrustees are:Leendert G. “Len” Krol. Lenrecently served as President andDirector of Brazauro Resources, acompany actively exploring inBrazil, and is a former Vice PresidentInternational Exploration ofNewmont Gold Company. He previouslyserved as a FoundationTrustee 1998 – 2002, and currentlychairs the SEGF 2006 NominatingCommittee and serves on the jointSEG/SEGF Audit Committee. He hasbeen an active fund-raiser for boththe Society and the Foundation.RichardLeveille. Rich isthe President ofPhelps DodgeExplorationCompany, withoffices inPhoenix,Arizona. He was the Society’sJOHN A. THOMSSEG FoundationPresident 2006Regional Vice President Lecturer forSouth America in 2005.A. James Macdonald. James recentlyleft BHP Billiton where he was GlobalGeoscience Leader based in Brisbane,Queensland and is now an independentconsultant, retaining his residencein Brisbane. He is serving onthe SEGF Student Grants Committeeand the SEG 2006 NominatingCommittee, with previous service asan SEG Councilor and as a memberof several Society committees.Other Foundation News. A regularlyscheduled meeting of theBoard of Trustees wasto page 8 ...... from 5From The Executive Editor (Continued)Foundation and Society to studentchapters for a variety of activitiesincluding seminars, short courses,speakers, and field trips.Awards and LecturershipsA special awards dinner took place onOctober 15, 2005, and the followingSEG Awards were presented: PenroseGold Medal to Richard W. Hutchinson,Silver Medal to John J. Gurney, Ralph E.Marsden Award to Thomas A. Loucks,Lindgren Award to Anthony C. Harris,and Brian J. Skinner Award to C. EricSeedorff and Marco T. Einaudi. Councilapproved the following 2005 SEGAwards for presentation in May 2006:Penrose Gold Medal to Brian J. Skinner,Silver Medal to Holly J. Stein, Ralph E.Marsden Award to Tommy B.Thompson, and Lindgren Award toStephen J. Piercey. Council furtherapproved the following Lecturerappointments: Distinguished Lecturer –John J. Gurney, International ExchangeLecturer – Douglas J. Kirwin, ThayerLindsley Lecturer – A. JamesMacdonald, and Regional VicePresident Lecturer – Nicolas J. Beukes.The Traveling Lecturer program continuedto provide great visibility to theSociety. International ExchangeLecturer Michael D. Doggett (Queen’sUniversity, Ontario, Canada) presentedlectures in Canada (DalhousieUniversity/St. Mary’s University SEGStudent Chapter), Ireland (IrishAssociation of Economic GeologyConference), Mexico (University ofChihuahua, University of Sonora), Chile(Santiago), Australia (MacquarrieUniversity, AusIMM in Perth), andBrazil (Brasilia University, ADIMB,Federal University of Minas Gerais).Further lectures took place in Canada(University of Alberta, University ofOttawa, Acadia University) and areplanned for the USA (Colorado Schoolof Mines). Thayer Lindsley LecturerDavid R. Cooke (CODES, Tasmania)gave lectures at MDRU, University ofBritish Columbia, Canada, at theColorado School of Mines, Golden,Colorado, and at Colorado StateUniversity. He gave additional lecturesin Chile and the Phillipines. RegionalVP Lecturer for 2005 Richard A. Leveille(Phelps Dodge, Arizona, USA) deliveredlectures at ProEXPLO and UNESCO-SEG,both in Lima, Peru. SEG DistinguishedLecturer for 2005, Robert J. Bodnar(Virginia Polytechnic Institute), deliveredhis lecture entitled “The role offluid inclusions in ore genesis research:Yesterday, today and tomorrow” at theone-day Centennial CelebrationSymposium in Salt Lake City, Utah. 1
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