BOARDROOM TAILS: Small light at the end of the shaft
Firms seem to be slowly starting to recognise the importance of engaging with communities affected by mining
The Cape Town International Convention Centre, where the Mining Indaba is held, and the Woodstock hotel that is hosting the Alternative Mining Indaba are separated by 3km. But the difference in perspective between those attending the two indabas could more accurately be measured in light years. The delegates at the conference centre represent the money side of mining — the people whose job it is to persuade governments to allow them to extract valuable minerals from distant territories and then persuade shareholders to invest. Legend has it that during the commodity boom these money men carried billion-dollar cheques to help them close deals in the conference centre side rooms. Inevitably big profits resulted.The delegates at DoubleTree Hotel in Woodstock are there on behalf of people who live in those distant territories where the mining occurs and where the community is turned on its head, fighting over the lean spoils that are as inevitable as the destruction of an environment an...
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