Vibrant communities
Supporting people, families and communities to achieve what matters most to them is part of mining’s commitment to regional Australia.
Strong social connections, opportunities for people to live and work locally and access to essential services are priorities shared by many communities.
While companies tailor support to each community, common approaches include:
- Structuring operations to maximise spend with local suppliers. This approach led Whitehaven Coal to spend $344.7 million with local suppliers and contractors in 2020-21.
- Contributing to community, conservation, sporting and other local groups. Yancoal assisted 135 community groups in 2020 while Newcrest’s Cadia Valley provided $624,000 to community groups in 2020-21.
- Partnering to improve health, education and services, like Glencore Coal Operations’ support for Clermont4Doctors and Ungooroo Aboriginal Corporation health service.
- Funding local infrastructure development. In Moranbah, Anglo American is investing $20 million over six years in health, housing, education and other infrastructure.
- Innovative partnerships, like BHP and the Shire of East Pilbara’s Newman Futures project focusing on the long-term sustainability of the area
- Major contributions to support research and development. At Rio Tinto, this has included investing $12 million over three years in children’s health and wellbeing research.
Strengthening social performance
Industry is working harder than ever before to earn and maintain the trust of the people and communities with which it partners. The MCA is supporting industry to strengthen its performance across the social aspects of mining including:
- Safety, health and Respect@Work
- Respect for human rights
- First Nations and community partnerships
- Site-level transparency of systems and processes.