Establishing and Maintaining a Social Licence to Operate in Mining

This live webinar explains the principles for getting and keeping a social licence in mining.

The social licence exists when a project has the ongoing approval of the local community and other stakeholders. It is rooted in the beliefs, perceptions and opinions held by the local population and other stakeholders about the project. It is therefore dynamic and non-permanent, but contrary to many people’s perception, very measurable.

The focus of this course is on the strategic management of socio-political risk. It begins with topics concerning assessing the location, severity, and causes of socio-political risk in the project’s stakeholder network. Then principles for mitigating risk are reviewed. They include strategies for changing the network structure and for devising more appropriate stakeholder relations strategies. Finally, specific community initiatives and programs are discussed to show how they meet multiple risk reduction criteria simultaneously, such as those advocated in corporate social responsibility and sustainability charters and guidelines.

The points in the course are illustrated with examples from Latin America, North America, and Austral-Asia. The examples include projects at different stages of the mine lifecycle and in communities with different pre-existing capacities for issuing a valid, durable social licence.