The promise of Africa.

Africa has large, relatively unexplored mineral deposits, and recent high economic growth rates have improved the political, economic, and infrastructural environments. However, these opportunities are accompanied by significant risks, including resource nationalism, uncertain regulation, corruption, and continuing political instability. Companies can actively manage these risks by creating a sense of shared purpose with the countries and communities that own the resources, using tools such as stakeholder analysis, local narratives, scenario planning, and constituency engagement. A key aspect in Zimbabwe is the socio-economic impact of resource development and related social programmes. Engagement with the local community is vital. A structured analytic tool is suggested which has four steps: develop stakeholder segmentation, understand the most prominent local narratives, understand potential future scenarios, and develop a detailed constituency engagement approach. Other core issues which should be considered include poverty, inequality and unemployment. Two case studies of successful community relations are discussed: Barrick Gold Corporation's Pascua-Lama gold project on the border between Chile and Argentina, and Rio Tinto's Hamersley iron and Argyle diamond mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Africa has large, relatively unexplored mineral deposits, and recent high economic growth rates have improved the political, economic, and infrastructural environments. However, these opportunities are accompanied by significant risks, including resource nationalism, uncertain regulation, corruption, and continuing political instability. Companies can actively manage these risks by creating a sense of shared purpose with the countries and communities that own the resources, using tools such as stakeholder analysis, local narratives, scenario planning, and constituency engagement. A key aspect in Zimbabwe is the socio-economic impact of resource development and related social programmes. Engagement with the local community is vital. A structured analytic tool is suggested which has four steps: develop stakeholder segmentation, understand the most prominent local narratives, understand potential future scenarios, and develop a detailed constituency engagement approach. Other core issues which should be considered include poverty, inequality and unemployment. Two case studies of successful community relations are discussed: Barrick Gold Corporation's Pascua-Lama gold project on the border between Chile and Argentina, and Rio Tinto's Hamersley iron and Argyle diamond mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.