RepRisk Releases Its New Report on the Most Controversial Mining Companies of 2011
March 15 2012 - 10:56AM
Business Wire
RepRisk has released its new report on the 10 Most Controversial
Mining Companies of 2011, benchmarked against the United Nations
Global Compact (UNGC) Principles and other international standards.
This report highlights the consequences of environmental, social
and governance risks on the companies’ reputations, access to
capital and licenses to operate.
In 2011 Mining giants Alpha Natural Resources, Newmont Mining,
and Glencore International made the top ranks for issues related to
mountaintop removal mining and impacts on indigenous people and
protected areas.
Alpha Natural Resources, top ranked on the list, saw a dramatic
increase in its RepRisk Index (RRI), a quantitative risk measure
that captures criticism and qualifies a company’s exposure to
controversial issues, after its purchase of Massey Energy. Massey
had been targeted over its well-documented history of alleged
safety issues, fraud, and environmental concerns relating to its
mountaintop removal mining practices. The company paid a fine of
USD 210 million to settle ongoing criminal and civil cases related
to an accident at its Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, which resulted
in 29 fatalities.
Newmont Mining and Glencore International have both been heavily
criticized by major media outlets, including the Wall Street
Journal and the BBC, for their activities in Africa and South
America, particularly regarding their impacts on local communities.
According to a Reuters Special Report, public and media interest in
Glencore's operations, which has traditionally been shrouded in
secrecy, has heightened since its Initial Public Offering in early
2011. A study commissioned by Swiss NGOs Brot fuer Alle and
Fastenopfer has also reported that in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Glencore subsidiary Katanga Mining uses freelance miners,
including children, to work in precarious conditions in its
Tilwezembe Mine. For Newmont and Minas Buenaventura, the opposition
expressed by local communities against the Conga Mine in Peru over
its potential impacts on water sources led to the project’s
suspension in late November.
RepRisk CEO Dr. Philipp Aeby stated, “There has been a
significant impact on companies’ reputations from negative
stakeholder sentiment captured throughout 2011. This is made
obvious by the fines paid by the industry, increasing regulation,
and the risk of loss of license to operate faced by many of the
firms mentioned. It demonstrates that it may be in these companies'
best interests to heed the warning signals and to proactively
engage to address the environmental, social and governance (ESG)
issues raised by various activist groups, employees, governments,
shareholders and communities.”
Vedanta and Rio Tinto’s mining operations were so heavily
criticized that activists disrupted their Annual General Meetings,
calling on the companies to put a stop to alleged human rights
abuses at and around their work sites and to improve environmental
impacts. The RepRisk indexes (RRI) of Alpha Natural Resources,
Vedanta, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Glencore were all impacted by
links with corruption, bribery, extortion and money laundering
throughout the year. The RRI is used by the world’s leading
financial institutions to manage financial, enterprise reputation
and compliance risk.
For more information on the Top 10 Most Controversial Mining
Companies in 2011 click here:
http://www.reprisk.com/repriskspecialreports/
To read stakeholder views on issues in the energy and mining
sector in RepRisk’s eZine, RepRisk INSIGHT, click here:
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/reprisk/insight_201203/index.php#/0
-ENDS-
RepRisk is the leading provider of dynamic business intelligence
on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. Our analysts
monitor issues and identify published negative sentiment from a
wide range of stakeholders on an unlimited universe of companies
and projects in accordance with established international
standards. The standards monitored include the UN Global Compact
Principles (http://www.unglobalcompact.org/),
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/), ILO
Conventions (http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_095895.pdf),
the UN Convention Against
Corruption (http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/index.html),
the Equator
Principles (http://www.equator-principles.com/), World
Bank Group Performance Standards and
Environmental (http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sustainability.nsf/Content/PerformanceStandards), Health
and Safety
Guidelines (http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sustainability.nsf/Content/EHSGuidelines),
and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises (http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_34889_1_1_1_1_1,00.html).
RepRisk’s business intelligence allows companies, NGOs and
financial institutions to proactively assess ESG risks and
stakeholder issues that may present financial, reputational and
compliance risks.
The RepRisk Software as a Service (SaaS) based application
includes a variety of features enabling our clients to monitor risk
trends over time, to benchmark their UNGC performance against the
sector, screen their portfolio for sensitive topics, create
customized watch lists, tailor alert services, and more. The
RepRisk tool plays an integral role in financial risk management,
enterprise reputation risk management and compliance with internal,
ethical and international standards.
RepRisk covers all major business languages and its database
currently includes over 23,500 companies, 5,200 projects, 4,000
NGOs and 3,600 governmental bodies. It is updated continuously and
the number of entities is growing daily.
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