The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has launched a global initiative aimed at enhancing mining’s contribution to development and poverty reduction through multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Through the ‘Mining: Partnerships for Development’ initiative ICMM’s 19 member companies have made a formal policy commitment to actively seek such partnerships across six priority themes - poverty reduction, revenue management, regional development planning, local content, social investment and dispute resolution.
In launching the initiative, AngloGold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani said: “Enhancing mining’s developmental impacts is a critically important issue and needs to be undertaken through developing solid partnerships, particularly with host governments and communities.
“Together with my fellow CEOs on the ICMM, I call on governments, donors and civil society to work with us to improve the social and economic outcomes from mining investments.”
ICMM research has identified 41 economies which currently or in recent decades have relied significantly on mining.
Many of these are developing countries with high poverty levels and many are in Africa. However, while some still suffer from the so-called ‘resource curse’, others, such as Ghana, have been able to prove that this curse is not inevitable.
ICMM’s senior program director Kathryn McPhail says, “Five years of internationally renowned research – in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Bank - indicate that partnerships involving companies and other stakeholders such as governments, donor agencies and civil society, can be a powerful way to tackle development challenges.” 
In support of the commitment, ICMM has also released ‘Mapping in-country partnerships, a publication that illustrates existing partnerships across the six priority themes. They include a number of partnerships in which AngloGold Ashanti is involved, including an initiative in South Africa to improve opportunities for former mine workers, and company support in Brazil and Argentina for regional development agencies to stimulate economic diversification.
The ICMM was established in 2001 to act as a catalyst for performance improvement in the mining and metals industry. Today, the organization brings together 19 mining and metals companies as well as 30 national and regional mining associations and global commodity associations to address the core sustainable development challenges faced by the industry.
www.icmm.com/mpd