Empathy and compassion; the way to make responsible mining practices the norm

Keynote speech (as written) at London Indaba.
Rohitesh Dhawan, President and CEO, ICMM

Figuratively of course, it means to see the world through others’ eyes. To understand their frame and therefore their choices. To feel what they feel.

This is easier said than done, as anyone fighting with a spouse or friend will confirm! Ego and impatience often get in the way.

Today, I want you to join me in doing something tougher - walking a mile in the shoes of someone we don’t know and don’t like.

I want us to walk a mile in the shoes of an irresponsible miner.

The people who we think give mining a bad name. Who cause undue harm to people and the environment. Who are “bad” people.

Why? Because like me, if you dream of a safe, just and sustainable world, then making all mining more responsible must be a priority.

That means tackling irresponsible mining. And that means, at least for a moment, replacement judgement with curiosity for mining that falls short of good Standards. Only then do we stand a chance of finding workable solutions – because we will have a deeper understanding of the causes.

So, join me on a tour of 3 countries – South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil. We’ll meet people and places that remind us of the dangers of irresponsible mining. With that grounding, we’ll see places that are thriving and flourishing because of responsible mining. Understanding both is critical to making responsible the norm.

First, let me tell you about Tiger. That’s not his real name, but what he’s known by. He’s a wanted man in South Africa and he's on the run.

He was one of the organisers of the illegal mining operations at Stilfontein gold mine, and perhaps countless more. That situation ended in grave tragedy – 78 people died the most horrible deaths. Spending months underground and refusing to resurface for fear of arrest. People died of mass starvation and disease. Some even resorted to cannibalism. This is 2025, ladies and gentlemen. 

It could have been worse, were it not for the efforts of Mine Rescue Services – an industry-funded organisation which helped bring 240 people to the surface.

Thankfully the Stilfontein tragedy has ended, but as we sit here today, there are countless illegal miners in shafts up and down the Witwatersrand basin, and in tens if not hundreds of sites around the world. Health & Safety is often non-existent, toxic chemicals cause harm to people and nature, and human rights violations are rife.

Why? Why do people like Tiger do what they do? What’s the cause, and therefore the solution? 3 insights come to mind

1. Tiger is a middleman. He organises the workers doing the actual “mining” but reports to a boss. Who reports to a bigger boss. The lesson is – illegal mining is often a highly sophisticated crime syndicate. Our law enforcement agencies need to treat and address it as they would a drug cartel or terrorist organisation.
2. Tiger is not South African. He’s from Lesotho, and most of the workers he controls also come from neighbouring countries. These have traditionally been major labour-sending areas to South Africa and have suffered as the South African mining industry and economy has weakened. Peru and Chile face similar migration dynamics, and so we must remember that there will be no lasting solution to these challenges unless there’s lasting regional economic development and prosperity. To be brutal about it, if illegal mining was my only opportunity to feed my family, then hand me a shovel.    
3. The gold that Tiger’s team produces ultimately, most likely, finds its way to the Middle East. Here, it is mixed with legal and responsible gold and enters the market. Unless we find better ways to trace metals and enforce market discipline, the ability to “wash” illegal gold will continue to drive irresponsible practices. The work of the World Gold Council in this regard is vital and exemplary.

If that helps us understand the challenge of illegal mining, let’s turn to Indonesia where some operations, despite being legal, are often not responsible.

There are hundreds of nickel mining concessions on dozens of small islands in the area, mostly for nickel, and many involving Chinese operators. Not all of them are irresponsible, but enough appear to be to be a cause for grave concern.

Putting ourselves in the shoes of those operators for a second, one can see how the market for nickel or other commodities gives plenty of incentives to put profit above all else. You see, if I as an irresponsible operator gets paid the same price for a ton of Nickel as say, BHP’s Nickel West’s operation in Australia that upholds high Standards – why should I bother with the cost and hassle of cleaning up my act?

Put another way, unless we collectively reward responsible production, there will always be someone willing to do it cheap and dirty. Green premiums and similar instruments are essential in this regard. But they need to be based on a consistent global Standard for responsible mining, and I’m pleased to say that this time next year, we will finally have a Consolidated global standard which you’ve no doubt heard lots from me about before so I won’t repeat it here.

Now, have you ever heard the saying, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others.”? It reminds us to remember our own shortcomings before criticising others.

So here’s my – and our – glass house. I proudly represent 24 company members of ICMM who are deeply committed to responsible practices. Yet, it was ICMM members involved in three of the worst mining incidents in recent years – the tailings dam collapses at Brumadinho and Samarco, and the destruction of ancient aboriginal caves at Juukan Gorge.

The most important lesson I’ve learnt about responsible mining through these tragedies is this – you can do everything by the book and still cause untold harm.

Till today, there are two equally plausible theories of what caused the Brumadinho dam to collapse with no consensus – and therefore, anticipating and managing the risk is virtually impossible. As for Juukan Gorge – on paper, the company did nothing wrong as they had the legal right to blast there. But it was clearly the wrong choice. This calls on us to constantly update Standards and even as we do, continue to question them. 

I hope that walking in these shoes has helped us see the steps required to make responsible practices the norm. Let me conclude with a few examples of the opposite – where responsible mining is positively transforming lives and landscapes in unimaginable ways. I hope this inspires us to stick this course.

The lesson from this for responsible mining? Remembering that protecting nature starts with our own sites but doesn’t end there. As some of the largest land stewards and often the most influential economic actor in a landscape, we have an obligation to influence the outcomes for nature inside and outside the mine gate. That’s responsible mining in action.

That’s about expanding our view across space. We need to do the same across time - even after the minerals have been mined. Unfortunately, our history and the Earth is littered with thousands of unrehabilitated mines, but ICMM member Orano shows that a different future is possible.

If I told you to go fish and hunt on a site where until recently uranium had been mined for 20 years, would you? If yes, I don’t think we can be friends – you’re a weirdo! Yet, you can safely do just that at Cluff Lake in Canada, where the former uranium mine now has unrestricted access to the public, including yes, fishing, hunting and foraging.

Many countries had no laws until recently requiring mines to be rehabilitated. This presents a historical legacy that companies and governments will need to work together to address. We can’t change the past, but we can chart a different future through the commitment and care that Orano has shown.

My final story about responsible mining is personal. Till a few years ago, if you asked me which part of the world we absolutely should not mine, I’d have said in a heartbeat – the Amazon. It is the lungs of the Earth and under grave danger.

Put simply, if the mine wasn’t there, the forest wouldn’t be either. This has totally changed my view on the relationship between mining and nature – I now believe, under certain conditions, the best way to protect a forest is to mine it. That is the power of responsible mining.

I started with the saying about walking a mile in another’s shoes, and I’ll end with another. Aleksander “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts”.

It reminds us that even when we judge, sanction or punish irresponsible actions – which may be exactly what’s required – even then there’s a place for empathy and compassion. Any one of us in their circumstance may well have made the same choice. Aren’t we lucky that most of us will never know.