Local Procurement by the Mining Sector: The Potential for Economic Development and the Role of Transparency

Amid increasing demand in Europe and beyond for raw materials needed for the energy transition, governments of host countries for mining activities are under pressure to ensure economic and social development results from mineral extraction. Additionally, advanced countries want greater assurances that the products they purchase are not connected to human rights abuses or other problems in their supply chains, as demonstrated by Germany and the Netherlands recently taking the steps to pass due diligence legislation.

The Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM), commissioned by BMZ, seeks to support host countries and the mining sector as they work together to ensure that more of the potential economic benefits of mining are realized. This event explored the role of transparency in mining supply chains and procurement processes to deter corruption and forced labour, with Rob Pitman of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) presenting a recent study.

This online discussion was aimed at not only to international development and transparency practitioners, but also the mining sector itself, as extractive industry companies face increasing pressure from investors and environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings agencies to demonstrate their supplier due diligence processes.

Speakers:

• Dr. Soeren Dengg, Head of Unit 422 (Energy, Hydrogen, Raw Materials, Infrastructure), German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
• Rob Pitman, Senior Governance Officer, NRGI
• Jeff Geipel, Managing Director, Mining Shared Value, Engineers Without Borders Canada