Join this inaugural cross campus seminar s eries\, Mining and Minerals Extraction in a New Global Landscape\, for the first seminar in the series\, The Challenge of Strengtheni ng the Social and Environmental Performance of the Mining Industry \, featuring Dr. R. Anthony Hodge\, Adjunct Professor at the Rober t M. Buchan Department of Mining Engineering Queen’s University.
No R SVP is required. We encourage you to show up at the door.
Dr. Hodge will begin by reflecting on the fact that even though some improv ements to social and environmental performance are evident amongst leadersh ip mining companies\, needed change is not forthcoming\, too short term\, a nd not industry wide – a concern that has been re-enforced by the recent ta ilings tragedies. He will point out that the demands of green technologies and support for the evolution of and poverty reduction in emerging nations together mean that more mining will be needed in the future – not less. T his at a time when societal pressure to bring fairness to the attendant dis tribution of costs\, risks and benefits will only increase. Hodge will pro vide an overview of the many thousands of “mining” companies and operations \, upstream supply and service companies (particularly financial)\, downstr eam consumers\, governments\, civil society organizations\, and affiliated academic/research organizations together comprise the “mining ecosystem.” Objectives\, size\, ownership models\, capacity\, and importantly\, interes t in and willingness to change is highly variable. Different incentives fo r strengthening performance targeted at different parts of the industry are essential. These need to be synchronized through the creation of a synchr onized industry-wide change strategy. If this step is not taken\, business -as-usual will continue: change and improvement will continue at a rate th at is too little and too slow\, leading companies will continue to be dragg ed down by the laggards\, and respect from society for the industry will no t be forthcoming.
Bio: Dr. R. Anthony Hodge is a geo logical engineer with early graduate work focusing on hydrogeology (Univers ity of British Columbia\, 1972\, 1976). In 1995 he was awarded an interdis ciplinary Ph.D. from McGill University\, Montreal\, for his work on Assessi ng Progress Toward Sustainability.
He is currently Senior Scholar and Adjunct Professor at the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining Engineering Queen’s University in Kingston\, Canada\; Visiting Professorial Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the Sustainable Minerals Institute\, University of Qu eensland\, Brisbane Australia\; member of the Natural Resource and Energy L eadership Council convened by RESOLVE in Washington DC\; advisor to the Re sponsible Mining Foundation\, Amsterdam\, and a member of the Independent T ailings Review Board for the Red Mountain mine project\, British Columbia.< /p>
In September 2015\, he stepped down after serving for 7 years as Pres ident of the International Council on Mining and Metals\, London UK. Just prior to that\, in September 2007\, Dr. Hodge had been appointed the first Kinross Professor in Mining and Sustainability at the Queen’s University De partment of Mining Engineering\, a position he relinquished with regret to assume his duties as ICMM President.
Throughout his professional life he has been guided by a deep commitment to concepts of applied sustainabil ity\, working at the social-technical-environmental-financial interface to achieve both human and ecosystem well-being over the long term\, not one at the expense of the other. His assignments span the private sector\, gover nment\, quasi-judicial processes\, civil society organizations\, communitie s\, and Indigenous peoples. He has sought common ground between actors\, i ntegrating multiple values into the solutions to some of the most difficult challenges facing today’s society.
Co-hosted at UBC by: