Responsible Mining in a Greenlandic context

Responsible mining in Greenland is no different from the rest of the world. It is about forming and developing principals regarding the subject. Principles in a Greenlandic context are still not clear, not precise, nor uniform and even perhaps not known.

Since 2009 Greenland passed the law on natural resources. A continuous phrase in most laws, frameworks and guidelines is the reference to BEST PRACTICE. The trouble is that in most cases BEST PRACTICE is not clearly defined.

Operationally – for the use in projects, establishing mines and for the use by the authorities – it is possible to focus on useful elements that can build the framework for responsible mining.

Those elements seen in a Greenlandic context could be:

·       Workforce safety

·       Environmental care

·       Nature

·       Local communities

·       Work skills

·       Hearing and involvement processes

Kompetencekompagniet participates in the development of responsible mining and carries out the following:

·       Work skill development of local work force

·       Making processes more visible

·       Optimizing hearing and information to the public

Prospectively we will carry out social impact assessment focusing on the close values seen with anthropologic and ethnological eyes. That way it will be possible to highlight the true opinions, thoughts and concerns in regards to the activities in the mining industry.