Abstract
Amidst the rush to access critical minerals in the energy transition, host countries are hoping to capitalise by adding value to the raw materials through refining, smelting, and manufacturing components of batteries and other green technologies. However, in many mineral-rich developing countries there are far more economic development opportunities in the short to medium term in backward linkages – mining companies purchasing goods and services. Adding value through refining and creating finished goods from minerals should remain a long term goal in most cases, but this presentation will show how the mining sector should focus reemphasise its efforts for local procurement and work with host country governments to create economic development, ensure smooth government relations, and maintain their social license to operate. It will also present tools the sector can use to increase local procurement, with a focus on transparency.
Bio
Jeff Geipel is the founder and managing director for the Mining Shared Value programme of Engineers Without Borders Canada. This non-profit initiative works to improve the development impacts of mineral extraction in host countries through increasing local procurement by the global mining industry. Through this work Jeff co-created the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM) in partnership with the German development agency GIZ. The LPRM is a publicly available set of disclosures to increase and harmonise how companies share information on local procurement, now in use by twelve global mining companies. Before Engineers Without Borders Jeff was the founder and first executive director of Fair Trade Vancouver, which became a model for municipal-based fair trade organizations across Canada. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Jeff holds a master’s degree in international development from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, and now resides in London.
