THE BIG BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

What is it that makes communities prosper? Big business. What's good for a large corporationCorporation: the most common form of business organization. It pursues set objectives and is empowered with legal rights usually only reserved for individuals, such as to sue and be sued, own property, hire employees, or loan and borrow money. is good for the community. It puts the whole community to work. When a big business increases its profits and reduces its costs and risks, the whole community benefits. On the other hand, things which hinder big business, hinder the community too.

It is normal and responsible for any business to strive to make more money than it spends. Without a profit, a business has no money to reinvest, nor any set aside for difficult periods. The more a business reduces its costs and risks, the more likely it is to make a profit and stay in operation.

Exploration companiesExploration Company: a company whose principal activity is that of exploration. and mine developers are no different. They want to keep their costs and risks down. Many of the challenges that Aboriginal communities want to overcome are just risks in the eyes of mining companies. Many of the things in which Aboriginal communities are interested – jobs, training, sub-contracts – are just costs, from the perspective of mining companies. Not surprisingly, they want those risks and costs to be as low as possible. When money has to be spent, they want that money to work hard – for them.

Until 25 years ago mining companies paid little attention to the costs that they pushed onto communities and onto government. The serious impact that mining had on a community’s way of life and its natural environment was not entered as a “cost” in the companies’ books. Nowadays, mining companies take these costs much more seriously, but not always for the best reasons. Some companies do make great efforts to behave as responsible corporate citizens. Other companies say they are responsible, when in fact they are not.

It is vital for an Aboriginal community to assess carefully how ethical a mining company’s practices have been. As a big business, its idea of community mindedness and environmental responsibility may not be the same as yours.