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Module 4 Doing Your Homework

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If an Aboriginal community has decided not to oppose a mine, but to seek benefits from it instead, there is a lot of work to do before negotiations open. This work is like the “homework” people do to prepare for a test. It is essential, if the community is to capture durable benefits from the negotiations.

This is true, whether you aim to negotiate a Socio-Economic Participation Agreement (SEPA) or a Joint Venture (JV). A Memorandum of UnderstandingMemorandum of Understanding: a document that records an understanding between a community and a mining or exploration company. The MOUMemorandum of Understanding: a document that records an understanding between a community and a mining or exploration company. The MOU defines principles for working together for mutual benefit. defines principles for working together for mutual benefit. or Negotiation Agreement Negotiation Agreement: an early agreement in the mining process, likely to occur in the Exploration Stage, which would outline the basis of the relationship between the Aboriginal group and the mining company and how the relationship will evolve if the mine moves forward.   made during the Exploration StageExploration Stage: the whole range of activity from searching for and developing mineral deposits. of the mine (see Module 2, p. 2-5) will certainly help with your homework. But they are no substitute for it.

This module explains the six kinds of homework you have to do before SEPA negotiations open:

  1. Determine your long term interests.
  2. Identify the benefits you bring to the deal.
  3. Identify the benefits that you want from a deal.
  4. Determine if the mining company can actually deliver these benefits.
  5. Design a negotiation strategy which can capture the benefits important to your community.
  6. Assemble your negotiating team.

All this homework also applies when you prepare for JV negotiation. Additional homework specific to JV negotiation is explained at the beginning of Module 6.
 

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Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2010-04-30 11:36.

This homework and the negotiations themselves will generate a ton of information on paper and in computer files. “Information overload,” or log-jams, or the loss of information are real possibilities. It is necessary to decide in advance not just what information you need, but how to organize and store it all, and who should get to pull it out and use it – to explain complicated issues to the rest of the community, for example.

The IBA Community Toolkit (Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, 2010) explains in detail what information to manage and how to manage it. Go to http://www.ibacommunitytoolkit.ca and see pages 68-77 (“Develop a Plan for Gathering and Managing Information”) and pages 92-98 (“Develop a Communications Strategy”).