Newmont Mining Corporation

Adapted from Beyondthemine.com

Newmont's Australian operations have been working with our Aboriginal neighbors for years to find ways in which we can help improve the livelihoods of the Traditional Owners of the land we mine.

Our Tanami operation, in Australia's Northern Territory, is located on land owned freehold by the Warlpiri people. We work with the Central Land Council (CLC), which represents the Warlpiri people, to provide training, employment and enterprise opportunities within the mining industry.

In partnership with the CLC, Tanami created a unique 10-week training program providing Indigenous people with skills to work at a mine. We select trainees with the assistance of the Traditional Owners via an extensive culturally appropriate screening and assessment process that is designed to identify candidates unable to meet the entry-level requirements of the mining industry.

On completion of our training program, participants are guaranteed employment with Newmont or one of our contractors, and often are moved into a labor pool where they receive more job-specific training. If they choose to work elsewhere, our program qualifies them for a nationally recognized certificate, building transferable skills useful throughout the industry.

Part of the program's success has been allowing participants to adapt to life on a mine site by working modified shifts and rosters. This process includes a formal mentoring program, which results in a much higher retention rate of Indigenous staff.

Retention is as high as 91 percent, which is significantly greater than most other mining companies. The experience at Tanami is just one example of how Newmont is working to assist Indigenous Australians to achieve their economic goals, while respecting their culture and status.

However, such experiences also have provided Newmont with a growing understanding of the barriers that Indigenous people face in trying to fulfill their aspirations. To help reduce these barriers, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), of which Newmont is a member, worked with Indigenous Australians to approach the Commonwealth of Australia.

Together, the groups proposed a new way of working together as equal partners to ensure that Indigenous people benefit more broadly from mining. After a series of discussions, the parties agreed to work across traditional commercial, cultural and government boundaries to expand the application of successful programs, such as the program at Newmont's Tanami operations. They also will develop new, practical projects to support Indigenous communities' aspirations for economic independence.

The MCA and the Commonwealth signed a Memorandum of Understanding to share responsibility for achieving measurable and sustainable improvements for Indigenous people, with a particular focus on employment and business development. Additional priorities in the agreement include improving Indigenous peoples' access to literacy and numeracy education; work-readiness initiatives; fitness-for-work programs; financial services; family support, childcare and counseling; and human and financial capital to facilitate enterprise development.

The partners implemented pilot programs in eight Australian mining regions, three of which Newmont operates: Tanami, Boddington and Jundee. These pilots build on Newmont's existing initiatives, providing greater coordination from government agencies and increased financial support. In turn, this enables Newmont to leverage the existing programs across more of the operating sites.

Significant progress is already evident. By coordinating and pooling resources, we are getting strong results by achieving access to jobs and economic benefits, while eliminating program waste and duplication.

The Warlpiri people of the Northern Territory is investing more than $2.5 million in gold mining royalties over three years to improve the education and employment prospects of hundreds of Indigenous children.

Traditional Owners from the Warlpiri communities of Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Nyirripi and Willowra set up the Warlpiri Education and Training Trust, which will support an early childhood program, a secondary student support program, an adult learning program including the establishment of libraries, and a youth and media program.

One of the organizations that will benefit from the education trust is the Kurdu Kurdu Kurlangi Yuendumu Childcare Center, which will use money from the Trust - with an equivalent funding commitment from the federal government - to expand the facility. The center's director, Judith McKay, said the childcare center has contributed toward better nutrition for the community's children, the teaching of parenting skills for the community's mothers and a better start in literacy education for young children.