To aid in the preparation of its report, the ESR Committee of the Board of Directors has convened a Working Group of expert consultants under the leadership of a Director who will work with Newmont personnel in undertaking the required tasks to achieve the objectives of the review.

Click here to read more about the assessment teams.

The Study Director responsible for initiating this work resigned in December 2007 due to conflicts with prior work commitments. The purpose of this note is to describe the Scope of Work for the Study Director who will assume these responsibilities in January 2008 and complete the project.

Project Background

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, nearly 92% of Newmont shareholders voted in favor of a resolution committing the company to conduct a global review and evaluation of Newmont’s policies and practices relating to the existing and future relationships with local communities, including aspects of potential conflict and opposition.

The Newmont Board of Directors’ Environmental and Social Responsibility Committee is responsible for overseeing Newmont’s policies, standards, systems and resources required to conduct its activities in accordance with the Company’s Core Values. The Board of Directors has charged the Committee with undertaking the necessary work to develop a response to the shareholder resolution.

To aid in the preparation of its report, the Committee convened in August 2007 a Working Group of expert consultants under the leadership of a Study Director, responsible for working with Newmont personnel in fulfilling the objectives of the Community Relationships Review (CRR), which are to:

• Assess and describe the current relationships between the selected Newmont operating sites and respective communities, and the contexts in which these relationships have developed;
• Conduct an assessment of future risk and opportunities to Newmont with regard to its relationships with local communities;
• Analyze the relevance of existing company policies, systems and controls and their effectiveness in guiding the company’s community development and community relations programs and activities, and;
• Identify the impact of the company’s resources, capacity and governance on the execution of policies and controls related to community development and community relations programs and activities.
• In addition, an Advisory Panel has been convened to serve in an independent review capacity for this project.

Deliverables

The Study Director of the Working Group as of January 2008 will be responsible for:

1. Working with the study teams and Newmont in overseeing the finalization of the products from the study teams, ensuring a consistency of substance, accuracy and quality across the different products and teams. Where deemed beneficial to the quality of the reports, this may include further site visits.
   
   
2. Completing the review at the corporate level. This will include a review of existing research and interview notes from the initiating Study Director of corporate and regional perspectives to assess the existing corporate policies, processes and tools in relation to stakeholder engagement, community relations and conflict management. Where deemed necessary, this may include further research and interviews.

The Study Director will be responsible for ensuring that the interim research components in items 1 and 2 provide an effective foundation upon which to develop the final product: the Overall Summary Report.

3. Developing an Overall Summary Report that captures what is working as well as any gaps in the policies, processes and tools available at present within Newmont in relation to stakeholder engagement, community relations and conflict management. The Overall Summary Report would also examine how effectively these elements are being applied in the field and whether there is an adequate system of accountability for them.
   
   
4. Developing and implementing, in collaboration with Newmont and the Advisory Panel, a participatory process by which the final report is presented to stakeholders at the local, regional and international level.

In implementing both the research and stakeholder engagement processes, the Study Director will be responsible for ensuring the overall integrity of the processes and their outcomes to the extent possible. To this end, the Study Director is expected to maintain a record of the research process, as well as interactions with Newmont and panel members regarding the research products.

Relationships

This work is being commissioned by the ESR Committee of the Newmont Board of Directors. As such, the Study Director reports to the Committee. In daily operational terms, this relationship will be facilitated by the primary operational contact to the committee – the Vice President for Environmental Affairs and Sustainable Development – who leads the Newmont corporate ESR team. The corporate ESR team has been charged with managing this project on a daily basis. The Study Director will liaise with the team regarding the progress of the review, identify documents or other assistance that might be needed to carry out the assessment process effectively, and ensure that all concerns regarding the completeness, materiality and responsiveness of the review process are addressed.

The Advisory Panel for the CRR is mandated to offer input into the methodology, and also will be preparing a commentary on the research process and the final report. The Study Director is expected to consider any suggestions that the Panel provides on how the final report and subsequent stakeholder engagement may be improved.

The research products of the Working Group will be reviewed by Newmont, its ESR Committee, and the Advisory Panel prior to public dissemination. The Study Director will be available for telephonic and face to face meetings to discuss the products with these actors.

All products and the drafts, notes, and inputs into them are to be kept confidential until a decision is made as to if/when and how they may be made available to the public. Earlier decisions are that the site narrative reports for the five external assessment reviews and the global report will be made public, and these documents should be prepared in that light. As such, the Study Director will be responsible for ensuring that such documents strike a balance between respecting the confidentiality of operational documents and interviewee privacy, and the desire to share lessons constructively with a diverse audience.