“Compliance with the national legislative drivers behind mining transformation is key to achieving mining rights. However increasingly pertinent are the international goals of achieving best practice, reputation enhancement and establishing a competitive market niche in respect of transformation. Successful transformation goes beyond simply compliance and is entrenched in the fundamentals of sound business practice.”
Transformation partner Managing Transformation Solutions (MTS) says that it is successfully supporting and educating the mining sector in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act’s (MPRDA’s) objectives of sustainable transformation. Not only is it ensuring compliance with the challenging Social and Labour Plan (SLP) requirements, but is also geared to meet the broad objectives of the Mining Charter, the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Score-card and the Employment Equity legislation.
“We are focusing on managing the transformation-related objectives amongst mining companies that are struggling to grasp what it is about and how to put the required resources in place and where to start,” says MTS CEO Sue Brandt. Brandt says that MTS understands the challenges from the Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR) perspective as well as industry’s perspective.
“DMR’s high standards for transformation of the industry have seen a clear shift towards an implementation focus in recent months. DMR continues to press the mining sector to think out of the box, which is what transformation and development is about, whilst ensuring delivery is achieved with tangible results”.
She explains that companies are not only struggling with external reporting and multiple reporting formats to differing task masters, but also with internal management processes with the correct capabilities to deliver results as well as generating accurate information in the right formats.
“With such focus on reporting the job of effective implementation falls by the way side. “We use the legislative objectives and entrench them into a mine’s business plan by refocusing and reenergising a company’s resources to speak the transformation language. This drives more sustainable and tangible transformation, which not only ensures companies retain their mining rights but substantially improve the stability of operating environments.”
“Transformation is not something that happens overnight, it is a process, which needs to be entrenched from top management downwards. Being actively involved in Transformation, SLP development and implementation we have learnt some valuable lessons. The most important being that there are three pillars to achieving transformation, the first being status, which focuses on executive management’s commitment and mechanisms to execute the plans,” Brandt explains.
The second is resources. Brandt says that without the correct capacity and mentality transformation objectives will fail.”Many companies have phenomenal human resource, community liaison and procurement personnel, but they operate within the traditional internal silos and fail to talk integrated transformation beyond the pockets of mining reports geared towards compliance.” she says.
“The final concept to achieving sustainable transformation is the correct management tools, clearly identifying all areas of progress based on reliable data and consistent inputs.” This is a journey that we are very excited to be a part of” she concludes. It is with this view in mind that MTS will be hosting the Transformation Indaba for mining industry leaders, practitioners, government, civil society and service providers supporting transformation delivery within the mining industry.
The Transformation Indaba 2011 themed Mining Beyond Compliance will take place during the 2nd – 3rd of November 2011 at Velmore Hotel and Conference Centre, Erasmia, Pretoria. The Indaba aims to provide a dynamic platform to analyse the business imperative beyond the political debate and showcase successes demonstrating the “how-to” of transformation.
This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial supplement