Developing and maintaining strong relationships with neighbouring communities is essential to the success of Las Bambas. The operation’s community relations teams work with a number of diverse communities in the Andes with few development opportunities. For many, their native language is Quechua which is a spoken language. To establish relationships based on respect and trust, the teams take a proactive approach and a number of team members are also Quechua speakers and live in the local communities.

A key focus area is establishing regular communication channels. There are three levels of dialogue, including:

1. Working directly with families and communities.
2. Engaging in dialogue with community leaders, mayors and political leaders.
3. Participating in Dialogue Round Tables which bring together community members, government, industry and other political interests.

While regular engagement is important, at times disagreement exists on specific issues and a grievance mechanism was established to help manage issues. In 2016 Las Bambas began implementing the new MMG standard procedure for managing stakeholder grievances, taking into account the need to respect human rights. The grievance mechanisms help to identify impacts, address them at an early stage and provide remedies where applicable. They are also a means of identifying negative impacts and using the learning to avoid and mitigate future similar impacts. This serves to manage social risk and to build more durable and sustainable relationships with stakeholders.

Identifying the area of responsibility for the grievance and the best approach to resolve the issue are essential elements of the grievance management process. Not all grievances may be caused by MMG but the Company may have a role in assisting with access to remedy or behaviour change.

Dialogue Tables

Las Bambas participates in a number of Dialogue (or Work) Tables in the region. The purpose of the Dialogue Tables is to work towards agreements on development commitments and activities that will benefit local communities. Members are usually representatives from regional and local government, local associations and a range of interest groups such as Farmers groups. Each Work Table has a number of Working Groups that focus on specific issues.

Las Bambas participates in:

1. Work Table for the Development of Challhuahuacho.
2. Work Table for the Development of Cotabambas Province.
3. Dialogue Table for the Development of Grau Province.

Note: More information on the Work Tables and their activities can be found in the 2016 Las Bambas Sustainability Report.