Key challenges

Existing operations

We understand that our licence to operate is not given indefinitely by the communities within our areas of influence and that we need to continue to work in partnership with them to achieve ongoing consensus and mutually beneficial outcomes. We use open and transparent dialogue to respond to community concerns, ensure full information is provided about our current activities and planned new projects, report on our progress on community and other initiatives, and manage expectations from local communities. Our consultation work is primarily undertaken by our community relations teams.

One of the formal mechanisms we use to understand and respond to community issues is to commission community attitude and socio-economic surveys. In 2005, community attitude surveys were conducted by Oaky Creek Coal, Xstrata Coal South Africa, Xstrata Alloy's eastern operations and Xstrata Copper's north Queensland operations. Some of the issues raised and how we have addressed them are included in the table in this chapter. In South Africa, surveys were undertaken in 2004 and again in 2005 to evaluate stakeholder perception of Xstrata's transformation process in Mpumalanga and in Limpopo provinces. Results from this evaluation show an overall improvement in awareness of Xstrata as a responsible business entity and a willingness within government to work with us on community projects. In 2006, Xstrata Coal will complete a community attitude survey for its New South Wales operations and socio-economic surveys will be completed for the remaining communities associated with our South African operations.

All commodity businesses have formal consultation mechanisms in place, such as community development forums and community consultative committees. Other types of stakeholder engagement strategies include face-to-face meetings with our near neighbours, participation in community forums and events, community meetings, educational initiatives, websites and one-way communication mechanisms such as reports, newsletters, fact sheets and media releases to keep people up-to-date with our activities. Specific site objectives, techniques, timing and responsibilities for ongoing communication are outlined in our social involvement plans.