• The former Vice Minister of Mines participated in Rumbo a PERUMIN, organized by the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers.

LQG Energy & Mining Consulting’s partner, Ricardo Labó, said that in order to successfully implement policies and measures for environmental and social management, it is crucial to have solid corporate governance and risk management systems

In the same vein, the specialist, during his presentation at the event Rumbo a PERUMMIN "Evolution of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in mining", organized by the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers and PERUMIN 36’s Organizing Committee, said that the three areas (environmental, social and governance) are closely related.

"I would like to emphasize the importance of governance in mining. Currently, this criterion is not only embedded in key areas of companies such as Ethics, Integrity and Compliance, but it has also allowed their various reports and indicators to be endorsed by organizations and the proposed goals to be measured through indicator reports," he said.

In addition, Labó was emphatic in pointing out that there has been a constant improvement in the company's reporting to the public. "Since 1990 to date, we have moved from financial, environmental and sustainability reports to ESG reports. These encompass all the company's negotiations and their effects in the areas in which they are involved", he pointed out.

ESG AND A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Labó stressed that looking into the future and in order to strengthen the ESG criteria in mining companies, attention must be focused on making sure they do not turn into just a reporting practice because it may lose reliability. In this connection, he said that it was necessary to adjust some metrics and join new interest groups.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will publish the Sector Standard of Mining by the end of 2023, which will provide a much broader overview of these issues and determine the guidelines that companies must comply with in order to meet their goals in the three competent areas," said the specialist.

Finally, Labó mentioned that there is a need for greater dissemination of ESG criteria by companies and the Government, so that they can be applied at earlier stages in the mining process, through specialized reports.