Many mining companies want to be seen as responsible by the public and investors and one way to achieve that would be to promote the head of community relations to the board. This would send a powerful message about priorities.
The reality is that in most mining companies the head of community relations tends to be buried inside the corporate hierarchy. That might be reporting to the vice president or director of environmental and community relations, the director of external affairs / corporate affairs or even to the head of human resources in some cases.
The level of seniority given to community relations professionals tends to reflect their importance in terms of the company’s values and priorities. The more it is simply about maximising returns and cutting costs the more likely that community relations is little more than ‘window dressing’ for the benefit of investors, the media and government officials.
What investors fear about mining
The problem with that approach is that it can leave a mining company open to unexpected and costly reputational damage.
For institutional investors the possibility of ‘incidents’ in host communities leading to severe tensions is a very real concern. A report we commissioned from the Financial Times identified issues with human rights abuses and reputational damage as among their biggest concerns when considering investing in mining companies.
I would therefore argue that, the further the voice of the head of community relations is from the CEO’s ear, the greater the risk of poor host mining community relations not being properly understood or addressed by the board.
Many investors would likely feel reassured if the head of community relations had direct access to the board. That would enable them to make sure the board could act quickly to pre-empt host community disputes before they degenerated into a crisis. Better yet, it would ensure they’d have direct input into the design and running of mines before they’re even built.
Government officials who award mining licences are likely to welcome companies that prioritise host community relations, reducing the risk of social issues they may later need to address.
I believe community relations are now up there with geology in terms of importance given the sensitivity of investors, government officials and the wider public over social issues. After all, great geology cannot be optimally mined if relations with a host community are bad.
Four core arguments
So here are what I believe are the core arguments for the head of community relations to sit on the board – particularly if senior management want to be seen as running a responsible mining company.
1/ Social License to Operate
Board-level input from community relations helps secure local support and avoid costly delays. It shows that host communities will be taken seriously.
2/ ESG Alignment
Ensures social issues are treated with equal weight as environmental and governance concerns – important for overall ESG credibility.
3/ Risk Mitigation
Early insight into community sentiment helps avoid disruptions and de-risk projects.
4/ Investor Confidence
Board oversight of community issues signals accountability, boosting reputation and widen the pool of accessible capital.
At the moment, I don’t think any of the medium-sized or large mining companies have heads of community relations sitting on their boards. But there are reasons to be optimistic.
Change is happening
For example, Anglo American’s Social Way requires leaders to prioritise and scrutinise social performance across all functions. Each site has a Social Performance Management Committee (SPMC), typically chaired by the general manager and includes teams from operations, health and safety, risk, HR, security, and communications. Meeting quarterly or bi-monthly, the SPMC oversees impact monitoring, socio-political risks, stakeholder engagement, and progress against social and human rights commitments.
Rio Tinto elevates social performance via a dedicated global function reporting directly to the CEO, while Endeavour Mining has an executive vice president for public affairs, security and social performance - highlighting the strategic importance of government engagement and alignment with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. De Beers places sustainability oversight at the board level, reinforcing executive accountability for social and environmental outcomes.
Obviously appointing a head of community relations to the board has to come with real power and influence. That individual must be able to make a meaningful contribution to the company’s policies and operations and shouldn’t just be a PR prop.
A powerful signal
However, such an appointment made in the proper spirit would be a strong signal to a mining company's stakeholders that it really is serious about social responsibility. Investors would feel more comfortable investing in it and it would reduce concerns among government officials about the project running into problems with a host community.
