Do Miners Need to Market Themselves Better?
Last week was a first for me. I saw something I’d never seen before in the UK - a mining company advertisment about the importance of the minerals it extracts from the ground. I was scrolling through LinkedIn when a short video started playing in the way that targeted advertisements do, and it caught my attention.
The video in question was from BHP about the various uses for Potash and after viewing and scrolling past it, I decided I needed to write about it. LinkedIn’s algorhythm being what it is, it had disappeared and I had to go digging - It turned out not to be a targeted advertisement, but a video post from BHP themselves, and it’s viewable on LinkedIn by clicking the image below.
Celebrating a marketing post from a mining company might seem an overreaction, however personally I think this is a huge step, and at the same time a baby step towards highlighting the importance of mining/metals/mineral extraction to the public in general*.
To put my surprise into some context, the UK has largely been divesting itself of mining operations since the 1980’s, the last half decade’s resurgence of the UK mining industry notwithstanding. Mining is seen as dirty, destructive and unsustainable, and with dwindling numbers of people applying for extraction related disciplines at Universities: even the Camborne School of Mines, founded in 1888 and whose graduates are arguably responsible for the great advances seen in mining once they proliferated across the globe (A Cornishman at the bottom of every hole, drilling advances), had it’s Mining Engineering Undergraduate course shut down by the university in 2020.
The public dont want mining.
Mining has a negative perception and connotations, it’s seen as destructive and a force for bad. The absolute neccessity of it goes unsung, and people aren’t aware of the extractive industries as a career path until their choices have already been made. In my case I was 20 and already part way through my degree before I realised minerals might be a valid career choice.
I digress.
ESG is now a critical part of any mining venture, new or existing. The term ‘social licence to operate’ is used liberally but remains a truism - without the goodwill and cooperation from the people whose land you’re on, or live nearby, you won’t be able to operate or extract value from the ground. People have preconceived, ingrained notions of what mining is, and assume the worst. Miners have to overcome this prejudice to allow their work to continue.
Whilst governments can be lobbied to get permissions, they still generally need the local populace on-side if they wish to be ‘ESG compliant’ - a new factor in whether investors will back a project, or whether the product can be ratified as an ESGreen metal, for example. Getting the public on-side is a lot easier if the population has been pre-primed with the knowledge of how important to the future metals and minerals are - how they are necessary for manufacture of battery technology that powers electric vehicles, or generators for wind turbines for example.
There’s no need to go into the number of mining projects that have stalled or cancelled due to the lack of social licence - one of the most notable recent example I’m aware of being the Skouries mine in Greece where local opposition to the operation has seen mine property attacked.
“Eldorado Gold Corp. is involved in four gold mining projects, all in northern Greece which have bitterly divided communities, including Skouries. Opponents of the projects include owners of houses rented to tourists, environmentalists and…activists opposed to any foreign investment.”
This can only be achieved through discussion and interaction with people to convince them of your message. In short, marketing.
Mining companies have failed to market themselves and their products to the public for a very long time (for ever?) Even this video from BHP ws shared on their LinkedIn page and seen mainly by those who already follow them.
In any prospective mining area, or any location from which mining companies wish to draw resources, whether mineral or people, I feel they need to dramatically increase outreach to persuade people of the neccessity of their business.
In terms of economics, one could argue that spending money on outreach and promotion of the mining industry and it’s role in technology provision is effectively derisking the future exploration/mining operations. Less risk of public and political opposition, less risk of skilled staff shortages (an issue to be covered in a later post).
In the long term I think a little investment will pay dividends.
Compare the efforts made by BHP (already in my opinion so far ahead of other mining companies) to Shell’s efforts. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you’ll know I keep banging on about this, but I do find it a fantastic example of industrial outreach/rebranding/greenwashing.
In the last couple of years, Shell has mounted a large ‘Green Energy’/sustainable technology drive within the UK - I’ve seen their advertisements on primetime Channel 4 TV and on the On-Demand streaming service: The enormous amount of people that watch Bake Of are being shown Shell’s message of how environmentally conscious and good to work for they are.
With a little more digging, BHP has similar videos on their website promoting Potash and it’s necessity for our way of life, however one has to go looking for these.
Shell’s “Make the Future” campaign (#Makethefuture) has a social media presence, and a dedicated space to show people the sustainability opportunities within a company like Shell. If Shell can do that, why not miners? How long will it be before we see a TV advert for ‘home grown’ Lithium or Gold in the UK?
*Please note that this is from a UK perspective, and mining companies already do advertise in countries with a more active mining climate.