Lost in translation: inadequate non-technical risk assessment within major project teams in mining

Figures & data

Figure 1. Topics most frequently raised by respondents when asked to identify risks considered during the project evaluation stage. Risks were categorized based on number of mentions by project professionals (PP - grey) and sustainability professionals (SP - black). Top environmental risks included water, biodiversity and energy/climate change .Other risks raised where number of mentions were fewer include: reputation (14 total mentions); closure (11 total mentions); health and safety (eight total mentions), corporate governance (six total mentions), catastrophe (five total mentions), exploration (five total mentions), and value chain (two total mentions).

Figure 2. Reasons given by project professionals (PP) and sustainability professionals (SP) for the undervaluation and/or under representation of NTR in project decisions. Rather than a single root cause, interview participants pointed to a set of interwoven factors.

Table 1. Summary of key points of differentiation in how project professionals and sustainability professions define, assess and measure non-technical risks that both groups agree have the potential for project impairment and capital erosion should community opposition develop.

Topic	Project professionals	Sustainability professionals
NTR assessment inadequate	Agree	Agree
Definition NTR	Inbound risk; threat to project, operations, profitability	Outbound and rebound risks; threat to operations as well as to host communities and environment
Focus	Project delivery on time and on budget	Management of externalities Mitigate societal impacts.
Regulatory/legal compliance equals effective NTR management	Agree	Disagree
Preferred NTR evaluation method	Quantitative: categorize probability and impact	Qualitative: e.g. multi-criteria analysis, structured decision making, stakeholder engagement, etc.
Valuation	Monetize risk based on prior similar project compensation costs or permitting costs	Monetize plus non-financial valuation ‘. . . you cannot measure everything. Nevertheless, you can value everything. ‘ (SP)