Transparency and a need for greater disclosure by companies was considered a top ten risk by Deloitte and E&Y in 2017. Transparency has both an economic development dimension (i.e. transparency of resource revenue payments) and a broader sustainability dimension.
Ensuring that communities benefit from exploration and mining (through, for example, resource revenue sharing) remains paramount to a company’s ability to earn and retain a social licence to operate at home and abroad. This is why PDAC worked closely with civil society organizations to propose legislation in Canada making the disclosure of resource revenue payments by companies with a connection to Canada mandatory. This work led ultimately to the adoption, by the Government of Canada, of the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act.
Financial actors are increasingly aware of the importance of asking for, and analyzing, the social, environmental and governance aspects of mineral exploration and development. Their ability to link access to capital to sustainability performance is contingent upon companies disclosing adequate information about these issues. This is why PDAC is supportive of an initiative by the Canadian Institute for Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum to improve disclosure of environmental and social issues by companies producing National Instrument 43-101 reports.