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Article

23 Jan 2013

Author:
Ainsley Elbra, Leading Company [Australia]

Tough lessons for miners, but transparency needs to be a goal

The evolution of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) shows us that firms can indeed be dually motivated by profit and an acceptance of the norm of transparency…As a leading multinational company operating in Mozambique, Rio Tinto’s support for the initiative is important in affirming the initiative’s legitimacy…Australia has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Papua New Guinea government supporting its aims to eventually join the EITI. This…needs to be accompanied by pressure on Australian mining firms to exercise private governance and lead on the issue of transparency and disclosure – as well as on important environmental…The promotion of transparency and a focus on disclosure can not only assist citizens of developing states in holding their governments to account, it can also benefit the firms involved. Firms operating in EITI countries are likely to engage in less corruption and graft as well as meeting shareholder expectations of best-practice social responsibility.