Leading mining firms' CEOs say US legal changes won't alter their disclosures on social impacts & governance
Mine bosses say transparency will not be clouded by U.S. rule changes, 9 Feb. 2017
The expected demise of transparency regulations for minerals and oil companies listed in the United States will not cloud the global drive for financial clarity in extractive industries, company executives told Reuters at [the Investing in African Mining Indaba]. Efforts to shine a light on payments such companies make to foreign governments are considered key to eliminating graft, conflict and the so-called resource curse... The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has begun dismantling such transparency requirements... But companies with European Union and Canadian listings - or which work in countries that have signed up to the voluntary Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) - still have to abide by strict disclosure rules, executives say...
[The] chief executive of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM),...Tom Butler ...was critical of the Trump administration's actions, but said they would not derail the broader global push for increased transparency. "It's disappointing because overall the global trend is in the other direction. The train has left the station," said Butler. [also includes positive statements by CEOs of Gold Fields, Vedanta Resources for maintaining disclosures and avoiding deals with "illegal miners"]