Social Impact Community Relations

As with any mining company, Hudbay’s presence can create both opportunities and concern for local residents and indigenous people. Engaging with these communities in an open and inclusive way is vital for earning our social licence to operate. We must address their concerns about mining and competing land use priorities, and demonstrate how our operations can provide meaningful, long-term benefits. Above all, we must maintain respect, trust and understanding.

Each business unit conducts its own stakeholder analysis and implements a stakeholder engagement plan to build relationships, understand local concerns, and respond to them. This requirement is documented in our Stakeholder Engagement Standard. We also formalized a company-wide Community Response Standard (also known as a grievance process) to ensure complaints can be signaled and then appropriately documented, investigated and addressed.

Manitoba

In Manitoba, we engage regularly with the Flin Flon and Snow Lake communities. Recent discussions have focused on training and job opportunities for the people of northern Manitoba, the impact of the Lalor mine on the town of Snow Lake, and engagement with First Nations communities.

We place particular emphasis on engagement with First Nations communities locally. The communities nearest Hudbay are Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Mosakahiken Cree Nation and Mathias Colomb Cree Nation in Manitoba and three communities in Saskatchewan that are part of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Through meetings, school presentations, mine tours, open houses and working together on joint initiatives (usually related to employment), we seek to improve understanding of one another and build constructive relationships. Hudbay’s full-time Aboriginal Liaison Officer coordinates our efforts and facilitates dialogue. In addition, the Vice President of our Manitoba Business Unit co-chairs the Minister’s Mining Advisory Council, which brings together First Nations leadership, industry representatives and the Government of Manitoba to ensure First Nations communities benefit from the development of new mines.

We have a court injunction preventing members of Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (MCCN) from blocking access to our sites, as a result of blockades they staged at the Lalor site in 2013. Hudbay is only seeking free access for employees and contractors to our sites. The injunction is not a lawsuit and it does not prohibit members of MCCN or other communities or community companies from bidding on Hudbay contracts or seeking employment. We recognize it as an ongoing relationship challenge, which makes it difficult for the community to fully realize the benefits and opportunities that our operations can offer, and we are seeking a path to restore our collaboration with MCCN.

Hudbay is a member of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and participates in its Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program. We are working to progress from PAR’s “committed” category to the bronze certification level. Certification confirms that we have practices in place to be a good business partner and great place to work, and demonstrates our commitment to prosperity in Aboriginal communities.

Peru

In Peru, there are two communities within our direct area of influence – Uchucarco and Chilloroya. Both signed life of mine land use agreements with Hudbay in exchange for portions of their community-owned land. We maintain community relations offices in both communities and engage frequently with residents on a wide range of topics, most often related to fulfilling commitments under the agreements.

We have signed co-operation agreements with a number of communities within our indirect area of influence. Under these agreements, we commit to working together on social development projects within a specified budget provided by Hudbay. In 2015, we began building relationships with communities along the route from Constancia to the port of Matarani where we transport concentrate. See details below.

Arizona

The Rosemont site is close to a major urban area. Since acquiring this project in 2014, we have worked to both understand the aggregate views of local stakeholders and engage directly with the individuals and groups most interested in, and connected to, the project. We believe that a robust permitting process contributes to the development of world-class mines, and it is in that spirit that we are engaging in the regulatory process to secure the final permits needed to advance the Rosemont project.

Circles of Influence

2015 Performance Highlights

Corporate

• Most of our employees live in the communities where they work. In 2015, we held a Community Champions event that recognized them for their service to the community, through volunteerism or on behalf of Hudbay. See Our Workplace to learn more.

Arizona

• We took a number of steps in 2015 to build our relationships with local communities, adopting the approach of small group and one-on-one meetings with government officials, community groups and neighbours to promote dialogue and build trust and understanding. See the Arizona case study to learn more.
• Our team conducted a focused community relations effort related to the water well drilling and confirmatory drilling programs taking place at the site. They sent letters to people within two miles of the site, visited the homes of our closest neighbours, spoke to community and government leaders, and gave contact cards to all workers so they could direct any questions to the appropriate Hudbay contacts.
• In developing relationships with Native American tribes in the region, we have sought to share and build on our experiences in relationship building with First Nations in Manitoba. Cultural sensitivity training is included in the Rosemont Environmental Impact Statement, and we will be developing programs to help crews and staff better understand and appreciate Native American culture and people.

Peru

• Despite social unrest and opposition to certain mining projects in the region near Constancia, we maintained constructive relationships with local communities through regular dialogue and collaboration on community projects.
• Once we started transporting concentrate 468 kilometres to the port at Matarani, we initiated communications with about 14 communities along the route. Our community relations team contacted local authorities and community leaders beforehand. They also organized community meetings where they explained how they would mitigate issues like dust, listened to people’s needs and concerns, and offered to help these communities access government funds for their development projects. See the Constancia case study to learn more.
• With the shift from construction to operations, Constancia’s relationships with its communities are evolving and we have begun to look at the long-term role we can play in tackling poverty. We expect to become more involved in helping build business capacity by training entrepreneurs to market and sell their goods.
• There were 57 complaints or concerns registered through the site grievance mechanism in 2015. Of these, 89% related to local supply chain issues, mainly pertaining to vehicle maintenance expenses and payments for services, and pending payments by third-party suppliers; 5% related to labour practices; and 6% related to human rights, and environmental issues and compliance.

Manitoba

• Among our efforts to strengthen relationships with First Nations communities, we met with members of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation to discuss our duty to consult and hiring practices, exploration early notification and environmental concerns. Several Hudbay departments also participated in an information session with Cumberland House Cree Nation to discuss exploration, environment and employment.
• With the planned expansion of the Anderson tailings impoundment area near Snow Lake, we conducted a community information campaign to share plans, answer questions and address concerns. Our team met with the Snow Lake mayor and town council and invited the public to drop-in sessions in Flin Flon and Snow Lake to speak with experts on the topic. We also conducted individual meetings with concerned citizens and solicited input through a community feedback form.
• There were seven complaints registered through our site complaint hotline. The main issues were related to health and safety, and environmental concerns. All were resolved in the reporting year.