Webinar: Stakeholder Engagement in the Natural Resource Sector: Latest Fad or Vital Tool? Nov 15, 10 AM MT

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Join Dr. Chris Anderson, Principal, Yirri Global LLC as he presents MBBI’s latest Community Conversation on what some find as the new ‘holy grail’ of the natural resource sector—stakeholder engagement. While there are some limits, and there are pitfalls if not done correctly, stakeholder engagement can be a powerful tool at the interface between a company and the world ‘outside the fence’. Dr. Anderson will talk about what stakeholder engagement is, how it can be used, and the outcomes it produces. The latter is something often inadequately considered. Obtaining general internal buy-in within a company is another important topic he will discuss, using the example of the Rio Tinto Stakeholder Engagement Academy. Yirri Global, LLC is a boutique consulting firm specializing, among other things, in: extractive industry social performance and risk counsel; development; indigenous peoples; free, prior and informed consent; agreement-making; stakeholder engagement; social investment; and cultural awareness training.

Dr. Anderson has worked as a Communities & Social Performance field practitioner, and senior executive in the natural resource sector, for 20 years, with Rio Tinto, Newmont Mining, and Normandy Mining, in: Australia, Indonesia, West Africa, Turkey, Peru, Canada and the United States. He is an anthropologist and has also worked for 20 years with and for indigenous communities on a variety of issues including land claims, Royal Commissions, customary law and similar. In addition, he is a practicing academic, teacher, writer, researcher and consultant with community experience with indigenous and tribal peoples around the world. He is a board member of the Open Contracting Partnership, past chair of the International Council on Mining & Metals Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Working Group, and was Alumnus of the Year in 2013 at the University of Queensland. He is currently a Research Associate at the Colorado School of Mines, an Adjunct Professor in the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland and runs his own consulting company, Yirri Global, based in Denver Colorado.