Who we are
Environmental, social and governance
Denver Gold Group requires every member to mine responsibly, because the case for investing in mining rests on the conduct of the companies that do the mining.
Denver Gold Group, as the trade association of private and publicly traded mining companies from around the world, requires its members to be responsible miners, since the industry's essential work of supplying the raw materials a durable global economy consumes depends, in the end, on the consent of the communities, governments and investors among whom each mine operates. DGG's members are, consequently, the front line of sustainable development, charged with protecting the environment and improving the lives of the people who live alongside their operations.
Where the raw materials go
A smartphone carries copper, gold, silver and dozens of other elements, a catalytic converter depends on platinum and palladium, and the grids and batteries that carry renewable energy run on copper, nickel and lithium, which means that technology, construction and energy, the industries investors most often describe as the future, all begin at a mine. Indeed, mining is the upstream source of nearly every product in daily use, from medical devices to the buildings and transport networks that surround them, and no modern industry could function without it.
For countries emerging from poverty, moreover, a well-run mine is frequently among the largest sources of foreign direct investment and of government revenue, and the royalties and taxes it pays fund schools, clinics and roads that the state could not otherwise afford. Consequently, the question host governments put to the industry is less whether mining should happen than who will do it, and on what terms.
Environmental, social and governance
DGG's members answer for their conduct on three accounts, and each one bears on whether a mine keeps the support it needs to operate.
- Environmental
Responsible mining begins with a smaller footprint, and DGG's members increasingly apply new technology and established practice to cut greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water and manage waste more safely.
The same members supply the copper, nickel and other materials on which renewable energy and other new-economy industries depend, so that the environmental account of a well-run mine includes the technologies its metal makes possible.
- Social
A mine is frequently the largest employer in its region, particularly in the remote rural districts of developing countries, where economic growth matters most to lifting people out of poverty.
Members routinely go further, building schools, clinics and roads, funding vocational training and buying from local businesses, because the communities around a mine remain its neighbours for the decades it operates and long after it closes.
- Governance
Good governance means transparency in a member's own operations and across its supply chains, respect for human rights, and engagement with the people a mine affects, so that their concerns are heard and answered before they harden into disputes.
Indeed, it is through governance that members earn the trust on which both their financing and their permits depend, by disclosing what they do and answering for it.
What investors gain
For investors, responsible mining offers more than exposure to the metals themselves: DGG holds that equities in well-governed mining companies diversify a portfolio and hedge it against economic shocks, while the companies themselves deliver sustainable development to the countries that host them.
The record our members keep
The harms that mining can do, which DGG does not minimise, are concentrated among rogue and unregulated operators who answer to neither regulators nor shareholders, and the industry is right to guard against them. However, judging the whole industry by its worst actors obscures what responsible mining, of the kind DGG's members undertake, has supplied to the manufacturing and distribution systems that have lifted millions of people out of poverty within a generation.
Consequently, DGG requires responsible mining of every member, because the industry's case, to investors and host governments alike, rests on the record those members keep.