Masterclass – Community Relations at Exploration – Webinar

Date & Time

19 October 2020 9:00am–20 November 2020 5:00pm

This Masterclass will focus on the exploration  phase of resource extraction and aims to  deepen conceptual understanding of the issues  and potential impacts of exploration activities  on local communities.  The mineral exploration context is raising new  challenges and expectations. As ‘first boots on the  ground’, exploration teams are in a unique  position. This Masterclass will provide participants  with insights and initial tools and skills to enhance  community relationships at this stage of the project  lifecycle, and to build an accessible and useful  knowledge base of social data, all crucial to future  project development.

Format 

The four-week Masterclass requires approximately  4-5 hours a week of participant time. As well as a  section introducing the contemporary exploration  context, the course focuses on three core skills: 

• building a community profile, 
• undertaking meaningful engagement and • identifying strategic investment opportunities. 

It includes exercises, case studies and an  assignment to apply the learnings to your own  work context as well as opportunities to interact  with your fellow students and tutors. 

What you will learn 

• Recognise potential impacts on and  opportunities for communities associated with  exploration projects 
• Apply layers of social data accessible and  useful in an exploration context to build a  social knowledge base 
• Describe key steps and considerations in  stakeholder mapping 
• Align data, community feedback and impacts  and describe their interaction and suitable  systems for exploration teams to record and  respond to these  
• Demonstrate understanding of the skills and  principles of dialogue 
• Analyse and assess whether options for  strategic investment are appropriate to  various phases of exploration in various  contexts and could contribute to shared value.

Course outline and info

Masterclass_community_relations_exploration_Outline

Facilitators 

Sarah Mackenzie (course contact) 

E: s.mackenzie@uq.edu.au 

T: 61 429 597 819 

Sarah is a research manager at the Centre for  Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) within the  University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals  Institute (UQ-SMI). With a background in  international development, Sarah has worked as a  social performance practitioner in mineral exploration across Africa. Her current areas of  expertise include community engagement,  community development, social investment, and gender as a crosscutting theme. 

Pam Bourke 

Pam is a senior researcher at CSRM, UQ-SMI. She is an experienced community development  and social planning practitioner and trainer,  working with the extractive sector, government, and NGOs across Australia and internationally.  Pam teaches community relations for the resource  sector at the University of Queensland and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Dr Jo-Anne Everingham 

Jo-Anne is a senior research fellow at CSRM, UQ SMI. She conducts applied sociological studies of mining and exploration- affected communities,  especially in rural and regional Australia,  examining local development impacts and  community relations. 

Cost 

The course is currently being offered at a rate of  $1,500 AUD plus GST per participant. 

Rates for groups can be negotiated.  

Please contact the team for more information.

For more information and registrations click here