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A leading Australian nickel producer
A multi-commodity growth company
Established track record of profits and dividends
Fully funded for growth
Community members attending an information/open day
in the town of Nullagine, East Pilbara, organised by BC Iron Ltd
So how do we better communicate the economic divide in the
industry and the benefits the industry provides to the general
public? The solutions coming out of the ‘Dancing in the Dark’ panel
varied. Steve Harris advised industry needs to better communicate
with the general public using different choices of media. He
pointed out that when the mining industry needs to communicate
key messages within the industry it primarily chooses traditional
media like newspapers, however when communicating with
the general public it needs to be changing its mediums of
communication and looking at what the public engages with more
for example; FM radio, television and social media, to reach the
marginal voting public’.
The question and answer session following the presentations
also raised some interesting points. Pietro Guj, Research Professor
at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, noted that previously
schools would arrange tours for students to go to a mine site, and
this is now lacking in our education system. Another audience
participant pointed out that the junior end of the market could
not afford big television and radio campaigns to communicate the
benefits they are providing to the community.
The industry must develop a clear and coherent message and
overall strategy on an industry wide and regional level. A number of
companies and industry organisations have developed an informal
working group. This in turn will produce the first stage of a strategy
to address the problem.