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Corruption in the Mining Sector: Preliminary Overview 413
appropriate training. Although the caliber of some staff members at licensing
authorities is high, there is generally a shortage of appropriately qualified
and experienced staff. Corruption can be reduced by having staff of
high integrity and ability. Staff members with integrity will not become
involved in corruption and will report any corruption they see that affects
their employer.
Recommendation 2: Enhance transparency by improving disclosure
requirements.
One of the best ways to help reduce corruption is to increase transparency.
Corruption thrives in secrecy. It is significantly more difficult to
conceal corrupt license awards, corrupt conditions of mining, and corrupt
payments if all details are made available to the public. There is currently
only limited disclosure of license details. It is recommended that this
disclosure be materially increased, particularly in the following ways:
• Full public disclosure of all relevant documents associated with mining
licenses and mine operation, including all license applications, agreements,
and conditions; royalties, profit taxes, and any other payments
made by the mining company to the licensing authorities; inspection
guidelines and reports; any enforcement action taken by the authorities
against the mining company; and compensation required to be paid to
local inhabitants
• Very limited exceptions to full disclosure in relation to technical data
that are genuinely confidential to the mining company
• Disclosure as soon as possible after the licensing authority produces or
receives the relevant documents
• Disclosure of all federal, regional, and city prospecting, exploration, and
mining licenses awarded within the last six years as well as all future
licenses
• Disclosure available both on the Internet and at the relevant federal,
regional, or city registries
• Relatively simple, cheap management of disclosure by making virtually
all the above documents available in electronic form for easy downloading
onto a website
• A simple amendment both to the law and to the model license agreement
to provide for the above disclosure management.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) 6 is an international
initiative to improve transparency and accountability by the full