[PDF] Community Development Toolkit - CommDev

CASE STUDY continuedStrengthening community engagement following mine expansionVale, Minas Gerais, BrazilVale also worked with communities and authorities to help develop responses to problemsthat predated the mine’s arrival. For example, another study indicated that difficultiesexperienced in the local hospital pre-existed the mine’s arrival, and suggested solutionsthat needed to be adopted by the local government.OutcomesThe company states that as a result of the Brucutu experience, it has changed the way itrelates to communities, stating that it is now “committed to open dialogue, transparencyand the search for joint solutions”. As an example of this new attitude, Vale points out thatthe design of construction of a tailings dam was changed in order to respond to localcommunity concerns. In particular, the company reduced the number of houses thatneeded to be relocated, and put back the proposed date of the flooding of a local churchin order to allow sufficient time to make a contingency plan in consultation with thecommunity.RELATIONSHIPS TOOLSSource: “Conversation is the key to understanding”, case study in Vale’s Sustainability Report, 2007.Community Development Toolkit71