GMS: EY’s Theo Yameogo on ESG and digital transformation — ‘We need to communicate’

Are ESG ratings for miners clear enough? Are ESG principles clearly understood by most people? What role can digital transformation play in mining?

Theo Yameogo, sector leader for EY Americas & EY Canada Mining & Metals joined a conversation centred on the evolution of ESG and digital transformation at The Northern Miner’s Q3 Global Mining Symposium on Sept. 29.

Towards unified principles

The current ESG landscape in Canada is characterized by a broad set of principles adopted by industry organizations like the Mining Association of Canada, Yameogo explained.

He pointed to the TSM (Towards Sustainable Mining) and Copper Mark principles as examples, though he noted there isn’t yet consensus on which ESG standards are better than others.

EY is working with other companies to “see if there’s some sort of a framework that actually makes it simple,” targeting listed companies in North America, Yameogo said.

One benefit of a framework and more clarity around ESG principles is connecting better with investors, many of whom lose interest in mining when they learn it can take 10 to 15 years until a mine starts production.

“We need to get a new set of investors that we haven’t originally tapped into,” Yameogo said. “But at this point, it’s still tough to raise money. That’s how I see us as an industry dealing with ESG imperatives, because they’re not really defined. We need to help define them. And we need to communicate. People don’t understand the essential role of mining and metals. We need to think about it as a sector and we need to tell the story.”

Building ESG structure

While Yameogo acknowledged that ESG is facing pushback in some quarters, mainly from CFOs towards rating agencies and “greenwashing,” he believes the momentum of ESG is heading in the right direction.

“Many companies have been aware of ESG way before we created ESG. Health and safety, [the] environment, community [health] have always been around. We used to call them EHS [Environment, Health and Safety]…all sorts of names.

“But today, ESG is basically a formula. It is the formulation of all of this under some sort of reporting structure.”

Digital transformation

Turning to the issue of digital transformation in mining, Yameogo said his approach has three steps: replicate home practices at work, focus on the digital purpose and structure data in a way that is meaningful for regular people.

One example that mining could replicate is from banking. While years ago when people had to wait until the end of the month to see paper statements from their banks, or go to the bank in person to see the statements, today customers can log on to an app and see their information instantly.

“Why is it that in mining, we actually still have month-end reports?” he asked in contrast. “These are the little steps that people should think about because this resonates with people. Why am I walking around with paper? I don’t really use paper in my house.”

In terms of digital purpose, companies need to define what they want to be known for and lay out a roadmap instead of “running to every conference and buying the next big thing and testing this and running that,” he said. “It confuses the hell out of the workforce because they don’t know the objective. What’s the purpose of the transformation? That’s usually what we talk to clients about.”

And when it comes to structuring data, Yameogo said it’s useful to consider how exploration companies present a project to communities.

“How do you structure that data? How do you make it meaningful for others?  How do you…think about all your environmental footprint mapping?”

He gave the example of a company in South Africa that models mines in a three-dimensional, virtual reality format, giving people goggles to view the model in a more engaging way.

“It’s like VR of your mine, rather than [going through] a bunch of slides.”