Community and stakeholder relationships
We develop and maintain strong community and stakeholder relationships as part of our social licence to operate.
Our commitment
We are committed to building and maintaining strong and mutually respectful relationships, while complying with all domestic, national and international laws applicable to our relationships with communities.
Our approach
We work with local organisations, governments, not-for-profits, community groups and stakeholders to build strong relationships that deliver positive outcomes. We identify and engage with key stakeholders such as local communities, landholders and governments, to understand their needs and concerns.
Our dedicated Community and Stakeholder Engagement team are responsible for delivering robust and mutually beneficial social and economic outcomes for our local communities. MinRes ensures early engagement with local communities to establish trust, mutual respect and open communication, allowing us to identify trends in attitudes and perspectives, harness local knowledge, identify and mitigate potential impacts and risks. We embed the principles of business integrity, planning and managing positive legacies and social responsibility across all phases of mine planning, execution and closure.
Our community
At MinRes, we recognise that our activities can influence the communities where we operate. We work closely with local people and organisations to understand potential challenges, identify new opportunities and make decisions that balance community needs with our business goals. We collect feedback, investigate concerns and find ways to make improvements or create new opportunities. This includes:
Where relevant, we formalise site-specific stakeholder engagement plans and systems to guide our engagement. These plans identify the responsibilities of each party in the management of impacts, opportunities and risks.
We engage through regular Community Reference Group meetings, which provide a forum for project disclosure, engagement and consultation with a range of community stakeholders.
We are committed to making a positive and sustainable impact in our local communities.
Our social investment program is centrally managed, with all funding requests recorded and overseen in a consistent manner. We publish an annual Social Investment Report which details our investment.
We run a quarterly Community Grants program with grants of up to $10,000 available to organisations in the communities where we operate.
Learn more about our social investment.
We are committed to effectively addressing feedback and grievances from the community, upholding principles of accessibility, equity, transparency, remedy provision, continuous learning and improvement.
Where relevant, formal agreements are made between MinRes and specific stakeholders, such as pastoralists and landholders. These agreements formalise commitments and mutual obligations and ensure there are no limitations on grievance or procedural fairness mechanisms.
Key documents
To realise our commitment, we are guided by key policies, standards and procedures:
Case study: Onslow Iron project
As the first MinRes project to be developed from its initial scoping through to operations, Onslow Iron has set a new standard for how we build and maintain relationships with local communities. As the Onslow Iron project transitions to an operational state, community engagement has become further embedded, with a growing emphasis on practical contributions that directly benefit the Onslow community.
Over the past year, we have focused on initiatives that provide tangible support to residents, including through in-kind contributions. Onslow locals have benefited from MinRes’ increased flights to town, with seats reserved on each flight available for community members to purchase. This has significantly increased accessibility for regional residents with more than 6,500 seats made available to date, demonstrating our commitment to sharing the benefits of our presence in Onslow.
The project has promoted the growth of the local community by attracting new families to live and work in town through the development of 10 new residential homes. Our business has also engaged the services of more than 50 local businesses and exceeded $50 million in local spend, with each business supporting various components of the Onslow Iron project and creating employment opportunities for locals.
Building strong relationships with the local community remains the cornerstone of our approach and underpins our social investment strategy. In FY25, Onslow community groups continued to benefit from the MinRes Community Grants program. We also continued to deepen our multi-year partnerships with Swans Onslow, the Waaltji Foundation and the Onslow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, demonstrating our ongoing investment in the region’s economic and social wellbeing.
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