Post by cjm on Oct 18, 2013 17:44:46 GMT
Here is an example:
If their finances are anything like mine (obviously on a much smaller scale), the simple fact is that the money is not available for social spending.
...I was at a party recently when someone I didn't know asked me what I did for a living. On hearing that I wrote about the mining sector, she asked, "In a positive or a negative light?"
I began to trot out the usual platitudes about objectivity but then a few thoughts struck me. Firstly, on the whole, given that I work for a publication that caters directly to the sector, most of my coverage is sympathetic (perhaps, too much so) to the plight of these suffering, million and billion dollar companies. Secondly, while the question was simplistic, it reflects well the current zeitgeist with regards the mining sector - either you love it or you hate it.
Church-based, non-governmental organisation, the Benchmarks Foundation, falls squarely in the latter camp, as evidenced by a new study released yesterday that lambasts Lonmin for a litany of social failings. Not only polluting the environment through the release of sulphur dioxide and 'unplanned discharges' into rivers, but also for failing to raise the standard of living of their employees; for failing to improve the quality of housing and the wages given out.
And, while the report is strident in its criticism of mining in general and Lonmin in particular, it is the form of the criticism that is perhaps the most telling part of it...
www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en//mineweb-political-economy?oid=209030&sn=Detail
I began to trot out the usual platitudes about objectivity but then a few thoughts struck me. Firstly, on the whole, given that I work for a publication that caters directly to the sector, most of my coverage is sympathetic (perhaps, too much so) to the plight of these suffering, million and billion dollar companies. Secondly, while the question was simplistic, it reflects well the current zeitgeist with regards the mining sector - either you love it or you hate it.
Church-based, non-governmental organisation, the Benchmarks Foundation, falls squarely in the latter camp, as evidenced by a new study released yesterday that lambasts Lonmin for a litany of social failings. Not only polluting the environment through the release of sulphur dioxide and 'unplanned discharges' into rivers, but also for failing to raise the standard of living of their employees; for failing to improve the quality of housing and the wages given out.
And, while the report is strident in its criticism of mining in general and Lonmin in particular, it is the form of the criticism that is perhaps the most telling part of it...
www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en//mineweb-political-economy?oid=209030&sn=Detail
If their finances are anything like mine (obviously on a much smaller scale), the simple fact is that the money is not available for social spending.