Chairman, Vale Base Metals
Mining can create value for societies and their economies. This is a known, and recognized, fact, throughout the experience of human development. Indeed, the earliest human uses of metals defined civilizations. Human progress can be mapped against evolving sophistication in metals for tools and implements that enabled humans to adapt, survive, and prosper.
Critical infrastructure — roads, rail, ports, harbors, energy systems, water systems — supports not only the mining industry itself but also local, regional, and broader economies. Along the way, mining creates employment and provides building blocks for overall industrial and economic growth and opportunity while injecting billions in direct and indirect payments into private and public coffers. Mining also fosters trade by creating comparative advantages.
The size and scope of the ultimate prize is contingent on the level of effort made to ensure and preserve optimal value realization and distribution. This means a shared value proposition — an alignment of interests that fosters durable success, supported by robust commercial frameworks that incorporate broad-based sustainability concepts and effective allocation and distribution of fiscal benefits.
To access the full paper, download the PDF.
This paper was written in partnership with the Future Minerals Forum (FMF). For more information on FMF and FMF25 and to access the full report, “Shaping the Future of Minerals,” please visit https://www.futuremineralsforum.com/.
This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
