Company Experience
Yirri Global was founded in 2015 and is based in Denver Colorado, USA and Accra, Ghana. Since then we have worked for clients including BHP, Newmont Mining, Newcrest, Oz Minerals, Midas Gold, Sibanye Stillwater, Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN), Royal Bank of Canada, International Finance Corporation, Rio Tinto, Resolution Copper, BlueScope, Tyson Foods, Anglo American & Cambridge University and the University of Queensland’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining. Some of these projects were done in conjunction with our strategic partner, Acorn International, LLC (WWW.AcornIntl.net).
Our work has taken us to more than 14 countries including Mexico, Brazil, Panama, United States (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Colorado), Canada, South Africa, Chile, Ghana, Ecuador, Turkey, New Zealand and Australia.
Our briefs have included: social risk assessments and mitigation planning and implementation, sustainability capacity building, stakeholder mapping and engagement, due diligence, stakeholder perception assessment, Indigenous peoples relationships, social investment strategy, investigation of potential slavery conditions in supply chains, Social License to Operate assessments, social performance training, among just a few.
What are some of the problems we solve and can help prevent?
Communities sometimes do not understand the potential impacts of a proposed natural resource project. We can help raise awareness and help build capacity for this.
Companies often do not understand their host communities. Yirri Global specializes in building a knowledge base for this that can be used as a basis for planning and on-going engagement. Stakeholder mapping, relationship building, and management is a particularly strong aspect of our expertise and experience.
Increasingly, good practice in terms of company-community relationships is the development of formal agreements defining these. We have a decade of experience in helping bring these agreements about.
Companies exploring an acquisition often focus only on the technical and financial aspects. Increasingly, communities have views and can take actions that inhibit or destroy value. We undertake comprehensive due diligence on this ‘social risk’.
Communities & Social Performance (CSP) is a relatively new field in the natural resource sector. In the past it was often handled on a part time basis by non-professionals and was not granted status in organizations on a par with its business critical role. Yirri Global has long years of experience of in-house training for CSP competencies.
Indigenous peoples live and claim rights to land in many remote parts of the world. Often these lands also have mineral potential. Increasingly, Indigenous peoples have views and a voice around what happens on this land. Mining companies in particular do not have a good reputation in managing this and often hide behind government permits, etc. One of Yirri Global’s primary areas of expertise is assisting both sides of this interaction toward mutual benefit.
Examples of Project Experience
Assessment of a complex supply chain for a steel manufacturer looking for evidence of slave-like labor conditions in Brazil (with Acorn International). This was to enable the client to fulfil the requirements of the Australian Government’s legislation, Modern Slavery Act 2018.
Developing a comprehensive social investment strategy for an oil company in Ghana as part of a requirement of the International Finance Corporation.
Assistance with Communities & Social Performance strategy for major gold company in Central America.
Undertaking a major community stakeholder perception assessment for a mining company in West Africa.
Assisting a mining company in the United States with development of a stakeholder management system.
Undertaking a community study of views on a major new mining project in the United States.
Assisting a mining company in the United States with developing and enhancing relationships with Native American groups.
Due diligence of existing or actual social risks to a mining operation in rural Mexico towards a potential acquisition; a similar project in Brazil.
Development and delivery of Native American cross-cultural training programs for staff and management of a mining project in the US.
Development and delivery of capacity-building around social performance for a global mining company.
Assessment of a project’s fulfilment of Equator Bank and IFC Performance Standard requirements around Indigenous peoples and Free, Prior & Informed Consent (FPIC) for a major financial institution (with Acorn International).
Report on comparison of Free, Prior & Informed Consent for Indigenous peoples on natural resource projects in Canada, the United States and Mexico for a government entity.
Assessment of social and environmental risks for expansion of a major bauxite mine in Brazil; mitigation plans for managing these risks, particularly around FPIC and community engagement (with Acorn International).
Advice on community engagement for an oil palm project in Liberia.
Yirri Global provides custom tailored training on social performance for companies and conducts masterclasses at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Queensland’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining.