As mining activities tend to occur away from city centres, the local public sector capacity to respond to emergency scenarios is an important consideration. A site may be located in a remote area where infrastructure and government presence, capacity and resources are weak or absent. In such cases, the site may have to provide the majority of the resources required to deal with emergencies.

Sites located in developed areas with efficient and well-resourced public emergency services may have to deal with capacity constraints of a different type, as co-ordination and political issues could be factors that may impede rapid and effective response (see Box 4D.11).

Box 4D.11 Considering Political Dynamics

Political, economic and reputational considerations can affect the post-emergency decision making of national or local governments. This may include the following:

• Political leaders may downplay the impact of an emergency to avoid negative media attention, or they may encourage negative media attention on the site if this will appeal to their electorate.
• The provision of humanitarian aid and assistance may be prioritised as this is normally highly visible and can therefore promote their reputation, if done well.
• Recovery efforts, which may be lengthy, costly, and may be linked to unpopular decisions, may be less politically attractive. This can lead to ad hoc delegation of responsibilities to a “third party” where mechanisms for transparency and accountability are not always clear.
• Political leaders may want to show strong government leadership, and in doing so, prevent private sector involvement through partnerships.

Political aspirations, which may be articulated through government policies and plans, are important to identify and factor into recovery planning, in particular where these may drive or contradict with ‘building back better’.

It is important to jointly understand existing capacities and constraints in terms of resourcing, skills, time and political dynamics (such as electoral changes in the region, concerns related to reputational damage, political networks, etc. - See Box 4D.11).

An assessment of the capacity of public emergency response service providers, first responders and primary treatment facilities to respond to potential exposures, injuries, and deaths should be conducted using Tool 4D.1. This will help identify where capacity development is needed to ensure effective emergency response and recovery efforts. Where capacity of key external stakeholders is limited or restricted, capacity building should be prioritised.

Consideration should also be given where the local communities can play a role in response and recovery efforts as key first responders, and to the capacity building efforts that are required to enable them to take this role on effectively.

Proactively providing support, understanding each other’s needs, engaging in regular conversations, and participating in joint training has been shown to strengthen trust and pave the way to establishing formal agreements.

Where there are legal limitations on the site’s ability to help build the capacity of key external stakeholders, these should be documented. In those cases, the site should use its influence to encourage the required capacity building and document its efforts, for example by establishing public-private partnerships, dialogue tables, or other initiatives (see Box 4D.12 for an example).

Box 4D.12 Case Study – Using Leverage and Building Trust: Tranque Project

The Chile Foundation led the Tranque Program, a public-private initiative involving Anglo American, other mining companies active in Chile, local and national government agencies, and the UNDP. The Tranque Program seeks to contribute to the safe and reliable operation of tailings facilities, developing tools to improve the monitoring of physical stability and the potential impact on surrounding waters, making reliable and timely information available to authorities, mining companies and communities, thus improving communication and trust between the parties.

In 2018, this initiative took on a new impetus when it was considered within the National Tailings Plan announced by the Ministry of Mining, which considers the implementation of tools for the management of active tailings facilities, contributing to the creation of the National Tailings Deposit Observatory.