Review of initiatives that have improved the social and environmental performance of the mining sector in Canada over the last ten years.

Project start date:  Monday, October 12, 2009

NRCan is supporting the work of a federal/provincial/territorial working group to research initiatives by government, industry and/or civil society that have improved the social and environmental performance of the mining sector in Canada, over the last ten years.  We are looking for two graduate students with excellent research and project management skills to support this work.

The student researcher agrees to provide NRCan with a research brief that examines performance improvements in the mining sector over the past ten years.  The researcher will be assigned a specific thematic issue/challenge and is expected to prepare a report that examines and summarizes performance improvements within the parameters of the issue/challenge.

Proposed Research Brief Outline:
Section 1: Overview

• Overview of the findings / executive summary

Section 2: Context

• Definition and description of the issue/challenge and a discussion of its importance to mining sector.

Section 3: Looking Backward 

• Historical catalogue of initiatives that have improved the performance of the mining sector with respect to the specific issue/challenge.  This analysis may take the form of: an inventory of initiatives/actions undertaken by diverse stakeholders (government, industry, civil society, etc.); and/or case examples.

Above and beyond factual descriptions of the various actions that have been undertaken to improve performance, this section should also provide:

• An analysis of the emergence and evolution of the initiatives that led to the performance improvements, including an examination of the socio-political environment in which the performance improvements emerged and of any catalysts that resulted in the implementation of initiatives that led to performance improvements

• Examination of the impact(s) of the initiatives, and the extent and duration of the performance improvements that they led to.  Compare and contrast with other performance improvement examples (i.e. other industries and/or countries).
• Responses to some of the following questions (not an exhaustive list):  
  • Were the initiatives binding?  
  • To what extend did they generate tangible changes to performance?    
  • Did the initatives stimulate and foster additional improvements above and beyond their initial intent?  
• The role of different actors (government, industry, NGOs, communities etc.)

Section 4:  Looking Forward 

• Proposals for moving forward
• An examination of the current climate within the mining sector with respect to improvements in performance, an identification of performance gaps and an analysis of possible future improvements.  
• This section should provide a broad picture of the current approaches to improving performance within the mining sector with respect to the issue in question and offer a view for moving forward.

Page Requirements:

• Section 1: 5 pages
• Section 2: 15 pages
• Section 2: 12 pages
• Section 4: 10 pages

These page requirements are flexible, pursuant to approval by Natural Resources Canada. Pages are to be double spaced.

Deadlines:
Project start date: Monday, October 12, 2009

Deadline #1 – November 14th
Deliverables:

• Bibliography posted on virtual space
• Outline of research
• A tentative list of best practices/performance improvements

Deadline #2 – December 14th
Deliverables:

• Abstract
• Rough draft of research brief

Deadline #3 – January 14th
Deliverables:

• Penultimate version of the final report  
• Full bibliography

Deadline #4 – February 14th
Deliverables:

• Final report, revised based on comments provided by NRCan

Cost of the contract:
The maximum cost of the contract will be $5000, including applicable taxes.

Additional Information
Students will be paid (by cheque) in two instalments. 50% of the contract value will be paid upon receipt of an abstract of the research brief on December 14, 2009, if the abstract is deemed to be of a suitable quality by Natural Resources Canada.

The balance of the contract will be paid 30 days after the receipt of a final invoice.  The invoice will be provided by the students once the final deliverable is submitted to, and approved by, NRCan.