In 2025, then-Vale Base Metals Chairman Mark Cutifani joined forces with Michelle Michot Foss, PhD, a fellow in energy, minerals, and materials at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, to produce a report in partnership with the Future Minerals Forum (FMF).
Titled ‘Building Shared Value Propositions in the Mining Industries’, the study sets out a vision for how mining can evolve in the decades ahead, emphasising the need for frameworks that balance commercial success with sustainability, governance, and the delivery of broader societal benefits.
The report presents a roadmap for the future, stressing that all value chains begin upstream. Understanding both the value and impact of upstream mining is crucial in developing a shared-value framework that links exploration to long-term trust, integrates sustainability into commercial models, ensures that communities benefit directly from resource development, and strengthens global critical minerals supply chains.
Mining.com.au secured the first-ever joint interview with Cutifani and Foss to unpack the motivation behind the report, its key findings, and how it could help future industry developments.
The collaboration was driven by FMF as part of its broader mission to bring together global governments, enterprises, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders. Working with the Baker Institute for Public Policy, the initiative aims to advance FMF’s wider vision by articulating the complexities facing the mining industry and encouraging businesses, governments, and communities to engage in new ways.
Foss notes the report is a culmination of conversations between her and Cutifani unpacking ideas about what companies must consider when making investments, how to get industry and governments on the same page, and other “alignment of interests”.
Discussing the partnership with FMF, Cutifani notes that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Government is focused on developing its economy beyond energy. It recognises the importance of minerals to its efforts to diversify their industry and economic base under the broader Saudi Vision 2030 framework.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy positions mining as a contributor to economic diversification and job creation, with the aim of developing a sustainable industry and ensuring the Kingdom’s mineral resources benefit the community.
“People struggle with the idea of shared value, what that means in terms of practice and implementation,” Cutifani says.
In Saudi Arabia’s case, Cutifani notes that the government is driven by an understanding of how fragmented the industry has been in the past, as well as recognition of the Kingdom’s advantages in areas such as energy costs, mineral wealth, and economic capacity.
The report is the result of all these discussions looking at how to address such fractures, increase collaboration, and focus more closely on how a sustainable industry can contribute to the global economy.
Implementation: From why to how?
The report takes a clear stance, noting that because all value chains begin upstream, value creation starts with exploration. While value can be created across different stages of project development, the authors argue that the upstream value proposition remains the largest.
“Self-funded prospectors are motivated by expected prices to search for minerals — metallic and non-metallic, fuel and nonfuel. If exploration is successful, latent wealth is realised as discovered resources are exposed to markets.”
The entire mining ecosystem hinges on complex links between commodities, prices, commercial markets, and government and community support. The report argues that a licence to operate should be a logical outcome when these elements align in the right way.
The key functions underpinning a licence to operate include resource access and development, energy and minerals security in dynamic markets, transparency and governance, international best practice, safety, security, health, environment (SSHE), above-ground risk mitigation, commercialisation, processing, and logistics, among others.
For Cutifani and Foss, one clear outcome of the report is the need to align people with different interests around the same central goal, starting with governments and extending to communities.
“From a government perspective, they have a resource base and an economic development imperative, and the question is how do they translate that into action?” Foss says.
“Governments will do things like open licence rounds, engage investors, and so on, but it can be difficult to navigate what are often conflicting motives with execution.
“There are basic things that the mining industry needs, and the issue is getting the right grounding in place, the right framework to be able to host investment in a way that benefits both the host itself, the resource owner, its society, its mandates, etc., and to be able to do it in a way that allows the industry to sustain itself, to stay in business, to make investments, and to move forward.”
Foss stresses the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page, noting the need to go back to basics. The industry is at a point where there is a willingness to engage and develop clear, straightforward practices to follow, making this one of the report’s key recommendations.
Cutifani frames the issue as being about more than getting everyone on the same page. It also requires the industry to recognise the work needed to improve the way it operates.
One thing is certain, though: if value creation starts upstream, buy-in and the licence to operate needs to start there as well. Exploration is not just the first step in resource development, but is the foundation for how the industry moves forward. By embedding shared value into the earliest stages, the industry can work to secure both its economic future and its social legitimacy.
Communication is key
The interview dives into one of the fundamental problems facing the industry today.
“The key thing when you talk about going from what to how is, irrespective of how well we talk of the industry, it’s still us talking to ourselves,” Cutifani says.
He notes that even as the industry works to establish clear operational standards, issues can arise. While miners may speak about responsible mining and high standards, convincing a local community to take a chance and develop a strategy alongside a company can still be difficult.
“You need to demonstrate that there’s a value add,” Cutifani says.
“We also need to do a better job of explaining why we’re the most important industry [alongside agriculture] on the face of the planet for supporting peoples’ lives.”
Cutifani notes that people do not always understand the benefits the industry can bring. To convince local communities that mining is worth engaging with, he says companies need to demonstrate a value proposition that uplifts communities and provides support in areas where it may not yet exist.
“So, from what to how is getting our conversations to a local level where people support the development of the industry because they see the benefit in their communities and they understand how they’re contributing to make the world a better place,” Cutifani says.
Top-down versus bottom-up approaches
Community engagement is a priority in securing broader support and acceptance for the mining industry. Foss notes that bringing everyone in the room and encouraging discussion can also serve the industry well — something FMF has been able to coordinate.
“There are tangible conversations taking place, but we still have this big divide to navigate,” Foss says.
“There is also a strong desire to do more than just talk, but to actually have discussions that are action-oriented so that we can implement standards for responsibility and responsible sourcing alongside other areas that have to do with workforce development and training.”
Real change and impact requires engagement on the ground, together with clear standards around which the industry can align. While this does not guarantee a particular outcome, bringing together governments, industry executives, and other stakeholders can help uncover their key motives and identify the benefits mining may deliver.
Foss notes that it is much easier to get things done when the government makes an effort to understand the industry, its requirements, its metrics, and what it needs to be both profitable and sustainable. In her view, there must be a balance between ambition and results, ensuring that the industry’s efforts deliver returns for the parties involved.
Cutifani adds that the real impact comes when governments play a facilitating role in conversations.
“The last thing that the company wants and the last thing that the local community wants is the government telling both of us what we have to do. That doesn’t work,” Cutifani says.
“But where governments play a facilitating role and understand how they can support the ideas that we’re putting forward, whether it’s infrastructure or other things, then we found it to be a much more constructive three-way conversation.
“Ultimately, the company and the community have a view on what they’re looking to agree on for development and the government as a neutral interpreter is usually more successful.”
Foss adds that the industry must also embrace storytelling, repeating the message of shared value until it resonates across governments, communities, and investors. She credits FMF with spearheading the effort and investing heavily in bringing diverse participants together.
FMF’s push on education, workforce development, and institutional capacity are part of the broader benefits around mining projects. Regional hubs and shared infrastructure are additional examples of how collaborative thinking can unlock projects and deliver wider community benefits.
The conversation with Cutifani and Foss underscores that while frameworks and standards are essential, they alone cannot guarantee outcomes and are only the starting point.
Real progress depends on governments acting as facilitators, companies committing to transparency, and communities seeing tangible benefits from resource development.
As Foss stresses, implementation is part science and part art — aligning metrics and investment with dialogue and trust.
For Cutifani, the industry’s licence to operate will endure only if miners demonstrate shared value at the local level, showing that exploration and development can uplift communities while strengthening global supply chains.
For Foss and Cutfani, the report is not simply a vision, but a practical guide to ensuring mining’s licence to operate is earned through trust, transparency, and tangible benefits. It positions shared value not as an abstract principle but as a roadmap that demands collaboration across governments, industry, and society to secure mining’s role in a sustainable future.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au
