WOLLONGONG-born legend of mining Mark Cutifani has risen from working in the coal mines of his hometown to taking the helm of some of the world’s biggest miners.

He is currently a director of French energy giant Total Energies and Laing O'Rourke.

As chief executive officer of Anglo American, Cutifani was responsible for turning around the fortunes of the mining group and putting it on the right track toward a more sustainable future.

By 2019 Anglo American had reduced fatalities by 73% and made a 59% improvement in accident frequency rates.

There was an 81% drop in new occupational health cases and a massive 97% drop in major environmental incidents.

Cutifani also oversaw a 12% boost in production and 45% increase in costs.

In 2013 Cutifani led a delegation of miners to the Vatican, to try and understand how the company could engage with rural leadership groups across the religious sector.

"Now I'm not a particularly religious person, this is a story about engaging with a group that represents so many people in terms of value and beliefs.

In a speech I made in 2012 in Brazil I was actually appealing to the industry to start collaborating and I spoke about Africa, where communities surrounding mines under development had no infrastructure and not much business but every community had a church.

I said that engaging with the churches could allow us to hear what the communities wanted, not what we wanted for them.

And I said if we were really serious, we'd go to the Vatican, which at the time was heading a synod titled The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith 

A guy at the back, the head of Oxfam put his hand up and said we should approach Cardinal Peter Turkson, who at the time was the man responsible for peace and justice at the Vatican.

So, a group of 15 miners headed to the Vatican and sat down with the cardinal, who asked me what I wanted out of the conversations.

I said I want to understand how you see us and how we might reform ourselves to better engage with our communities.

He then asked if I wanted him to endorse me but I said no, I don't want anything I just want to understand.

I said to him that if I could convince him the industry could make a valuable contribution, even if he just gets us a seat at the table for an open conversation, that's all I'd like to see.

Well, that started a set of engagements with the Vatican and after a few years, during Pope Francis' papacy, there was a recognition for the first time that mining could make a valuable contribution to society when the Archbishop of Canterbury sent a press release.

He said he had been studying the bible for three years and had not been able to find one negative comment or reference to the mining industry, therefore it could be concluded that mining could be supported as long as it was responsible.

That was a significant shift and we managed to get our message across by narrowing it down to what people can relate to."

Cutifani said mining's actual footprint took up just 0.3% of the earth's surface area while in Queensland, the footprint was about 1% compared to 70% for agriculture.

He said about 30% in the industry were aligned with his idea of value engagement while 70% were defensive, did not want to engage and did not want to put themselves out there.

"I understand that, but this is a crisis situation," he said.

"Kids don't want to join our industry; we have to do something about it."

Cutifani said he did not think the leaders of industry, including himself, were leading the way.

"For me its unfinished business because I am disappointed in the legacy I'm leaving, its nowhere near what it should be if I had been a much more effective leader," he said.

"I'm probably seen as a left wing looney in the corporate world and I make no apologies for that [but] I am not going to give up until I see we have changed, because the world needs us to be better."

Source: Australia's Mining Monthly, 16th May 2023

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