Editorial Image takes a back seat to survival

Some years ago, when the mining industry was in a much healthier s tate and had more time and money, it spent quite a bit more of both in considerations of public relations.

A much-misused and frequently misunderstood term, public relations , (or PR as it is more generally known), is simply the system of relationships a company or an industry has, or would like to have, with its various “publics.” These can range, in the case of an individual corporation, from the customers it serves, to its shareholders, suppliers, and employees. In the case of the mining industry as a group, or collectively as represented by industry associations, two of the most important of these publics are the general public itself, and the various governments with which industry must deal.

The “image” of mining has never been a particularly shining one in t he public consciousness, in part because of the nature of the activity itself, (it requires disturbance of the earth, and raises questions, at least in the public mind, of environmental concerns) and because of other factors such as that mines are frequently located in remote areas making communications (and hence understanding) more difficult.

Collectively and individually, companies have tried to correct publi c misunderstanding of their role in the economic and social life of the nation. The Mining Association of Canada, the various provincial mining associations, the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada have all been and are still active in spreading the word about mining through communications programs of one sort or another. But the size of the effort has generally had to give way to the far more urgent need to get the industry back on its feet. Productivity and profit have rightly been well ahead of image in the priority scale.

Still, as is obvious from a story in last week’s issue concerning th is paper’s contribution of special mining-education kits to elementary schools in the Temiskaming area of Ontario, the effort to inform continues. These and other kits, inspired by the CIM and sponsored by various other companies and groups, are slowly but surely making their way into schools across Canada.

They aren’t going to turn students into mining believers overnight, but over the long haul they certainly can help develop new generations of Canadians with a greater understanding of and appreciation for mining’s continuing and vital contributions to the country. And, indeed, the world.