Good neighbors

Decades before the term sustainable development was coined, Luzenac practiced good neighborliness. Not only was it clearly what is now called "enlightened self interest", it just seemed like the right thing to do.

With 1,500 employees in Western Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, Luzenac spans many countries and cultures. We have two kinds of operations from the "communities" standpoint. The first are mines and their processing plants that are situated in the vicinity of the communities themselves; the second are stand-alone processing plants on large industrial estates, where the word "community" has less meaning. In the former case, many of Luzenac's operations were family-run firms for much of their lifetimes, which often stretch back decades or, in some instances, over a hundred years. At these operations the local communities are still formed to a significant extent by the employees themselves and their families. Indeed, our talc operations are often the principal employer, making a major contribution both economically and socially to the communities, and, in some cases, rendering it possible for families to be sustained in rural communities where there has been a dramatic decline in other employment opportunities. Consequently, the bond between our various operations and the local communities is naturally very strong, and, as responsible citizens in their own communities, employees are often actively involved in shaping the community programs themselves.

As part of our SD program, we are setting out to learn more about our communities in a more structured way. Last year was marked by the adoption of a rolling Five-year Community Action Plan. The plan puts great emphasis on organized two-way communication with the communities to find out how we are regarded, what their concerns are and what their expectations are of us. To do this, we are conducting socio-economic baseline studies and community attitude / needs surveys at all our major operations.

For more information about our actions in the communities in which we work, see our 2008 Sustainable Development Report.

If you have a question about our HSEC policy and practices, please click here.