To support constructive engagement and resolution of issues and adverse impacts, we maintain a site-level grievance mechanism where community members, including Indigenous Peoples, can register their complaints. The community grievance mechanism can serve as an early warning system by tracking trends and patterns in grievance types so they can be addressed in their earliest stages, ideally prior to further escalation.

Our community grievance mechanism is available in local languages, with management protocols tailored to local culture, and serves as the system for documenting and tracking complaints or impacts as well as the type and timeliness of our response. Grievances typically are received by community engagement team members through in-person engagements at established company or community forums, in writing via physical drop boxes or via local telephone hotlines. Grievances are routed to the site Community Grievance Officer, who records and relays the grievance to the appropriate department for evaluation. We work with community members to acknowledge the grievance, address the impact or problem, and where appropriate, provide remedy. For grievances with potentially high community impacts, senior management and applicable government authorities are engaged, as appropriate.

During 2021, our global operations recorded 172 community grievances, mostly regarding community benefits, environmental concerns, health and safety and physical damage. Our web-based grievance management system allows us to track grievances, identify thematic trends, report on resolutions and measure our performance.

During 2021, we finalized updates to our Community Grievance Management standard operating procedure incorporating the effectiveness criteria outlined in the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs). These updates standardized key processes and enabled a more consistent approach to documentation and resolution to community concerns. Additionally, training was refreshed and conducted for Grievance Officers to ensure consistent understanding and application of the grievance mechanism across our global sites. The updated standard operating procedure clarifies and enhances key definitions and the categorization protocols and requires more frequent grievance reviews on a quarterly basis with the corporate team to allow for more robust monitoring and trend identification. The quarterly reviews also help to improve consistency in application of the standard operating procedure globally.

Below are examples of community grievances:

In 2021, a community member from the Kamoro tribe submitted a grievance based on a perceived land rights violation associated with PT-FI’s operational activities along the Porakomahe Channel, a channel within PT-FI’s power plant area near the port. The Porakomahe Channel was released by the Kamoro tribe to the government in 1997 and the Government of Indonesia subsequently granted a permit to PT-FI to conduct operational activities in the area. PT-FI’s Grievance Team engaged directly in person with the complainant to better understand the specific concern. The team also consulted with multiple relevant stakeholders, including LEMASKO (the Kamoro Indigenous Council) and the local Mimika Government officials to further assess cultural and legal considerations relevant to the issue. Through these engagements and consultations, all parties acknowledged that there was insufficient justification to process this grievance as a land rights claim and the complainant withdrew the grievance.

In Arizona, a local resident living on a primary transportation route to our Safford mine reported recurring speeding instances by our carriers in a 25-mph zone. Over the course of four years, Safford worked in partnership with its carriers to address speeding concerns. We began to engage with specific carriers to reinforce the importance of thoughtful and safety-focused driving behaviors. This included a presentation to carrier safety leads at our annual Carrier Safety Conference as well as direct engagement with Graham County leaders to troubleshoot speeding concerns on this stretch of roadway. Additionally, our Safford site donated two solar-powered speed radar signs which were installed by Graham County’s Highway Department on both ends of the 25-mph zone in July 2020. Since this time, no further grievances have been received regarding carrier speeding.

A few years ago, El Abra received a grievance from the Indigenous community of Taira regarding potential impacts to an archaeological site. El Abra mobilized an archaeologist to conduct an independent investigation. The archaeologist detected a scratch on a pipeline within a few meters of an archaeological site yet no impacts to the archaeological site itself. The initial concern was that the damage could have been caused by the drones we use to conduct topographic surveys, but the pipeline was determined to have been scratched by something other than our equipment. The results of the investigation were shared with the complainant and the grievance was closed.

Community members are invited to share grievances by contacting FCX. For FCX contact information and the steps to filing a grievance, please refer to Community Information and Grievance Management on our website.

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