Under the auspices of its compliance role and in line with an assessment report recommendation, the CAO conducted a review of Compania Minera del Sur's (COMSUR) capacity to manage the social and environmental aspects of its operations.
Background
COMSUR is a privately-owned Bolivian mining company that was founded in 1962. It is wholly owned by Minera S.A., a holding company incorporated in Panama , in which IFC has an 11 percent equity stake . In July 2003, a complaint to the CAO from the Coordinadora de Pueblos Ethnicos de Santa Cruz, a Bolivian non-governmental organization, claimed that an environmental impact study of Don Mario mining project in the Bosque Chiquitano of Bolivia was flawed, that indigenous people were not consulted or provided with information in a timely manner, and that there were no measures to compensate them for the project's social and environmental impacts. The CAO performed an investigation into the complaint under its Ombudsman function. As per the findings of the subsequent assessment report, the CAO concluded that it should commission an independent review of COMSUR to evaluate its capacity for managing effectively the social and environmental aspects of its operations. At this time the CAO moved the complaint from its Ombudsman function to its Compliance function.
CAO Findings
The CAO recommended that:
COMSUR should develop and publicize a transparent and predictable complaint resolution process as a priority and, in the process, strengthen its relationship with the affected communities;
That COMSUR should develop methods and procedures to achieve greater community engagement on environmental matters and that it periodically revisit monitoring regimes to ensure that they are flexible and responsive to changing environmental conditions;
That COMSUR engage external expertise in building in-house capacity in risk communication, participatory community development planning, and social assessment methods; and
That the IFC explore the potential to form strategic partnerships to support project companies, in order to improve the company's ability to set and adhere to policies that safeguard indigenous societies and protect community health and the environment.
The full text of the report can be found below.
Current Status
of
the Audit
The review was completed and published in July 2004. Both the review and the complaint are closed.
