The Mining Advisory Council

The Council was created to speak as one voice on behalf of foreign investors in the mining industry and thereby facilitate and initiate dialogue needed to improve mutual understanding and to speed up progress in attaining common objectives.

We believe that our members benefit from the following strengths:

• The Council acts together as a single, united entity, speaking as one voice for the mining industry in Russia.
• The Council is advancing the interests of member companies by lobbying the legislative authorities (Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Federation Council and the Committee on Natural Resources, Nature Utilization and Ecology of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation) and the executive authorities of Russia (Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Health and Social Development, Foreign Investment Advisory Council under the Government of the Russian Federation).
• The Council is the voice of neutrality; from a position of non alignment, it is advantageously positioned to balance the commercial interests of individual companies.
• As a result of its united, balanced approach, the Council has earned credibility and visibility with Russian executive and legislative bodies, exponentially greater than an individual company could realistically achieve acting on its own.

The Council is the only vehicle whereby member companies network to share practical experiences and information with the objective of minimizing commercial, legal and investment risks in Russia.

The Council coordinates activities with Russian (Union of Gold Producers, Union of Russian Gold Prospectors) and foreign associations (Association of European Businesses, Petroleum Advisory Forum) which share similar objectives.

The Council organizes meetings on matters where its members have common interests. Representatives of Russia’s parliament, ministries and state agencies, Russian and foreign mining companies and banks, as well as public organizations, all take part in these meetings. To date, 41 Council meetings have been held.

The need for networking and lobbying was the driving force behind the original founding of the Council. We have developed a sophisticated networking system since the Council’s creation. Today the Council communicates with its members through regular general meetings, regular and informal board meetings, via e-mail correspondence, as well as at social occasions such as wine and cheese receptions.

The Council supports, and the Council’s Executive Director takes part in, and makes presentations at the following annual events: Adam Smith Conference: CIS Precious Metals Summit in Moscow; Mining and Exploration Business Forum (MINEX) in Moscow; CERBA and PDAC international mining conferences in Toronto, Canada; the Annual Conference of Metal Mining North-East Asia in Shanghai, China; the Mining Conference in Beijing and Tanjin hosted by China’s Ministry of Land and Resources. Besides being well known among mining specialists in Russia and Canada, the Council has gained increased visibility in China.