Case Study: Rio Tinto’s Sulawesi achieves stronger community engagement and social license to operate with Borealis

How Rio Tinto’s Sulawesi project has changed their corporate social responsibility in the mining industry

The customer, Rio Tinto's Sulawesi nickel project, faced significant challenges in building trust and gaining a social license to operate within a multiethnic region with a negative perception of mining and complex social dynamics. To manage these community engagement hurdles, the project partnered with vendor Borealis to implement its stakeholder engagement and social baseline software modules as a centralized solution.

The Borealis application provided a formal system to document all community interactions, baseline data, and agreements, transforming informal engagements into a structured, company-wide knowledge base. This solution enabled superior resource allocation, proactive issue identification, and a completely participatory process for local employment and grievance management. The measurable results were exceptional, including zero formal grievances from 2009 to 2014, 75% local employment, and the successful establishment of a social license to operate, all facilitated by the Borealis platform.

Rio Tinto’s Sulawesi

Stephan Lorenzen

Corporate Compliance Coordinator