PRA Communications Wins Prestigious 2024 SABRE Gold Award for Work in Mining
May 13 2024 - 10:00AM
PRA Communications (PRA) is pleased to share that we have been
awarded the Gold SABRE Award in the Energy and Natural Resources
category for our work on Seabridge Gold KSM Project: Navigating
Environmental Assessment and Beyond. The SABRE Awards are the
world’s largest PR awards programme dedicated to benchmarking the
best PR and communication work from across the globe.
“It's truly an honor to receive this prestigious
recognition, especially for our PR and communication efforts within
the mining industry. Often, the extensive consultation, stakeholder
engagement, and communication with rights holders required to
successfully navigate provincial and federal environmental
assessments, negotiate benefit agreements, and earn social license
to operate go unnoticed. This acknowledgment underscores the
importance of these efforts,” says Robert Simpson, President and
CEO of PRA Communications.
The KSM Project located in Northwest British
Columbia is the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposit and
third-largest undeveloped resource of copper. Canada’s provincial
and federal Environmental Assessment (EA) process was a rigorous
eight-year undertaking that became the largest and most
comprehensive ever conducted in North America. It required
Seabridge Gold to demonstrate the KSM Project, when built and
operational, would not have adverse environmental effects and that
it has clear support from the five affected First Nations, three
cities and towns, three municipalities and the British Columbia,
Canadian, Alaskan and US governments and Tribes. Upon completion of
baseline research and perception audits, PRA Communications created
and implemented a multi-year communications strategy that
encompassed a broad suite of activities.
“The PRA team was integral to our success at
KSM. Often strategic communication and reputation management is
either overlooked during the environmental assessment process or
relegated to scientists and engineers. We understood professional,
comprehensive, strategic and measurable communication and public
relations was critical for our success. PRA stood shoulder to
shoulder with us, boots on the ground and professionally guided our
whole team to be better communicators, from our executive to our
environmental scientists,” says Brent Murphy, Senior Vice President
Environment, Seabridge Gold.
The KSM Project was granted Environmental
Assessment (EA) Certificates by both the British Columbia and the
federal government, as well as approval under the terms of the
Nisga’a Final Agreement. Upon submission of the Environmental
Assessments, community and First Nations supported the KSM Project
by a 76 percent approval rating as measured through an inclusive
polling and interview engagement model. The Tahltan Nation voted 83
percent in favor of the KSM Project and their negotiated Impact
Benefits Agreement. The Province of British Columbia recognized
Seabridge Gold's KSM project as an exemplary model for
industry-wide consultation, engagement, and external communication,
thanks to its strong support from the community.
The Gold Sabre Awards were presented at a
ceremony held in New York on May 1, 2024.
For more information, please
contact:Michael MacMillan, Vice President, PRA
Communications604-681-1407mmacmillan@pracommunications.com