Abstract
Research question: How can Natural Language Processing (NLP) help make sense of the large amounts of data produced by mining companies to improve their transparency and accountability?
In today's digital age, where sustainability and adherence to planetary limits are increasingly vital, the mining industry is challenged to demonstrate greater transparency and accountability. In order to contribute to these evolving needs, this research explores the potential of Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subfield of artificial intelligence, as a tool that might offer some utility in analyzing the extensive information generated by mining companies, including regulatory filings and sustainability reports. While NLP has shown promise in various contexts, its application in the mining sector is still in its infancy.
This presentation proposes a preliminary framework that illustrates how NLP can be used to process textual data, aspiring to provide insights that could support improved reporting practices by the mining industry. This framework may also serve as an initial model for other sectors interested in exploring NLP for improved information management.
The development of this framework represents an initial step in integrating the principles of transparency, accountability, and NLP. While it is proposed as a guide for the mining sector to refine its information disclosure practice using the rapidly advancing field of natural language processing, the framework is in a nascent stage, and its broader applicability and effectiveness remain to be thoroughly tested and validated.
The study's findings suggest a modest pathway for employing NLP technology in the mining industry to support more sustainable, transparent, and accountable practices due to improved dissection, summarisation, and extraction of relevant, accessible, and timely information to the sector’s partners, communities of interests, and governments. This research could contribute to the ongoing discourse in data governance, industry digitization, and sustainability, albeit in a small way, and align with broader efforts towards responsible industry practices.