Abstract

In the late 1990s, The Mountain Institute (a small, nonprofit environmental organization) began working with the Antamina Mining Company (one of the world’s largest mining companies) to help it revise its plans for a large zinc and copper mine. The collaboration produced a road design that not only protected a fragile ecosystem, but was more cost-effective than the firm’s original plan. This article explains the important role that financial institutions played in enabling The Mountain Institute to engage Antamina’s attention and establish its credibility as a source of objective expertise for and valuable partner in the mine planning and development process. The case raises issues that corporations, government policymakers, and environmental organizations must resolve for such collaborations to succeed over the long term.