223 MINING WITH PURPOSE: TURNING CRITICAL MINERALS INTO ENGINES OF IMPACT AND SHARED VALUE *A. Morante Pérez-Reyes1 1Minetech Connect, Lima, Perú alessandra@minetechconnect.com ABSTRACT The mining sector is undergoing a structural transformation driven by the global energy transition and evolving expectations from investors, governments, international legislation— particularly that of the European Union, which is leading ESG transformation—and downstream industries. Historically, sustainability in mining has been addressed primarily through compliance mechanisms, including environmental permitting, ESG reporting, and risk mitigation processes. While these practices have contributed to improved transparency, they have often remained peripheral to core strategic and financial decision-making. The accelerating demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and zinc is redefining the strategic importance of mining within the global economy (IEA, 2024; World Bank, 2020). Concurrently, stakeholders increasingly require traceability, governance integrity, and measurable environmental and social performance. Impact investing provides a framework capable of addressing these evolving expectations by integrating financial returns with measurable environmental and social outcomes (GIIN, 2021; Cohen, 2020). This paper proposes a structured framework to support mining companies in transitioning from compliance-oriented ESG practices toward impact-oriented operating models. It argues that long-term competitiveness in critical minerals mining will increasingly depend on the ability to generate measurable, intentional, and verifiable impact alongside financial performance. KEYWORDS Impact investing, critical minerals, mining sustainability, energy transition, ESG, traceability, mining governance, circular economy
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