Local Content Policies - Intergovernmental Forum

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Resource-rich countries face a daunting challenge: how to ensure the billions of dollars from mining investment supports livelihoods and economic security amid inevitable commodity price cycles and other economic disruptions.

There is no simple template. Each country has different resource endowments, skill sets in their local suppliers and labour force, infrastructure, and investment environments.

Local content policies can serve as part of a government’s approach to ensure mining investment plays its role in achieving the country’s national development objectives.

Advancing Social and Economic Sustainability Through Local Content Policies

Local content policies cover a broad array of approaches, ranging from governments imposing mandatory requirements on mining companies to

Procure a set percentage or specific goods and services from local business
Employ local labour
Add value locally to minerals extracted before exports
Share mining infrastructures with local communities.

There are also “softer” requirements, such as the provision of skills development and capacity building.

We work with policy-makers to ensure mining provides inclusive, gender-equitable, and sustainable socio-economic development for governments, companies, and citizens alike. These efforts are informed by our flagship Mining Policy Framework.

Through capacity building, technical assistance, events, and publications, we equip governments with the knowledge and tools to use local content policies to navigate uncertainties and opportunities, including:

Responding to national priorities for job creation and skills development.
Scaling up local procurement to boost the amount of goods and services purchased by mining operations from local stakeholders.
Leveraging various types of infrastructure developed by or for the mining sector.
Adapting local content to the realities of new mining technologies

Resource-rich countries have the opportunity to harness mining for inclusive and sustainable growth, and we help policy-makers around the globe realize this goal.

Guidance for Governments

Supporting Policy-Makers in Crafting and Implementing Local Content Policies

Our Guidance for Governments: Local Content Policies is a step-by-step tool for policy-makers when designing local content policies.

This resource guides governments toward workable, made-in-country solutions for local content policies in five areas:

Local procurement of goods and services
Direct employment of locals or disadvantaged persons
Horizontal linkages, creating links outside the mining sector
Downstream linkages, such as processing and manufacturing
Building domestic capacity

IGF’s guidance on local content was informed by in-depth expert papers and a suite of country case studies. Read more about this IGF research on local content policies.

Supplementary Guidance

Leveraging Digital Infrastructure for Mining Community Resilience

This report raises important questions about the potential to harness the mining industry to deploy digital technologies and how these may have wider socio-economic impacts. It also raises questions for policy-makers about the social and security risks that accompany increased connectivity and what that means for governments, mining companies, and communities. It also highlights successful case studies in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal that demonstrate how targeted investments and policies can enhance the socio-economic benefits of digital connectivity.

E-Learning Course: Local content policies

The eight module e-learning course explores basic steps needed to design and implement various types of local content policies, as contained in the IGF Guidance for Governments: Local content policies

Regional Examples

The LION model estimates the market potential for local procurement, based on mining companies’ operational expenditures, for several African countries and for three commodities, namely gold, copper and cobalt.