Cameco in Kyrgyzstan: Corporate Social Responsibility Abroad

Based in Saskatoon, Canada, Cameco was the world's largest uranium mining company. It had developed its policy for corporate social responsibility in northern Saskatchewan where it had its major mining operations and where there were a large indigenous population of Cree and Dene Indians. The issue centres on whether the same corporate social responsibility policy can be applied to the company's joint venture with the Kyrgyzstan government to operate a gold mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan. Complicating the decision was a chemical spill that had occurred several months before, and relations with citizens in nearby communities were at an all-time low. The joint venture's vice-president of human resources and corporate relations must decide which of the programs might be succesfully implemented in Kyrgyzstan, what new programs might need to be developed, and how best to communicate company policy to the local community.