Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal最新文献

{"title":"Digitalization in mining and the rise of the urban miner","authors":"Keith Storey","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101718","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101718","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Based on a review of literature this paper summarizes the main spatial outcomes of digitalization in the mining sector. New digitalization technologies and processes allow increasingly greater locational independence of mining operations from their resource locations and this is creating a new geography of mining. Mine workers traditionally lived in towns near the resource, but today many work at a distance from the resource and may never need to access the mine itself. These changes have significant implications for workers, their families and their communities, and for mine operators and equipment and technology suppliers to the sector. Anticipating and managing these changes is essential if the benefits and costs of mining are to be shared equitably amongst those affected. If not, and mining regions feel that they are the losers in this relationship, they may withdraw support for development and so disrupt mining activity. This paper explores the key characteristics of this new geography and its implications and some of the options to address the challenges presented.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101718"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What makes minerals critical? Problematizing sovereignty in times of crisis","authors":"Brice Laurent,&nbsp;Guillaume Louvet,&nbsp;Roman Solé-Pomies,&nbsp;Alexandre Violle","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101720","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101720","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines what makes minerals \"critical\" by analyzing criticality studies, which are geological and economic analyses aimed at forecasting future supply risks. It explores three contemporary examples from European and French contexts. In Europe, critical materials are discussed in relation to the recent Critical Raw Materials Act. While the European approach highlights a crisis in Europe’s capacity to monitor and respond to market trends, the French cases present different ways of framing the crisis. One case, involving the institution Ofremi, focuses on outlining strategic directions to safeguard national sovereignty and prepare for external threats to the economy. The other stems from a state-owned electricity distribution company, which uses criticality as a framework for exploring the technical and political choices that shape energy transition trajectories. The analysis of these three cases demonstrates that defining criticality ultimately reflects the desired expressions of sovereignty in times of crisis. More than just a technical assessment of supply risks, criticality embodies deeper struggles over how states define crises and assert sovereignty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101720"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The slow rejection of mercury in Yukon’s small-scale gold mining industry","authors":"C.L. Johnson ,&nbsp;K.R. Moore ,&nbsp;D. Johnson","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mercury technologies in small-scale gold mining (SSM) operations have been slowly rejected in Yukon, Canada. We analyse fieldwork data collected over 4.5 months between 2020–2023 from 32 semi-structured interviews, 20 placer mine visits, and participatory observation notes. Using diffusion of Innovation theory (DoI) we identify prior conditions (i-iv) required to escalate the rejection of mercury as a processing technology more widely. Data relevant to the slow rejection of mercury technologies were thematically coded around technological, governmental and societal shifts. We find that the (i) previous practice involving mercury technologies shifted through time in response to (ii) felt needs/problems (initially technological but later including health, environment, and community needs/problems). The shifts were addressed by the (iii) innovativeness of the community; enabled through formalization channels and possibly by access to resources such as electricity. Eventually mercury-centred practice was eclipsed by chemical free processes which led to the evolution of new (iv) norms of a social system. Globally, where artisanal scale mining (ASM) and SSM industries continue to be reliant on mercury, consideration of prior conditions could help identify context-specific opportunities for mercury mitigation and draw attention to the need for mercury recycling programs to redress legacy mercury.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101726"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The influence of environmental policies on mineral permitting in Europe: Challenges and insights from Spain and Sweden","authors":"Stefanie Streit,&nbsp;Marinella Passarella,&nbsp;Michael Tost","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101727","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101727","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental and social impacts of mineral extraction pose significant challenges, particularly in Europe, where the mineral potential is underutilised due to these concerns. There are numerous environmental policies at European Union level to protect ecosystems and their services, but also at national level, which significantly correlate with extraction activities, especially with extraction permits. This study investigates the influence of European Union environmental policies on the permitting process for mineral activities, considering interactions between different governance levels and actors. Through use case investigations in Spain and Sweden, biodiversity and water protection, i.e. Natura 2000 and Water Framework Directive, were identified as key challenges influencing mineral activities including permitting procedures. By assessing the vertical and horizontal dimensions of these policies, the study applies the evaluation criteria of coherence, effectiveness, and efficiency. The findings indicate that challenges in implementing and executing Natura 2000 and Water Framework Directive are particularly prevalent at regional and local levels due to the complex legal landscape, which directly influences the permitting process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101727"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"U.S. shale energy production and impacts on house values: a basin-by-basin review","authors":"John Dunn,&nbsp;Siew Hoon Lim","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101725","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101725","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increased shale energy production benefits U.S. consumers and helps boost local and regional economies. However, the costs attributed to shale activity appear to be much more localized, prompting the question of whether shale activity benefits the local communities that bear its negative impacts. Previous conclusions on the impacts of shale activity on local house values have been mixed, leading to unclear implications for policymakers. This review aims to encapsulate the findings of previous works and provide a point of reference for future research. While past research results were mixed, we found that studies using property transaction data often showed negative impacts on house values, while those using broader county- or zip code-level data tended to find positive impacts. This difference suggests that shale development may have house-level negative effects due to proximity to shale energy activity, while broader levels of analysis tend to reflect the impact of local economic benefits on the mean house prices of shale-energy producing communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101725"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The relaunching of industrial policy in Brazil: What have rare earths got to do with it?","authors":"Manuel Mindreau","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101723","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101723","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the purpose of reverting the process of premature ‘de-industrialization’ suffered by the Brazilian economy in the previous decade, the Lula III administration has embarked on implementing a new industrial programme using a ‘mission-driven’ design. Several of the missions prioritised by <em>Nova Indústria Brasil</em>, officially announced in January 2024, will imply a greater demand for rare earths and other critical minerals necessary both for the energy and digital transitions, and the defence industry –integral components of the ‘neoindustrialisation’ objectives contemplated in the missions to be accomplished. Furthermore, in a setting of global great power rivalry and exacerbated supply chain failures, the quest for securing access to critical minerals away from China is offering Brazil, a country with large reserves of rare earths, additional prospects for linking production of these minerals to industrial policy. But how is the Federal Government responding to this opportunity for economic upgrading in its rare earths sector? The question will be examined by comparing Brazil’s attempts at strategic management of rare earths over the 2010–2025 period within the context of President Rousseff’s <em>Plano Brasil Maior</em>, the absence of industrial policy during the Temer and Bolsonaro administrations, and the recently launched <em>Nova Indústria Brasil</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101723"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Same project, different responses: Unravelling varied community consent to mining-induced displacement in ghana's lithium sector","authors":"Gerald E Arhin","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101716","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101716","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Why do communities under the same mining project respond differently to resettlement negotiation processes? This paper addresses this puzzle by examining the contrasting responses of two communities to mining-induced displacement and resettlement (MIDR) in Ghana's Ewoyaa Lithium Project. Whilst Ewoyaa's community has demonstrated largely positive consent to relocation, Krampakrom shows significant resistance, despite both communities facing displacement under identical corporate and regulatory frameworks. Employing Hickey's power domains framework, we analyse how varying power dynamics, interests, and ideas across different governance scales shape these divergent institutional outcomes. Through extensive qualitative research, including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation, the study reveals how context-specific power dynamics and governance arrangements critically influence MIDR outcomes in varied ways. The research demonstrates that while Ewoyaa's virtuous cycle of transparent leadership, consistent community engagement, and deep cultural instruments has successfully built community trust and meaningful participation, Krampakrom's vicious cycle of autocratic leadership, poor communication channels, and coercive tactics has produced profound community alienation and systematic disempowerment. The study makes two significant contributions to the field: firstly, it substantially advances theoretical understanding of how community particularities and mining domain power dynamics interact to shape institutional outcomes; secondly, it provides valuable early insights into how transition mineral governance is fundamentally transforming MIDR negotiations across Sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that successful resettlement negotiations require careful attention to local power dynamics and governance arrangements rather than simply following standardised international protocols. These insights are particularly crucial as the global energy transition drives increased demand for minerals like lithium, potentially affecting more communities across the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101716"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transforming resource wealth into sustainable futures: ESG integration in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining sector","authors":"Innocent Mufungizi ,&nbsp;Yann Waku Mpaka","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101719","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101719","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) holds a critical position in the global energy transition as the leading producer of cobalt and a major supplier of copper. In 2023, the country produced over 170,000 t of cobalt (accounting for over 70 % of the global supply) and 2.8 million metric tons of copper, reinforcing its strategic economic relevance. Despite this potential, the mining sector remains hindered by weak governance, regulatory inefficiencies, and widespread environmental and social impacts. This study assesses the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles in the DRC’s mining sector and examines how these influence development outcomes. Through a qualitative analysis supported by comparative insights from Chile and Australia, the research identifies key institutional and policy gaps that constrain responsible mining practices. While a few companies have adopted ESG-aligned strategies, the sector overall lacks consistent implementation and accountability mechanisms. The findings underscore the need to institutionalize ESG frameworks to enhance regulatory effectiveness, attract responsible investment, and ensure that mineral resource exploitation contributes to inclusive and sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101719"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variegated decoupling: Australian firm strategies in the lithium global production network","authors":"Eli Hayes ,&nbsp;Neil M. Coe ,&nbsp;Lian Sinclair","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101692","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101692","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since 2020, lithium has rapidly risen to prominence as a ‘critical mineral’ for the global energy transition, given its essential role in both battery electric vehicles and grid-scale storage. While 33 % of global lithium is mined in Australia (as the mineral spodumene), making it the world’s largest raw material supplier, over 97 % of this is refined in China. At the same time, with a general deterioration of relations between China and ‘The West’, pressure has been growing to reduce or eliminate China’s role in Western supply chains. Beyond this general impulse, however, there lies a huge degree of variation, at the firm level, in the extent to which lithium production and trade is being reconfigured in response to these geopolitical dynamics. In this paper we deploy a global production network (GPN)-inspired analysis to interrogate these variations. Using a new dataset of contracts negotiated by Australian lithium firms, our analysis explores the impact of geopolitical pressures on the strategies of lithium firms in Australia and Sino-Australian linkages in lithium. We parse a range of different corporate strategies shaped by the extent to which firms are seeking to move downstream into processing activities and/or decouple from Chinese networks, enabling more nuanced understandings of the links between shifting geopolitical contexts and production network-level dynamics. Overall, our analysis explains why, rather than following a straightforward decoupling path, Australian and Chinese firms are likely to maintain relationships through trade and investment in lithium mining and refining at least until altered economic opportunities or geopolitical pressures develop.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101692"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144501459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mining, separate development, and uneven impact: Evidence from South Africa’s former homelands during the 2000s commodity boom","authors":"Musa Nxele","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101709","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates how the spatial legacy of South Africa’s Separate Development policy shaped the local impact of mining during the 2000s commodity boom. It focuses on the former homelands – territories created under apartheid to confine Black South Africans to politically excluded, under-resourced areas – many of which coincided with mineral-rich land. The study asks whether industrial mining in these areas contributed to local poverty reduction and employment, or whether historical spatial inequality suppressed those benefits. Despite its significance, there is a lack of empirical evidence on how mining activity affects socio-economic outcomes in these structurally marginalised areas.</div><div>First, the paper draws on census data from 1970 to 1991 and secondary literature to trace the origins of spatial poverty in the former homelands, showing how the design of Separate Development entrenched underdevelopment. Second, it uses an original empirical strategy that merges individual-level census data from 1996, 2001, and 2011 with geocoded mining data from over 400 mines.</div><div>The analysis compares wards located in former homelands with those in non-former homeland areas, and with non-mining wards within former homelands. The results reveal that while mining activity is generally associated with lower poverty and higher employment, these benefits are significantly weaker in the former homelands. The study also highlights the volatility of mining-linked employment, which closely tracks commodity price fluctuations, especially in marginalised areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 101709"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144490410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}