Socioeconomic reconversion of post-mining territories: stakeholder engagement in mine closure processes

Barreto, Rodrigo Silva; Demajorovic, Jacques; Pimenta, Adriano Augusto França

doi:10.20435/inter.v26i1.4458

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ARTICLES • Interações 26 • Jan-Dec 2025 • https://doi.org/10.20435/inter.v26i1.4458 linkcopy

Socioeconomic reconversion of post-mining territories: stakeholder engagement in mine closure processes

Reconversão socioeconômica de territórios pós-mineração: engajamento dos stakeholders em processos de fechamento de minas

Reconversión socioeconómica de territorios post-minería: participación de los grupos de interés en procesos de cierre de minas

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Mining activity, especially in vulnerable contexts, fails to convert economic gains into sustainable development for post-mining, intensifying social impacts upon mine closure. This research argues that an integrative approach involving stakeholders through engagement and social dialogue appears as an alternative in understanding the territory's trajectory and establishing governance that is sustainable in the long term. The main aim of this work is to systematize a set of analytical categories aimed at strengthening engagement processes applied to the mine closure process. The chosen research strategy was indirect documentary research, which seeks articles and academic productions that support the exposed content. The academic literature is still relatively incipient when studying the themes related to social issues in mine closure and post-closure processes. It is also highlighted that effective participation will only occur when the impacted communities participate in the discussions and decision-making processes related to the present and future use of the territories.

Keywords:
mining; social impacts; engagement; mine closure

Stage	Filter	Result	Observations
Identification	WoS Collection (sample)	1,851 (100%)	Mine Closure Post-Mining Transition Closure Relinquishment Mining Downscaling and Decommissioning and Mining
Screening	Environment	418 (22.6%)	Scope: environmental
Screening	social and/or local development	217 (11.7%)	Scope: social
Eligibility	Initial reading of abstracts and keywords (qualitative)	35 (1.89%)	Social approach within the field of mine closure and accessible
Included	Snowball method (qualitative): engagement	62 total 27 included	Scope: engagement

Category	Subcategory	Description
Information Flow (Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2017; Rowe; Frewer, 2005)	Unilateral	Communication - originates from the entrepreneur and is intended for the public. Consultation - flows from the public to the entrepreneur.
	Bidirectional	Participation - interactive dialogue between the entrepreneur and stakeholders. Transactional - seeks to build relationships with various stakeholders.
Engagement Context (Holley; Mitcham, 2016)	Mandatory Dialogue	Characterized as not effective engagement. It's about meeting normative and legal obligations.
Engagement Context (Holley; Mitcham, 2016)	Voluntary Dialogue	Does not consider the regulatory process as a motivator for engagement but rather the pursuit of obtaining and maintaining the LSO or LSF.
Scope of Involvement (Hurst; Johnston; Lane, 2020; Raman; Mohr, 2014)	Community	Tries to create public or community acceptance where objectives were defined before engagement.
	Variety of Stakeholders	Articulates various perspectives among place communities, other interested parties, and includes those viewed as marginalized and vulnerable.
Type of Engagement (Edgett, 2002; Hurst; Johnston; Lane, 2020; Johnston, 2018)	Information-based	Emphasis on persuasion through advocacy with selective participation of stakeholders to stimulate acceptance of a viewpoint or favorable representation of the organization.
	Dialogue-based	Collective action, shared knowledge, or reflective or experiential interaction with a wide variety of stakeholders in search of mutual benefits or continuous relationship building.
Choice of Engagement Mechanisms (Eiter; Vik, 2015; Rauschmayer; Risse, 2005)	Pre-defined Objectives	Perspective 1: Information management, legitimacy, social dynamics, and costs. Perspective 2: Scope, representativeness, opportunity, comfort and convenience, and influence.
Critical Elements of Social Acceptance (Cesare; Maxwell, 2003; Everingham et al., 2018; Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2018; Prno; Scott Slocombe, 2012)	Procedural Justice	The opportunity to have a 'voice' in decision-making processes is a central factor that people consider in the development of perceptions of social justice.
	Trust	Trust acts as a driver of social acceptance. The construct can be captured using three factors: integrity, benevolence, and credibility.
	Strong Company-Community Relationship	Frequent face-to-face communication is central to building interpersonal relationships. Community members' dialogue experiences are positively linked to their perceptions of their relationships with company personnel, where the core is the mutually beneficial relationship, the fulfillment of promises, the feeling of some control in interactions.
	Governance	Adoption of governance processes with participation of private, public, and civil society entities that include negotiation, accommodation, concertation, cooperation, and alliance formation, providing greater stakeholder representativeness in decision-making.
	Stakeholder Identification	Inclusion of individuals who represent the diversity of local communities potentially affected by closure and decisions about future land use.

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