Objective
This project will analyse the benefits flowing from mining and how they can be translated into enduring value to the communities in which mines operate, both during and beyond the mine’s life. It will also generate strategies that remote communities can use to deal with sudden shocks and global changes.
Summary
Ensuring that communities accrue benefits from mining activities in their region can be difficult: the often-specialised nature of some mining roles sees specialists working on a ‘fly in/fly out’ basis, while locals employed in mines often work in jobs, such as heavy machinery operation, that are not valuable in the host community in the years after the mine’s closure.
The project’s first action will be to develop a systems understanding of the size and flows of benefits and costs generated by mining activity over its lifecycle, where these impacts are felt spatially, and by whom. Spatial and economic modelling will be used to develop a predictive model of the mine’s impacts.
The second action will be to develop methods and an evidence base to prepare communities affected by mining operations to manage risk and become more resilient. This second action will describe the local community as a system of social and business networks.
Researchers will work with communities, local businesses and with mining companies to develop models that turn the short-term economic benefits from mining into long-term community assets. By understanding the risk profile of each community and its susceptibility to dominance and power imbalances, researchers will be able to develop the information base to enable the community to make informed decisions about ‘future-proofing’ itself. This model will be transferable nationally and internationally.
Outputs
- Data on the size and flow of costs and benefits generated by mining operations.
- Spatial and economic models of a mine’s impacts, which can be used by stakeholders to identify opportunities to maximise local impact.
- Case studies and scenario planning tools for communities to manage risks and become more resilient.
- An input–output model of remote Australia.
Impacts
- Improved beyond-life-of-mine planning processes that encapsulate the development aspirations of local communities and create locally based structures and organisations that function after mine site decommissioning.
- Stronger regional communities by ensuring that more benefits of mining remain within the local economy and contribute to the social betterment of local people.
- Strategies that remote communities can use to deal with sudden shocks and global changes.
Principal Research Leader
Fiona McKenzie
email: fiona.mckenzie@nintione.com.au
phone: +61 8 9266 1087
Fiona is Principal Research Leader of our Enduring Community Value from Mining project. She has extensive experience in population and socio-economic change, housing, regional economic development and analysis of remote, regional and urban social indicators.
Fiona currently works with Curtin University and CSIRO, and is a member of the Regional Development Australia Fund Advisory Board.
Project Documents
Project Partners
