14.Dr.Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt - The People Dimension of Mining.pdf

International Conference on Mining
“Staking a Claim for Cambodia”
Phnom Penh, 26-27 May 2010
The People Dimension of Mining
An Overview of Issues around Workers and
Communities
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Summary of Presentation
• A broad overview of the people issues in mining & the
leading practices
• Mining & community – external
• Mining & workers – internal
• Mining & gender – women in mines as workers, impacts
• What is mining? Who are these people?
• Show how people can be viewed not as trouble but as
treasures in mining
• Steps to be taken - throughout the mining project cycle
• In context of this country
• Indicate to resources for further consultation
Full paper can be used for detailed information

„Overburdens‟ or treasure?
Are people a problem for mining-development? Can „social
blindness‟ be a solution?
The story of Bougainville: PNG, 1988.
• A „rebellion‟, for lack of compensation or sudden influx of
money pouring into communities not used to cash?
• Similar protests – Phulbari project in Bangladesh, bauxite
mining in Orissa hills in India

What is the evidence?
Mining & the national economy
Positive Effects
• Mineral revenue – „resource rent‟
• Employment – direct & indirect
• Infrastructure, construction
Negative Effects
• May decelerate economic development – „Resource curse‟
• Causes a decay in agricultural sector – „Dutch disease‟
• Creates enclaves of wealth
• Boosts corruption in resource-rich developing countries

What is the evidence?
Mining & the local people
Positive Effects
• Local resource rent
• Infrastructure & construction work
Negative Effects
• Deteriorates the livelihoods of the host communities,
• Interferes in local sovereignty,
• Deepens disparities in wealth,
• Only a few jobs for local people, and
• Degrades local environment on which communities depend

Social Impacts of Mining
• In-migration & urbanisation – „boom‟ towns. Local people feel
resentful towards migrants because outsiders usually have
more cash and higher purchasing power than locals
• Social impacts include:
• Community fracture, family disruption, increase in drug use,
gambling, petty crime, importation of weapons
• Erosion of women‟s roles & status, prostitution & sexually
transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS)
• Most negative impacts are borne by women
• Relatively self-contained communities experience a loss of
control, direction & security in their lives

Mineral governance
• In many developing countries, , mineral governance, legislation
and social controls are still relatively weak
• Old laws created during colonial times, inadequate laws,
complex laws, laws that do not reflect contemporary values
such as human rights or pro-poor principles
• CBAA & tribal land
• Land Acquisition Act
• Concession agreements for individual cases
• Mining legislation reforms to regulate & accommodate
contemporary changes
• A lot needs to be done to protect the low-skilled, less trained &
poor local people

Poor People‟s Relationship with Land
• Four concerns:
• right to ownership & control of land
• rights of self-determination through informed consent,
participation & engagement
• right to represent themselves through their own institutions, and
• rights to have food security
• Requires deep social & cultural understanding
• Land - not only for subsistence, but a part of identity
• Ownership of land in „western‟ sense may not even exist in Asia
• Way of life: large rivers shift courses and create & destroy land at their will,
and wandering peoples move in & out of areas
• Mining-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (MIDR)
• >3 million in India, 40% of the displaced are tribals

Social Licence to Operate
The concept is extra-legal, abstract & ethereal:
[T]he recognition and acceptance of a company‟s contribution to the
community in which it operates, while moving beyond meeting basic legal
requirements towards developing and maintaining the constructive
stakeholder relationships necessary for business to be sustainable. Overall,
it comes from striving for relationships based on honesty and mutual
respect.
So far, largely outside the „core business‟ of mining, but
fundamentally changes the manner in which mining companies
do business
It implies that society can monitor & measure a project, and
company performance throughout lifecycle of a project.

What is mining (through a people
lens)?
• Not only a corporatized entity, with embodied capital owned by
private or public, operating with high level of technology in a
large-scale manner
• Fewer people in mechanised mining - only 1% of world‟s labour
• Long history – copper age to bronze to iron, but also gold & gem
stones. Artisanal mining – many more people
• Modern mining – introduced through colonialism in Asia, miningled
„enclave‟ type development
• Coal in India, British Malaya and Dutch Indonesia - world‟s
largest tin producers, Coal from French Vietnam
• Push, poverty-induced & rush mining – informal sector. Illegal
mining – to take advantage of high commodity prices

People as women and Men
Women in mines
• As workers in pre-industrial mines (part of family labour unit)
• breaking and sorting of ores, hauling and transporting,
smelting and processing, working the windlasses
• Flourished in modern industrial mines – throughout Europe
• Collieries & salt mines in India & Pakistan
• Asian countries – in Japan, Malay
• Need to facilitate women‟s employment
• In ASM in large numbers – informalisation
• Women do not own the lands/mines
Women and mines
• Impacts are generally negative on women – men take cash
compensation, men negotiate, men get the jobs

People in the Project Cycle
• Exploration – social mapping, livelihood patterns and coping
strategies, ownership of resources, power dynamics of different
income groups, ethnicities and genders
• Deposit Evaluation – consultations for „prior and informed
consent‟, beginning of community engagement – women must be
a part. Gender analysis – roles of women & men
• Mine Planning - Social Impact Assessments, social mapping
surveys, Cultural Impact Assessments and R&R planning
• Construction – community development begins with communityneeds
surveys (men & women have separate needs)
• Mine Operation - Livelihood projects, training & education, credit
to set up small businesses & income generating activities
• Mine Closure – Community consultations, livelihood projects

Thank you!
Akun jann
Contact: kuntala.lahiri-dutt@anu.edu.au