Open research questions in Mining and Resource Management

What the literature leaves open

• In addi- tion, the study could not examine the full range of socio- economic factors, and future research should consider longitudinal designs to assess impacts over time. This study is limited by the inability to collect views from all members of the affected communities; therefore, the findings may not fully represent all perspectives.

  Evaluating the Impact of Strategic Sustainable Orientation and Socioeconomic Policies on the Mining Sector in Ghana · 2026 · DOI

• STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS IN IDENTIFYING NEEDS AND PRIORITIES Mining companies should establish formal mechanisms for host community engagement, such as participatory forums, community advisory boards, and joint planning committees, to ensure that local voices are represented in decision-making processes. Periodic socio-economic and environmental needs assessments should be conducted collaboratively with host communities to align mining initiatives with local development priorities, ensuring that projects address the most pressing concerns. By integrating indigenous knowledge and local expertise into decision-making, mining-led interventions can become more sustainable and widely accepted. Community-driven investments should be focused on critical areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education to maximise social impact, enhance livelihoods, and foster mutual growth between mining companies and host communities. Strengthening these partnerships can lead to long-term benefits, including improved relationships, shared prosperity, and more resilient local economies. ENHANCE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TO SECURE SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE To build trust and long-term acceptance, mining companies should initiate transparent, earlyimplementing systemic changes. stage consultations with host communities before Establishing clear and open communication channels is essential for providing regular updates on mining operations, sustainability initiatives, and anticipated changes that may impact the implement structured community grievance community. Mining companies should mechanisms that allow stakeholders to voice concerns, seek resolutions proactively, and prevent conflicts from escalating. Aligning corporate strategies with the Corporate Social Responsibility framework ensures adherence to ethical practices, enhances regulatory stability, and minimises operational uncertainties. This approach not only fosters goodwill and community support but also strengthens the mining company’s reputation, reducing risks of operational disruptions due to local resistance. STRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY MECHANISMS Accountability and transparency are essential to fostering trust and ensuring that mining activities benefit host communities equitably. Mining companies should encourage host communities to actively participate in monitoring corporate compliance with environmental and social commitments by establishing joint monitoring and evaluation teams composed of community representatives and company officials. These teams should oversee the impact of mining operations and ensure that mitigation measures are effectively implemented.

  Host Community's Role in the Introduction and Implementation of Systemic Change by Mining Companies · 2026 · DOI

• Crucially, this integrated approach must encompass foundational food-based strategies and evidence-based supplementation with nutraceutical interventions where diet alone is insufficient to meet the extraordinary physiological demands and offset the specific toxic exposures of mining work.

  Socioeconomic Challenges for Occupational Health and Community Development in Mining Regions: A Policy Framework for Integrating Food Interventions · 2026 · DOI

• The analysis of the TPEM case confirms the persistence of a predominantly topdown model of environmental governance, in which public agencies produce and legitimize knowledge through technical and regulatory frameworks. It also reveals the risks and tensions entailed by such openness, particularly concerning the public dissemination and popularization of scientific knowledge.

  Governing Post-Mining Risks: Expertise, Participation, and Knowledge Coproduction in French Post-mining Territories · 2026 · DOI

• Given the escalating challenges posed by illegal mining and the complex interplay of socio-economic and political factors identified by this study, comprehensive and multifaceted approaches are essential for mitigating its harmful effects on the environment and affected communities. Building on the insights from this research and existing literature, the following recommendations are proposed: Address socio-economic root causes: i. ii. Implement and expand programs that offer sustainable economic alternatives and job-creation initiatives in communities that are affected by illegal mining. This includes vocational training, support for small businesses, and infrastructure development. Develop targeted poverty alleviation programs that address the immediate needs of vulnerable populations who often turn to illegal mining out of desperation. Strengthening law enforcement and regulatory frameworks i. ii. iii. iv. Increase resources (personnel, equipment, and training) for law enforcement agencies (e.g., the SAPS, EMPD, and Hawks) specifically tasked with combating illegal mining. Enhance inter-agency coordination through joint task forces and intelligence-sharing frameworks to more effectively disrupt organized unlawful mining syndicates (Johnson, 2019). Implement and enforce stricter penalties for illegal mining offenses that target kingpins and politically connected individuals who facilitate these activities. Conduct timely legislative amendments to close regulatory loopholes and adapt to evolving illegal mining tactics to ensure the effective protection of natural resources. This aligns with recommendations for emergency regulations, stricter enforcement, and the closure of unlicensed operations (Hilson, 2017; Damonte, 2018; Adetoro & Adetoro, 2021).

  A qualitative study of factors driving and influencing unlawful mining in the City of Ekurhuleni · 2026 · DOI

• Raw MDMER data; unresolved Legacy MDMER data, 2014-2018; unresolved FDP-to-receiving-water mapping; unresolved Entity corporate-structure proof; unresolved Court-ordered action/environmentalmanagement plan text…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• Charging document / count particulars; unresolved limitation Raw MDMER data; unresolved Legacy MDMER data, 2014-2018; unresolved FDP-to-receiving-water mapping; unresolved Entity corporate-structure proof; unresolved Court-ordered action/environmentalmanagement plan text…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• Sentencing order / written reasons; unresolved limitation Agreed facts / plea transcript / joint submission; unresolved limitation Charging document / count particulars; unresolved limitation Raw MDMER data; unresolved Legacy MDMER data, 2014-2018; unresolved FDP-to-receiving-water mapping; unresolved Entity corporate-structure proof; unresolved Court-ordered action/environmentalmanagement plan text…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• event-level monitoring MDMER section full offence-period monitoring reconstruction count-to-water/pathway analysis AMEM/AMMC normalization; liability allocation plan adequacy; implementation MDMER section FDP table…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• count-by-count particulars Charge transition; limitations event-level monitoring MDMER section full offence-period monitoring reconstruction count-to-water/pathway analysis AMEM/AMMC normalization; liability allocation plan adequacy; implementation MDMER section FDP table…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• exact order wording; sentencing reasoning Official outcome section; limitations admissions, count facts, joint-submission details Official outcome section; limitations count-by-count particulars Charge transition; limitations event-level monitoring MDMER section full offence-period monitoring reconstruction count-to-water/pathway analysis AMEM/AMMC normalization; liability allocation plan adequacy; implementation MDMER section FDP table…

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• This draft has intentional and visible limitations. First, it is court-record-limited. The Court of Québec docket, formal caption, file number, sentencing order, writ- ten reasons, agreed facts, charge document, joint submission, transcript, and count particulars are not available here. Claims requiring those documents remain blocked. 13 Second, it is raw-MDMER-limited. The draft uses report-level Appendix A monitoring context for 2020-2023. It does not process raw MDMER Open Data. It does not perform event-level monitoring analysis. It does not map report-level entries to counts, waters, or discharge pathways. Third, it is entity-proof-limited. AMEM, AMMC, ArcelorMittal Canada inc., ArcelorMittal Canada Inc., and 7623704 Canada Inc. are preserved as source-specific names. The draft does not normalize those entities or allocate liability among them. Fourth, it is environmental-effect-limited. The draft does not claim ecological harm, current pollution, current water quality, remediation efficacy, action-plan adequacy, EDF local project allocation, or independent verification of company infrastructure performance. Fifth, it is jurisdictionally method-limited. Article 001 is used only as a method anchor. No British Columbia facts or conclusions are used as evidence for the Quebec case. These limitations are integrated into the article’s method, tables, findings, and conclusion. They are not hidden defects. They are the conditions under which the article’s source-governance contribution is made.

  Source Governance for Environmental Enforcement: Claim Ceilings, Public Reconstructability, and the ArcelorMittal Quebec Fisheries Act Outcome · 2026 · DOI

• It addresses an underexplored intersection by examining the Yukon’s evolving recognition as home once again while demonstrating that central Yukon First Nations neither uniformly support nor oppose resource extraction; rather, they situate themselves within a framework of place‐based histories that integrate both Indigenous and mining legacies.

  From Homeland to Mining Frontier and Back · 2025 · DOI

• The study found that financial resources, human and technical resources, infrastructure, political instability, the nature of mineral reserves, social difficulties, marketing, and limited research and exploration are some of the main challenges faced by the mineral sector in the EAC region.

  Mining industry’s potential for community development, challenges, and way forward in the East Africa community. A review · 2024 · DOI

• abstract: Artisanal mining in the Global South increased during the 2002–14 commodity boom, yet variation in the informal status of miners remains understudied.

  Informal, Legal, or Illegal? Varieties of Artisanal Mining in the Global South · 2024 · DOI

• Indeed, livelihood practices in ASM, how daily mobilities facilitate these practices and the specific vulnerabilities women face are still understudied and undertheorised.

  Dimensions of women’s mobility, livelihoods and vulnerability in artisanal and small-scale mining-induced local economy · 2023 · DOI

• I propose to explore this intersection through the notion of corridor urbanism as proposed by Silver (2021) and chart its underexplored aspects in a context of extended urbanization and resource extraction.

  Beyond the boom. Genealogies of corridor urbanism in the making of the Lithium Triangle, Argentina and Chile · 2023 · DOI

• Initially, there was a lack of enforcement of regulations towards informal mining, but eventually Colombia (2009) and later Peru (2011) enforced regulations with mixed results.

  State Responses to the Gold Rush in the Andes (2004–2018): The Politics of State Action (and Inaction) · 2020 · DOI

• As well as filling an important gap in the literature on the development of worker involvement in OHS, this paper shows that coalminers’ struggles and strategies for workers to have a say in their health and safety, and the contexts that shaped them are both instructive and important in understanding current experiences.

  An International History of Coalminers’ Actions to Voice Resistance to the Appropriation of their Safety and Health, 1870-1925 · 2020 · DOI

• Numerous initiatives, guidelines and tools have been made available for CSR practice but very little is known about the usefulness of the new CSR-standard International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26000.

  The merits of ISO 26000 for CSR development in the mining industry: a case study in the Zambian Copperbelt · 2014 · DOI

• Despite the scale of the problem and large investments by OECD countries to clear mines in low income countries, the economic consequences of landmine contamination have been so far unexamined by economists working on the economics of wars, perhaps due to the lack of data thus far.

  Landmines and Poverty: IV Evidence from Mozambique · 2008 · DOI

• (6) Third, the fact that the mining permit was rejected due to concerns as arguably ephemeral as the visual impact of the mine on the character of the community--especially in light of the fact that the NYSDEC had no standards for visual impacts at the time of the Lane decision (7)--distinguishes this story from similar ones with dissimilar endings.

  Showdown over Snake Mountain: How a New Local Government Was Formed to Resolve a Land-Use Dispute · 2001

• Deep-sea Mining and Economic Development The relationship between the development of a single industry and the rate of economic growth in any country or set of countries involves issues that go beyond the scope of this paper. ls 15Estimates vary widely but certain writers have suggested figures in the 50 to 430 million dollar range by 1985.

  Reflections on the economics of the common heritage of mankind · 1974 · DOI

• A tradition of radicalism survived on the Range, but its appeal was limited to a minority. entered the strike had not been determined. During the 1920's, the Oliver Iron Mining Company maintained a notoriously insufficient evidence.

  Organized labor and the iron ore miners of Northern Minnesota, 1907–1936 · 1971 · DOI

• Energy Security Implications Moderate confidence in regulatory compliance, combined with concerns regarding strategic coherence, indicates that energy security considerations are insufficiently embedded within mine closure decision- making processes.

  Process-Oriented Analysis of Uranium Mine Closure: Environmental, Socio-Economic and Energy Security Implications · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Mining and Resource Management

• Dispossessed by decarbonisation: Reducing vulnerability, injustice, and inequality in the lived experience of low-carbon pathways · World Development · 2020 · 186 citations
• Critical mineral sustainable supply: Challenges and governance · Futures · 2023 · 154 citations
• Advancing toward sustainability: The emergence of green mining technologies and practices · Green and Smart Mining Engineering · 2024 · 137 citations
• Geographies of Consumption: A Commodity-Chain Approach · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · 1998 · 135 citations
• Minor mining, major influence: Economic implications and policy challenges of artisanal gold mining · Resources Policy · 2024 · 118 citations
• Changing priorities, shifting narratives: Remapping rural livelihoods in Africa's artisanal and small-scale mining sector · Journal of Rural Studies · 2022 · 91 citations
• Poverty, Place, and Coal Employment across Appalachia and the United States in a New Economic Era · Rural Sociology · 2016 · 89 citations
• Assessing the social and environmental impacts of critical mineral supply chains for the energy transition in Europe · Global Environmental Change · 2024 · 82 citations
• Mercury and artisanal and small-scale gold mining: Review of global use estimates and considerations for promoting mercury-free alternatives · AMBIO · 2023 · 78 citations
• Place Identity and Copper Mining in Sonora, Mexico · Annals of the Association of American Geographers · 2001 · 75 citations

Most recent work

• Refusal of lithium mining in Serbia: exploring post-green extractivism · Globalizations · 2026
• Growing nickel supply from the tropics threatens priority conservation areas · Nature Ecology & Evolution · 2026
• Time on hold: Justice, governance, and the politics of transitions in critical mineral frontiers · Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions · 2026
• Scientists’ warning on the global destruction of rock outcrop ecosystems · Conservation Biology · 2026
• Mining triggers extensive additional deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa · Nature · 2026
• Socioeconomic Challenges for Occupational Health and Community Development in Mining Regions: A Policy Framework for Integrating Food Interventions · SocioEconomic Challenges · 2026
• Effect of Mining Industry on Local Businesses in Lumwana, North-Western Province, Zambia · International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology & Science · 2026
• Soapstone Mining in Uttarakhand: White Gold or Himalayan Burden? A Socio-Economic, Geological, and Policy Perspective on Sustainable Resource Development · International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management · 2026
• Framing deep sea mining in/with oceania · The Extractive Industries and Society · 2026
• On geoecological assessment of economic diversification in coal-mining regions · Mining Industry Journal (Gornay Promishlennost) · 2026

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