Predicting mining company-stakeholder conflict and incorporating social conditions into mining project valuation
type: CreativeWork
description: External stakeholders are becoming increasingly involved in mine design and permitting decision-making. Yet, the systems in which mining investment decisions take place do not fully capture the importance of stakeholder influence on the success or failure of a mining venture. Conventional mine planning and permitting methods elevate technical expertise, conventional views of risk management, and financial justifications as the drivers of “objective” decision making. The rising influence of external stakeholders to mining project outcomes means that stakeholder attitudes on mining, and institutional trust, and local environmental knowledge must be integrated into the decision-making systems in more comprehensive ways. This dissertation is a compilation of three research papers which seek to answer the following research questions: 1. How can governments better integrate local communities’ perceptions and concerns into mine permitting decisions? 2. What are the most important indicators of company-stakeholder conflict?3. How does stakeholder opposition affect the valuation of a mining property?This dissertation informs these questions with three research activities: A case study of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the Donlin Gold project in Western Alaska: The National Environmental Policy Act requires US regulators to consult local stakeholders and include their concerns in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). At the Donlin project in Western Alaska, the Army Corps of Engineers included Alaskan Native tribes as cooperating agencies in the analysis in addition to conventional public comment meeting. This attempt at improved stakeholder involvement had some successes, but it also highlights divergent goals within NEPA and a lack of trust between local stakeholders and regulators. Tribes were able to push for examination and disclosure of some of their environmental concerns but remain frustrated with NEPA’s limitations with respect to transform findi…
abstract: External stakeholders are becoming increasingly involved in mine design and permitting decision-making. Yet, the systems in which mining investment decisions take place do not fully capture the importance of stakeholder influence on the success or failure of a mining venture. Conventional mine planning and permitting methods elevate technical expertise, conventional views of risk management, and financial justifications as the drivers of “objective” decision making. The rising influence of external stakeholders to mining project outcomes means that stakeholder attitudes on mining, and institutional trust, and local environmental knowledge must be integrated into the decision-making systems in more comprehensive ways. This dissertation is a compilation of three research papers which seek to answer the following research questions: 1. How can governments better integrate local communities’ perceptions and concerns into mine permitting decisions? 2. What are the most important indicators of company-stakeholder conflict?3. How does stakeholder opposition affect the valuation of a mining property?This dissertation informs these questions with three research activities: A case study of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the Donlin Gold project in Western Alaska: The National Environmental Policy Act requires US regulators to consult local stakeholders and include their concerns in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). At the Donlin project in Western Alaska, the Army Corps of Engineers included Alaskan Native tribes as cooperating agencies in the analysis in addition to conventional public comment meeting. This attempt at improved stakeholder involvement had some successes, but it also highlights divergent goals within NEPA and a lack of trust between local stakeholders and regulators. Tribes were able to push for examination and disclosure of some of their environmental concerns but remain frustrated with NEPA’s limitations with respect to transform findi…
author: Teschner, Benjamin Augustus
language: eng
language: English
keywords: mine permitting, National Environmental Policy Act, social performance, mine valuation, environmental and social governance, social license to operate
identifier: T 8934
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:43:31Z
provider: Colorado School of Mines
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/11124/174178