Cultural considerations and impact assessment in mining have long been a significant concern for several mining companies. Indigenous peoples are eager to preserve their cultural heritage, while companies traditionally focus on maximizing profit.
While some companies are making serious efforts to respectfully engage with Indigenous cultures, common barriers to effective cross-cultural engagement and conducting thorough cultural impact assessments still include:
- Narrow interpretations of “culture,” usually to the detriment of “intangible” dimensions of culture;
- Weak initial cross-cultural engagement often associated with lack of preparation and lack of in-house expertise;
- Power differentials and incompatible cultural values between settler society, indigenous groups, and mining companies;
- Emphasis on the technical/scientific/quantitative over the oral/traditional/qualitative in formal EIAs;
- The complex variety of contributing factors to cultural change;
- Lack of agreement on what constitute appropriate indicators of cultural impact;
- Lack of preexisting thresholds of acceptable change for cultural indicators;
- Companies not wanting to take on pseudo-governmental sociocultural protection roles;
- Lack of formal legal requirements for implementation of cultural protections.
Companies strive for responsible mining, but genuine cultural engagement remains a hurdle. What’s one critical barrier to conducting meaningful cultural impact assessments that you’ve observed or experienced? Comment below!
Text rights: Peter Darling, 2011
Source: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
