Indigenous Peoples and Mining 2: Interests Through the Mining Life Cycle

This course identifies some of the intersection points between mining activities and Indigenous peoples. The course is organized according to the mining life cycle, from mineral exploration through mine development, operations, and ultimately mine closure/reclamation and post-closure. We survey some key activities that take place at each phase of the mining life cycle and identify ways in which these activities could both affect and benefit Indigenous peoples. This course also showcases some practical tools and examples for mining practitioners who work with Indigenous peoples. A significant amount of publicly available information describes the experiences that mining proponents have had in Indigenous engagement (both good and bad) and the course provides an introduction to that material.

This course continues on from the companion course, "Indigenous Peoples and Mining 1: Indigeneity Concepts and Context," which examines the complex idea of indigeneity in several active mining regions in the world (Canada, the United States, Australia, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil). An overarching point we wish to stress in both courses is the incredible diversity of Indigenous peoples—culturally, linguistically, developmentally, and in terms of their aspirations.

Indigenous Peoples and Mining Series Background

The Indigenous Peoples and Mining series was developed to support mining professionals in understanding who Indigenous peoples are, how their rights and interests are recognized in standards and law, and to identify how contemporary mining activities impact Indigenous peoples.

All the world's major mining regions are home to Indigenous peoples. As the Indigenous rights movement has gained momentum, the mining sector increasingly finds itself having to navigate challenging issues that arise as a result of exploration and extractive activities on or near Indigenous lands. Exacerbating such engagements is the remarkable speed of these political changes. When most present-day mining professionals were in school, Indigenous rights were not even on the radar. Indeed, even today—speaking especially from a global perspective—Indigenous issues are inadequately covered within the mining schools. To students and practitioners alike, the course series will be of interest to anyone active in mining today.

Upon completing the course series, participants will come away with an awareness of how contemporary mining activities fit within a long and dynamic story about Indigenous peoples—their existence, historical subjugation, cultural resiliency, and collective effort to gain recognition as distinct peoples with corresponding rights.

Authors

• Amiel Blajchman
• Corey Dekker

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