Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic
ABSTRACT In recent decades, the mining industry has expanded globally especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Mines often boost rural economies, but may have also negative impacts on environment and local livelihoods, such as tourism and reindeer herding. That is why acceptability and unden...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000843 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000843 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247413000843 2024-09-15T18:31:19+00:00 Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic Heikkinen, Hannu I. Lépy, Élise Sarkki, Simo Komu, Teresa 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000843 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000843 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 52, issue 4, page 399-411 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2013 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000843 2024-08-21T04:04:38Z ABSTRACT In recent decades, the mining industry has expanded globally especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Mines often boost rural economies, but may have also negative impacts on environment and local livelihoods, such as tourism and reindeer herding. That is why acceptability and undeniable right to operate – the social licence (SL) to mine has become more and more important in mining related discussions. We examine empirically issues relating to SL in two mining projects in Finnish Lapland, Hannukainen in Kolari and Suurikuusikko in Kittilä. The main results emphasise the importance of transparency in mining operations and the continuity of communications with local stakeholders in building and maintaining the SL to mine. If the transparency of operations is lacking and issues come to publicity only via the media, this may affect the public image of a company and finally challenge its SL to operate and, in the long term, potentially effect the financing decisions of mining investors. We show that acquiring and keeping up a SL links not only to the developments in the actual mining site, but is also connected to processes taking place in other localities. These connections may emerge in various scales; between various local communities, mining companies and global financing principles, for instance. We use and propose ‘multi-sited ethnography’ as a method to describe and better understand complex linkages which may effect the SL to mine. Article in Journal/Newspaper Polar Record Lapland Cambridge University Press Polar Record 52 4 399 411 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
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English |
description |
ABSTRACT In recent decades, the mining industry has expanded globally especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Mines often boost rural economies, but may have also negative impacts on environment and local livelihoods, such as tourism and reindeer herding. That is why acceptability and undeniable right to operate – the social licence (SL) to mine has become more and more important in mining related discussions. We examine empirically issues relating to SL in two mining projects in Finnish Lapland, Hannukainen in Kolari and Suurikuusikko in Kittilä. The main results emphasise the importance of transparency in mining operations and the continuity of communications with local stakeholders in building and maintaining the SL to mine. If the transparency of operations is lacking and issues come to publicity only via the media, this may affect the public image of a company and finally challenge its SL to operate and, in the long term, potentially effect the financing decisions of mining investors. We show that acquiring and keeping up a SL links not only to the developments in the actual mining site, but is also connected to processes taking place in other localities. These connections may emerge in various scales; between various local communities, mining companies and global financing principles, for instance. We use and propose ‘multi-sited ethnography’ as a method to describe and better understand complex linkages which may effect the SL to mine. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heikkinen, Hannu I. Lépy, Élise Sarkki, Simo Komu, Teresa |
spellingShingle |
Heikkinen, Hannu I. Lépy, Élise Sarkki, Simo Komu, Teresa Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
author_facet |
Heikkinen, Hannu I. Lépy, Élise Sarkki, Simo Komu, Teresa |
author_sort |
Heikkinen, Hannu I. |
title |
Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
title_short |
Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
title_full |
Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic |
title_sort |
challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising arctic |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000843 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000843 |
genre |
Polar Record Lapland |
genre_facet |
Polar Record Lapland |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 52, issue 4, page 399-411 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000843 |
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Polar Record |
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52 |
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4 |
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399 |
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411 |
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