Exploring the origins of ‘social license to operate’ in the mining sector: Perspectives from governance and sustainability theories

In the mining sector, local communities have emerged as particularly important governance actors. Conventional approaches to mineral development no longer suffice for these communities, which have demanded a greater share of benefits and increased involvement in decision making. These trends have been spurred by the growth of the sustainable development paradigm and governance shifts that have increasingly transferred governing authority towards non-state actors. Accordingly, there is now widespread recognition that mineral developers need to gain a ‘social license to operate’ (SLO) from local communities in order to avoid potentially costly conflict and exposure to social risks. A social license can be considered to exist when a mining project is seen as having the ongoing approval and broad acceptance of society to conduct its activities. Due to the concept's relatively recent emergence, however, only a limited body of scholarship has developed around SLO. Drawing on examples from northern Canada, this paper uses governance and sustainability theories to conceptualize the origins of SLO in the mining sector and describe some of the associated implications. Further research is needed to determine governance arrangements which help facilitate establishment of SLO in different mineral development contexts.     

Small-scale mining in Ghana: The government and the galamsey

This paper argues that the current formalization system for small-scale gold miners in Ghana has been undermined and the small-scale mining laws no longer capture the reality of the sector’s activities. The paper will examine the small-scale mining system and shows that registered and unregistered actors operate not only in parallel but are actually intertwined and highly dependent on one another. The paper shows that the perceived dichotomy of formal and informal actors in the sector does not actually exist. The sector has instead evolved into a highly intertwined group of semi-formal sectors operating with varying degrees of legal registrations. The paper concludes that political leniency and law enforcement corruption has resulted in a booming small-scale gold system under poor government control. The paper recommends that politicians move to enact reforms to regularize the small-scale mining sector and curtail ubiquitous environmental and occupational safety problems. Anti-corruption initiatives and law enforcement reforms are the most urgent. However, reforming the laws is also necessary to capture and regulate the technological innovations the sector is currently using.     

Multiproduct mine output and the case of mining waste utilization

This article addresses the concepts of economies of scope and multiproduct production, subadditivity and transray convexity as it applies to the mining industry. The article goes on to expand these concepts to include the case of mining waste utilization. It discusses how the modification of mining wastes into a marketable product can develop a relationship across the cost functions of the modified mining waste and ore production and how this interrelationship affects the profit maximizing condition. It discusses four possible outcomes from mining waste modification and its development into marketable products on the profitability and production of ore by the firm. Finally, it discusses mining waste utilization effects on rehabilitation costs and the potential for a decrease in the adverse community effects due to mine closure.     

基于吸附原理的双路独立汞采样方法

参照美国EPA 30B方法,基于吸附原理,研制了用于燃煤燃烧源排放烟气中总气态汞的双路独立采样系统,结合热解析分析技术,现场测试结果符合30B方法的质控指标要求。建议加大国产吸附管的研制力度,开发适用于中国工况的汞采样器。     

耐酸性异养菌的分离及其在制革污泥重金属生物淋滤中的作用

从制革污泥中分离出一株异养微生物,经鉴定属于红酵母菌属(Rhodotorula sp.)R30, 测定菌株R30的适宜生长pH范围为3～7,但能耐受pH 2.5至1.5的酸性环境,最适生长温度28℃.酵母R30在污泥水溶性有机物(DOM)中培养96h,水溶性有机碳(DOC)从1485mg/L降至345mg/L,菌数达4.8×10⁷mL^-1.将污泥预酸化至pH 6.5,在进行污泥的生物淋滤过程中,添加酵母处理与不添加酵母处理的对照相比,淋滤时间减少了4d,淋滤周期显著缩短,在7d的淋滤时间内,重金属Cr的溶出率提高39%.     

Metalliferous sediments in the Atlantis II Deep—Assessing the geological and economic resource potential and legal constraints

Projected increases in demand and thus increasing metal prices have brought the exploration and exploitation of marine mineral resources back into focus. The Atlantis II Deep, located in the central Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Sudan, is one of the largest marine sulfide deposits known, with high concentrations of metals such as zinc, copper, silver and gold. However, little is known about the economic potential of marine minerals as well as the legal constraints. Our geological assessment shows that the deep is similar in grades and scale to large land-based deposits. Its economic potential is far from negligible. The total present value of possible gross revenues for the four metals zinc, copper, silver and gold ranges from 3.03 to 5.29 billion US$, depending on the assumptions made concerning future price development, mass calculation and discount rate. From a legal perspective, a general duty to cooperate in the exploration and exploitation of non-living resources located in disputed maritime areas is identified in both customary international law and in UNCLOS. It is submitted that a joint development agreement is one means of ensuring compliance with this duty in general and in the case of the Atlantis II Deep in particular.     

Iron ore spot price volatility and change in forward pricing mechanism

To examine the impact of the change in forward pricing mechanism on the volatility of iron ore spot prices, we model the iron ore daily price of Platts IODEX from October 7, 2008 to September 21, 2012. The identified iron ore spot price tends to be less volatile after the introduction of quarterly pricing mechanism. Our main approaches are as follows: (i) to decompose the spot price of Platts IODEX into two subsamples and relate the result of the structural break to the date of the switch in the iron ore forward pricing mechanism; (ii) to apply the EGARCH (1, 1) model to simultaneously capture the long memory and the asymmetric effect on the volatility of the iron ore spot price; and (iii) to delineate the news impact curve to further interpret the asymmetric effect.     

An empirical approach to determine specific weights of driving factors for the price of commodities—A contribution to the measurement of the economic scarcity of minerals and metals

In recent years, commodity markets show a large amount of volatility and substantial price jumps, indicating an increasing economic scarcity in many cases. As this scarcity makes commodity procurement a critical issue for national economies, industry sectors and manufacturing companies, a number of criticality indices have been presented and utilized in science as well as in practice. These indices are mostly based on an aggregation of different key figures, both qualitative and quantitative. However, the weighting of the different factors is in most cases arbitrary or based on rough estimates.     

30CrMnSiNi2A钢壳体毛坯的温挤压成形工艺研究

针对30CrMnSiNi2A超高强度钢制壳体毛坯的结构特点和材料工艺特性,对该壳体毛坯的温挤压成形工艺进行了大量的试验研究;并采用"正交试验方法"对温挤压工艺参数进行了优化设计。经过理化检测和使用结果表明,采用温挤压工艺生产的30CrMnSiNi2A钢制壳体毛坯锻件完全满足壳体的使用要求,各项性能指标合格。