A Social-Economic Framework
for Assessing Enduring Value
From Mining for Remote
Communities
Dr Boyd D Blackwell* & Prof. Brian Dollery**
*Post-doctorial Research Fellow, UNE Business School and CRC REP
** UNE Business School and Director, Centre for Local Government
Presentation made to the 2012 ANZSEE
Conference, Green growth or de-growth? 12 – 15
November, 2012, Bond University, Gold Coast
Acknowledgements
• Traditional owners
• CRC REP and the Partners in this project
• Views are those of the authors
• Errors or omissions remain with the authors
2
Outline
• Introduction
• Remoteness problems
• Methods for impact assessment
• Evaluation of methods
• Conceptual approach
• Conclusion
3
Introduction
• This project one of six in the
Enduring Community Value
from Mining project
• Objective - to track and map
mining expenditure in and out of
remote communities
• Methodology - input output
analysis
• Two case study locations:
• Yuendumu and Tanami Gold
Mine, NT and
• Jabiru and Ranger Uranium Mine,
NT
Tanami
Newmont
Mine
Yuendumu
Community
Jabiru
Community and
Ranger Mine
Source: Manipulation of NT Government 2012, p. 118
What do we do?
Who are we?
The CRC-REP is a collaborative
research platform that works with
communities, businesses and
people in remote regions of
Australia to systemically
investigate and provide practical
responses to the complex issues
that drive economic participation.
5
6
Systems approach
to achieving
economic
participation
85% of area
BUT 4% of
population (Chaney 2008)
7
Remote Australia
Locations of ATSI communities (DCITA, 2006)
Note
distribution
of ATSI
communities
8
Mineral deposits and operating mines, Australia
9
Mineral deposits and operating mines, Australia
Nth of Tropic of Capricorn 5% of Australian
population produces 50% of nation’s GDP (with
only 12 representatives in Canberra) (Young C
2012, pers. comms, CEO NTCoC, Darwin)
10
Problems associated with remoteness (See Blackwell, Dollery and
Grant (In preparation) for references)
• Factors:
• Institutional
• Environmental or geographical factors:
• Health and wellbeing
• Cultural
• Economic
11
Problems associated with remoteness (See Blackwell, Dollery and
Grant (In preparation) for references)
• Institutional factors:
• No local government representation in unincorporated Australia (see
Blackwell 2012)
• Distant decision making
• Limited management and provision of public services
• Highly complex political economy of governance
• State, non-state, formal and informal authority and governance
• A ‘failed state’ – the hole in Australia’s heartland (Walker, Porter and Marsh
2012, p. 27)
• Environmental or geographical factors:
• Tyranny of distance
• Isolation
• Harsh and extreme environments
• Mostly arid climate
• Limited or dispersed resources (in many cases)
• e.g. food and water
12
Maps of unincorporated or sui generis areas in Australia
Source of Maps: Regional Development Australia 2012
13
Problems associated with remoteness (See Blackwell, Dollery and
Grant (In preparation) for references)
• Health and wellbeing factors:
• High levels of disease and limited access to medical care
• Distance, communication and cultural inappropriateness
• Funding and coordination of health care
• Does not recognize responsible hospitals and primary care sector
• Education, housing and water
• Limited
• High cost
• ATSI participation in workforce and education low
• High proportion of disadvantaged people
• Chronic drug and alcohol abuse, in parts
• Higher rates of arrest and imprisonment, in parts
14
Problems associated with remoteness (See Blackwell, Dollery and
Grant (forthcoming) for references)
• Cultural factors:
• Social variability
• Unpredictability in, lack of control over markets, labour and policy
• Social interaction
• Very restricted or very little access
• Human populations
• Sparse, mobile, patchy
• Research knowledge is limited
• Persistent traditional and local knowledge
• Incongruence of western and traditional laws (more details in Blackwell and
Dollery, 2012a presentation)
• Social dislocation (compounded over generations in a relatively short period of
time)
• Inability to keep young people and resulting boredom for those who remain
15
Market and Cultural Incongruence
Hannah Bell (1998)
Aboriginal culture in NW WA
• Deeply earth connected
• Cultural traditions rhyme & reason
• ‘Pattern thinking’
• Sharing – e.g., Humbug
Western Culture juxtaposed
16
What does this mean for assessing impacts??
Clash of cultures and need for ‘two way thinking’
•Empathy
•Bush University, Caulfield Grammar exchange
• Deeply disconnected
• Distinction of roles blurred
• Extensive freedoms
• ‘Pyramid thinking’
• Market and materialism
Assessment Approaches • Given remote difficulties and hurdles
• How to assess state of play, socially, economically, environmentally?
17
• Criteria for assessment:
• Best purpose
• Holistic
• Systems based
• Understandable
• Ease of practice
• Cost
• Democratic
• Value inclusive
• Measureable
• Politically acceptable
• Data intensive
• Strategic/global
• Range of assessment methods
• Strategic Environmental
Assessment
• Cumulative Impacts Assessment
• Integrated Assessment
• Social, Economic, Environmental
Impact Assessment
• Cost benefit analysis (CBA)
• Cost effectiveness analysis (CEA)
• Multi-Criteria Assessment (MCA)
• Risk Assessment
• Citizen Juries
• Remote sensing and GIS
Evaluation (Blackwell, 2012)
18
Evaluation continued.. (Blackwell, 2012, p. 41)
19
Evaluation continued.. (Blackwell, 2012, p. 42)
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Assessment Approaches Summary
• Range of assessment methods with pros and cons:
• Strategic Environmental Assessment (early)
• Cumulative Impacts Assessment (synergistic, complex)
• Integrated Assessment (trans-multidisciplinary)
• Social, Economic, Environmental Impact Assessment
(disciplinary)
• Cost benefit analysis (project versus social, $ unit of measure)
• Cost effectiveness analysis (not max net benefits, but easier)
• Multi-Criteria Assessment (depends on criteria and weightings)
• Risk Assessment (institutionally hamstrung)
• Citizen Juries (democratic – expertise?)
• Remote sensing and GIS (can physical layers tell social story?)
21
Conceptual approach to assessment: Systems based
approach incorporating ‘cradle to cradle’ lifecycle
Environment/Ecosystems
Economy Society
Mining Resources
Exploration
Benefits and Costs Benefits & Costs
Benefits and Cost
Export
Mining
Manufacturing
- Disposal, Re-use, Recycling,
Repair
Polity
22
Systems thinking and market and non-market values of
mining
Total Economic Value
Market value
(captured by the market)
Non-market value
(not captured by the market)
Direct use value
Net returns to mining
operations
Expenditure by owners,
workers in economy
Indirect use value
Income flows from original
expenditure through
economy
Increased rents and returns
on housing
Royalties and taxes collected
by governments
Use value Non-use value
Option value
Future ability to use or
conserve resources
Passive use value
Recreational use of
resource including land
and water
Existence value
Value in knowing the
resources exist without
intended use
Bequest value
Providing a healthy and safe
environment for future
generations
Vicarious value
Value of resources
conveyed through history,
culture, art, poetry, other
media
Benefits from development assessed through market valuation
Benefits from conservation assessed through non-market valuation
23 Source: Highly adapted from Turner (1993)
Conclusion
• Impact assessment not simple and needs to account for:
• Informal market economy in community
• Significant ‘leakages’
• Incongruence between aboriginal culture and market based
philosophy
• Sui Generis of remote Australia
• Remote locations (like the NT) are unique culturally, socially,
economically, environmentally, institutionally and politically
• and this needs to be accounted for the approach
24