The document discusses research from a Cooperative Research Centre in Australia that examined the interplay between Indigenous communities and the natural environment in remote areas, with a focus on community value from mining. Over seven years and $90 million, the research involved 750 publications, 36 graduate students, and engaged 240 Aboriginal community researchers. A key focus was on enduring community value from mining and case studies in Australia and Sweden that examined issues like Indigenous employment, mental health, economic impacts of fly-in fly-out workers, and toolkits for remote communities.

1. The interplay between society
and the natural environment in
remote areas, with a focus on
community value from mining
and Indigenous communities
International Symposium on Society and
Resource Management (ISSRM)
June 19-22, 2017 in Umeå, Sweden

2. What is remote Australia?
2

3. Compared with Europe, the average
Aboriginal ‘nation’ would be about the same
size as Austria or Ireland

4. ~400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
‘nations’

5. The research – Cooperative Research
Centre over 7 years, $US90 million
• ‘to address social, economic, health and
education disadvantage in remote
Australia, and in particular, the impact of
economic exclusion of the Indigenous
population’
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6. 6

7. Research Framework
7

8. Outputs
• 750 publications
• 36 PhD and Masters students graduates
• 400+ end-user events
• 14 government policy submissions
• Created a network of 240 Aboriginal
Community Researchers
8

9. Interplay between culture, community,
empowerment, education, employment, health
and well-being in remote Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6H8ZqucyFQ&feature=youtu.be
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4znHj4vKRo&feature=youtu.be
9

10. ‘Enduring Community Value from Mining’ research
Outcomes:
• Improved policy (government and industry)
concerning local Indigenous employment
insights
• e.g. mining companies modifying their
employment regimens
• Mental health and economic impact of fly-in fly-
out (FIFO) workers
• Informed economic impacts (e.g. mine
closures)
• Toolkit
10

11. Mining Toolkit for Remote Communities
• Mining Toolkit Typical view, resource company delivers enduring
community value from mining (ECVM)
• Instead: communities, NGOs, and government (with companies)
deliver ECVM?
• But: CSR, SLO, Community Acceptance/Informed Consent
• Factor share theory (Blackwell & Dollery 2013; 2014)
• Land labour capital
• Royalties salary/wages dividends/interest/local supply
• Mine Lifecycle and Community Economic Cycle Planning
(Robertson & Blackwell 2016; Blackwell & Robertson 2016)
11

13. Enduring Community Value from Mining
13

14. Methods: Case Study Locations
14
Characteristic Australia Sweden
Resources Vastest and rich ‘inheritance’
(Marshall 1788, p. 349)
Mineral wealth
Remoteness
Geography
Vast ‘uninhabited’ ultra-
sparsely populated interior
Sparsely populated north -
Lapland
Traditional
people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders
Sami
Climate Arid deserts and tropical
wetlands
Arctic
Regional Doorstep of Asia
Major Landmass in
Australasia
Antipodes
Europe
Major landmass in
Scandinavia
Strategic
Political Conservative Westminster
democratic market economy
with sovereign head of state
Socialist democratic market
economy with sovereign

15. Findings: Mineral Development Australia and Sweden
15
Characteristic Australia Sweden
Resource owner Crown Crown
Access manager Delegated to the states (not
Commonwealth)
Minerals Inspector
(exploitation concession)
Regulated? Yes, each state has a Mineral
Resource Act
Yes Minerals Act
Institutional
arrangements
EIS proponent; social and
environmental impact assessment
and mitigation
Permit also required under
Swedish Environmental
Code
Can trigger State/Cth Acts e.g.
EPBC Act (Cth)
?
Social arrangements self governed
e.g. SLO private royalties regional
partnerships
?
Actors: Decision makers?
www.sgu.se
Mineral Deposits of National Interest

16. Findings: Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islanders and Sami
16
Characteristic Aboriginal & Torres Strait
Islanders
Sami
Uniqueness Now120+ Language groups,
hence ‘peoples’
Northernmost indigenous
people of European
continent
Traditional
Livelihoods
Hunters and gatherers,
nomadic but language areas
Reindeer herders
Current
Livelihoods
Two worlds – strong
connection to place and
people
As above
Mining
relationship
Contested but growing
wealth/affluence from
royalties - disparity
Contested
Actors: Decision influencers?
Kiruna and the surrounding area where
national interests for nature (green dots),
outdoor life (green lines), reindeer
husbandry (red lines), culture (purple
hatched) and minerals (black lines)
overlap each other.

17. Findings: Indigenous Peoples Driving ECVM
17
Factor Jabiru, Ranger Uranium; Leigh Creek
Coal
Kristineberg Copper & Adak, Malå
Resource –
Town nexus
R:One of World’s largest, 2021 legal life,
community operates
L: Mine just closed, community in transition
K: Mine open, 8-10 mines over
150yrs, community doesn’t
A: Mine closed, community thriving
Royalties State, equiv. (R) & private
Employment R: Strong 20%, ~5-10% local
L: Weak ~0%, 0% local
Dividend/intere
st/partnership
Nil – 100% company owned
Local supply Yes
Investment -
infrastructure
R: Built & manage airport, power built town
L: Closed town (100%)
Cultural
Investment
R: Regional partnerships & fund sports,
art, music & cultural festivals
L: Limited
Rareness R: With Kakadu WHA wetlands, Cth, NT &
Miner package deal, Jabiluka agreement
L: No LGA, No land tenure, hist. apartheid
Actors: Decision influencers BUT HOW?

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20. 20
References
• Blackwell B and B Dollery (2014) The impact of mining expenditure on remote communities in
Australia: The Ranger uranium mine and the Tanami gold mine in the Northern Territory,
Australasian Journal of Regional Studies 20(1): 68-97. 'Accessed 19 Aug 2014 from:
http://www.anzrsai.org/assets/Uploads/PublicationChapter/Blackwell-and-Dollery-final.pdf
• Blackwell B and B Dollery (2013) Income factor shares from mining in remote Australia: An
analysis of the Ranger uranium mine and the Tanami gold mine in the Northern Territory,
Australasian Journal of Regional Studies 19(3), pp. 369-395. Accessed 19 Aug 2014 from:
http://www.anzrsai.org/assets/Uploads/PublicationChapter/546-BlackwellandDollery.pdf
• Blackwell, B.D. and S. Robertson (2016), ‘Enduring value for remote communities from mining:
Synthesising production, employment, populations, and reform opportunities’, Learning
Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts, Special Issue: Synthesis &
Integration Writing from the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation,
April, No. 19, pp. 116-147. http://dx.doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2016.19.08
• Robertson, S. and Blackwell, B., (2016) ‘Remote mining towns on the rangelands: determining
dependency within the hinterland ’, The Rangeland Journal, 37(6): 583-596. Accessible 23
December 2015 from: http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=RJ15046.pdf
• Marshall, A. (1878) ‘The Coal Question’, Chapter X and XI in Thorpe, T.A. (Ed.) Coal: Its
History and Uses, MacMillian, London. Accessed 14 July 2015 from:
https://ia601403.us.archive.org/19/items/coalitshistoryus00thorrich/coalitshistoryus00thorrich.pd
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