IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v95y2024ics0301420724004872.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social licensing and dependencies: Implications for mine closure in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Marais, Lochner
  • Matebesi, Sethulego
  • van der Watt, Phia

Abstract

The social license to operate that the mining sector uses to ensure local consent has come under criticism. Yet research seldom investigates the dependencies created by this license. To remedy this deficiency, we used the dependencies identified by evolutionary governance theory to examine three case studies of a social license to operate in mining areas in South Africa. We found that the license can create rigidity and conflicts. Interdependencies are visible in both cooperation and conflict between the mines and NGOs. Goal dependency is visible in the adverse consequences that follow when communities want to redress historical inequalities as well as in the emphasis on creating trust. Path dependency is visible in the persistence of a mindset associated with a mining boom. We argue that proponents of the social license to operate should consider the dependencies that their activities cause and the long-term implications when a mine closes.

Suggested Citation

  • Marais, Lochner & Matebesi, Sethulego & van der Watt, Phia, 2024. "Social licensing and dependencies: Implications for mine closure in South Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:95:y:2024:i:c:s0301420724004872
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.105120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420724004872
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.105120?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prno, Jason, 2013. "An analysis of factors leading to the establishment of a social licence to operate in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 577-590.
    2. Douglass C. North, 2005. "Introduction to Understanding the Process of Economic Change," Introductory Chapters, in: Understanding the Process of Economic Change, Princeton University Press.
    3. Moffat, Kieren & Zhang, Airong, 2014. "The paths to social licence to operate: An integrative model explaining community acceptance of mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 61-70.
    4. Campbell, Bonnie, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility and development in Africa: Redefining the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors in the mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 138-143.
    5. Bainton, Nicholas & Holcombe, Sarah, 2018. "A critical review of the social aspects of mine closure," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 468-478.
    6. van der Watt, Phia & Marais, Lochner, 2021. "Implementing social and labour plans in South Africa: Reflections on collaborative planning in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Ralph Hamann & Paul Kapelus, 2004. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Mining in Southern Africa: Fair accountability or just greenwash?," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 47(3), pages 85-92, September.
    8. Matebesi, Sethulego & Marais, Lochner, 2018. "Social licensing and mining in South Africa: Reflections from community protests at a mining site," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 371-378.
    9. Geert Demuijnck & Björn Fasterling, 2016. "The Social License to Operate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 675-685, July.
    10. Sara Bice, 2014. "What Gives You a Social Licence? An Exploration of the Social Licence to Operate in the Australian Mining Industry," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, January.
    11. John Ntema & Lochner Marais & Jan Cloete & Molefi Lenka, 2017. "Social disruption, mine closure and housing policy: evidence from the Free State Goldfields, South Africa," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 30-41, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stuart, Alice & Bond, Alan & Franco, Aldina M.A. & Baker, Julia & Gerrard, Chris & Danino, Vittoria & Jones, Kylie, 2023. "Conceptualising social licence to operate," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    2. Dumbrell, Nikki P. & Adamson, David & Wheeler, Sarah Ann, 2020. "Is social licence a response to government and market failures? Evidence from the literature," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Yıldız, Taşkın Deniz & Kural, Orhan, 2020. "The effects of the mining operation activities permit process on the mining sector in Turkey," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Konstantinos Komnitsas, 2020. "Social License to Operate in Mining: Present Views and Future Trends," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Stronge, Dean C. & Kannemeyer, Robyn L. & Edwards, Peter, 2024. "Building social licence to operate: A framework for gaining and maintaining meaningful, trustworthy relationships," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Balza, Lenin H. & Diaz, Lina M. & Gomez-Parra, Nicolas & Manzano M., Osmel E., 2023. "The unwritten license: The societal SLO in Latin America’s extractive sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    7. Anna Katharina Provasnek & Anton Sentic & Erwin Schmid, 2017. "Integrating Eco‐Innovations and Stakeholder Engagement for Sustainable Development and a Social License to Operate," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 173-185, May.
    8. Lyon Salia Awuah & Kwame Oduro Amoako & Stephen Yeboah & Emmanuel Opoku Marfo & Peter Ansu-Mensah, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): motivations and challenges of a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) subsidiary’s engagement with host communities in Ghana," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Shuna Shu Ham Ho & Chang Hoon Oh & Daniel Shapiro, 2024. "Can Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Social License? A Sentiment and Emotion Analysis," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 445-476, March.
    10. Santiago, Ana Lúcia & Demajorovic, Jacques & Rossetto, Dennys Eduardo & Luke, Hanabeth, 2021. "Understanding the fundamentals of the Social Licence to Operate: Its evolution, current state of development and future avenues for research," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    11. Brueckner, Martin & Eabrasu, Marian, 2018. "Pinning down the social license to operate (SLO): The problem of normative complexity," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 217-226.
    12. Demajorovic, Jacques & Lopes, Juliana Campos & Santiago, Ana Lucia Frezzatti, 2019. "The Samarco dam disaster: A grave challenge to social license to operate discourse," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 273-282.
    13. Veronica Devenin & Constanza Bianchi, 2018. "Soccer fields? What for? Effectiveness of corporate social responsibility initiatives in the mining industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 866-879, September.
    14. Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy & Rifkin, Will & Moffat, Kieren & Louis, Winnifred, 2017. "Conceptualising the role of dialogue in social licence to operate," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 137-146.
    15. Leena, Suopajärvi & Karina, Umander & Jungsberg, Leneisja, 2019. "Social license to operate in the frame of social capital exploring local acceptance of mining in two rural municipalities in the European North," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Wright, Susan & Bice, Sara, 2017. "Beyond social capital: A strategic action fields approach to social licence to operate," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 284-295.
    17. Svobodova, Kamila & Yellishetty, Mohan & Vojar, Jiri, 2019. "Coal mining in Australia: Understanding stakeholder knowledge of mining and mine rehabilitation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 421-430.
    18. Gregory, Gillian H., 2021. "Rendering mine closure governable and constraints to inclusive development in the Andean region," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Radebe, Nomkhosi & Chipangamate, Nelson, 2024. "Mining industry risks, and future critical minerals and metals supply chain resilience in emerging markets," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Alberto Diantini & Salvatore Eugenio Pappalardo & Tim Edwards Powers & Daniele Codato & Giuseppe Della Fera & Marco Heredia-R & Francesco Facchinelli & Edoardo Crescini & Massimo De Marchi, 2020. "Is this a Real Choice? Critical Exploration of the Social License to Operate in the Oil Extraction Context of the Ecuadorian Amazon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-24, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:95:y:2024:i:c:s0301420724004872. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.