Mining Starts with Meaningful Engagement
At the 2026 Planning for Closure Conference in Santiago, Chile, social and technical experts came together to explore how mine closure can create a lasting positive legacy. Discussions focused on the importance of integrating technical planning with social considerations to ensure the benefits of mining extend well beyond the life of a mine.
Representing Digby Wells, Senior Social Scientist, Chanel McCall presented the paper, The Role of Stakeholder Engagement in Creating a Positive Legacy for Mine Closure: A Means to an Effective Transition, co-authored with her colleague Jessica Pryor. The paper explored the role of stakeholder engagement in supporting an effective and sustainable mine closure process.
Reflecting on the conference, Chanel noted that successful mine closure requires more than sound technical planning and regulatory compliance. While approaches to incorporating the social dimensions of closure vary across jurisdictions, meaningful stakeholder engagement remains fundamental to achieving an integrated closure process and creating positive, long-term outcomes. Yet, despite its importance, stakeholder engagement is still too often underestimated.
Moving beyond Compliance to Legacy
Legacy is often described as what is left behind. However, in the context of the paper, legacy is also about what is built throughout the Life of Mine. This includes the relationships, skills, partnerships and community involvement that help support a successful social transition.
The paper and presentation explored the use of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach to stakeholder engagement and its application within a global case study. Drawing on the work of Kretzmann (2010), Kretzmann and McKnight (1993), and Mathie and Cunningham (2003), the approach centres on the belief that every member of a community has something to contribute. Rather than focusing only on what a community lacks, it considers the tangible and intangible assets that already exist in a community.
These assets may include people’s knowledge and skills, local organisations, relationships, cultural practices, natural resources and existing economic activities. Through Community Asset Mapping, these strengths can be identified, amplified and used as a foundation for development planning. This enables a community to play a more active role in shaping and supporting its own social transition encouraging a greater ownership of its development and future vision.
When Should Stakeholder Engagement Begin?
During the discussion following her presentation, Chanel was asked a simple but important question: When should stakeholder engagement begin?
Her answer was equally straightforward: “As soon as there is a Life of Mine to communicate.”
Sharing the expected Life of Mine provides a foundation for open dialogue and long-term planning. It gives communities, mining companies, municipalities and other stakeholders the opportunity to understand what the transition may involve, identify future needs and build the partnerships required to support a successful closure process.
Rather than being viewed as an activity that begins when production is drawing to a close, mine closure should be considered from the outset. Early engagement enables stronger collaboration, better-informed decision-making and more sustainable outcomes for everyone involved.
Closure Requires Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration
A second question posed during the discussion was: How do you approach closure planning for a community that is significantly affected by multiple surrounding mines?
Chanel explained that in these situations, closure cannot be planned by each mining operation in isolation. Instead, it requires a coordinated approach that recognises the broader social and economic context of the region.
Digby Wells has supported this through the development of regional social closure frameworks that bring together insights from existing studies, municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and the mining companies operating within the area. Stakeholder engagement is central to this process, helping to align priorities, build partnerships and support a shared vision for the future.
A successful social transition is not the responsibility of a single mining company. It depends on collaboration between industry, government, communities and other stakeholders. In Canada, for example, government-led mechanisms such as Early Participation Agreements help establish relationships between mining companies and Indigenous communities at an early stage.
While these mechanisms provide a strong foundation, meaningful social transition requires ongoing stakeholder engagement throughout the Life of Mine to ensure closure planning remains relevant, inclusive and responsive to changing community needs.
Planning With People
Stakeholder engagement is fundamental because mine closure affects people as much as it affects places. Communities need opportunities to be heard, consulted and actively involved in decisions that will shape their future. For mining companies, meaningful engagement supports more sustainable operations, strengthens trust and builds the partnerships needed to plan and implement closure effectively. A phrase heard at the conference captured this well: “Social licence to operate means a social licence to return.”
The practical implication for mining companies is that social closure planning should begin while there is still sufficient time, capacity and funding to establish partnerships and develop realistic plans for the future. Ultimately, the best closure outcomes are planned with people, not just for places.
To learn more about how Digby Wells supports integrated mine closure planning and social transition, get in touch with our team or visit our website. Alternatively, follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with our latest insights and thought leadership.
Chanel McCall is a Senior Social Scientist at Digby Wells holding a Master’s Degree in Historical and Cultural Science, with a focus on Heritage and Cultural Tourism, from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her current focus of expertise are in social transitioning toward mine closure, social closure planning and Social Impact Assessments. She has around 13 years experience in these fields that have been undertaken largely in South Africa but also in Mali and Tanzania. She has strengthened her professional knowledge through short courses in Asset-Based Community Development, Business Process Management, and International Women’s Health and Human Rights, as well as a certification in Measuring Sustainable Development. An active contributor to academic discourse, she authored the article “Empowering Women Through Community-Based Tourism in the Western Cape, South Africa,” published in Tourism Review International.
Jessica Pryor is a Principal Social Consultant with an MSc in Environmental Management. She started her career as an environmental generalist conducting environmental and social assessments and compiling ESIAs for large scale projects predominantly for the mining industry. She developed into a social practitioner initially working in the social department of one of the largest gold mines in the DRC. There she oversaw the implementation of Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs), spearheaded the community development strategy and implemented large scale agricultural and livestock programmes as well as general social infrastructure and training programmes as part of the mine’s community development initiatives. She further developed her social expertise through undertaking social impact assessments, conducting asset and socio-economic surveys and developing RAPs and livelihoods studies as well as conducting environmental and social due diligence reviews for clients in South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, Gabon, Guinea, DRC, Mali, Dominican Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, USA and Peru. Together, she initiated the company’s focus on social closure by assisting our clients understand and implement social transitioning plans towards closure to incorporate internal and external stakeholder concerns and recommendations into integrated Mine Closure Plans.