The commercial determinants of social impact assessment in the global mining industry

Social impact assessment (SIA) is the most widely applied method for identifying and managing the social effects of mining. Yet, SIA almost always occurs under commercial conditions that constrain its potential to serve the public interest. This paper examines the company-commissioned, consultant-led model that dominates SIA practice in the global mining industry. Drawing on document analysis and interviews with practitioners and regulators, we identify how commercial and structural arrangements influence SIA across four phases of the study cycle – commissioning, proposal, implementation, and application. We argue that the dependence of mining companies on consultants, and of consultants on mining contracts, generates a structural conflict of interest that limits the quality and utility of SIA. Using a systems perspective, we identify reinforcing feedback loops between companies, consultants, and regulators that reproduce low capability, poor-quality assessments, and weak oversight. Incremental reforms that improve standards and practice within this model adjust its parameters but not its rules. The dominant model of SIA exemplifies capitalism’s capacity to monetise its own critique, where each call for better assessment becomes a new commercial opportunity. Reclaiming SIA as a practice of public value requires transforming its purpose into a mode of shared governance over mining’s social dimensions.