THE LEGITIMACY TRILEMMA: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION, CRISIS OF TRUST, AND THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE IN LARGE-SCALE MINING IN LATIN AMERICA

This study addresses the crucial role of strategic institutional communication in obtaining and, fundamentally, in the long-term maintenance of the Social License to Operate (SLO) within the large-scale mining industry in Latin America. The SLO, defined as the continuous and evolving consent of stakeholders, is an imperative that transcends regulatory compliance. The study employs a qualitative, comparative multiple-case study design, analyzing the communication strategy of a project in the initial phase of trust building (Los Azules, Argentina) and contrasting it with the collapse of legitimacy in a mature operation that culminated in a social and legal crisis (Cobre Panamá, Panamá). The evidence is complemented by benchmarking of practices from sector leaders (BHP, Rio Tinto). The results demonstrate that, while proactive transparency generates initial trust capital, this capital is volatile. SLO maintenance is lost due to a Rhetoric-Reality Gap, where the communication of positive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) indicators is misaligned with the local perception of real impact, transforming the discourse into a monological strategy perceived as insincere. The concept of the Legitimacy Trilemma is introduced to frame the tension between legal, economic, and sociopolitical legitimacies. The study concludes that communication must migrate from intent to verifiable outcome to ensure sustainable legitimacy, providing theoretical implications for Stakeholder Theory and practical implications for risk management in volatile Latin American contexts.