social

• displacement of people

  • Arrival of expatriate workers can disrupt local social norms and lead to increased competition for resources like housing and infrastructure
  • This can potentially change the social fabric of the community
• displacement of people examples

  Eg. Cerro de Pasco (Peru). The open-pit mining has gradually expanded, consuming a larger portion of Cerro de Pasco. As the mine grew, residents were forced to relocate to areas farther away, losing their homes and access to basic services. The government’s response in providing new housing has been slow and inadequate, leaving many displaced people in precarious conditions
• competition for land

  • Extractive industries may compete with other land uses such as farming, small scale mining or tourism 
  • This can be particularly sensitive when operations occur on land culturally significant to indigenous communities 
  • Eg. In Kuantan, Malaysia, the extraction of rare earth has led to the exodus of residents from the area even though they have been living there for generations. While they have been paid large sums of money, not all are willing to leave the area because of their attachment of the area
• economic dependency and deepening inequality

  • Local economies may become overly dependent on the extractive industries, making them vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices 
  • This can deepen economic disparities within the community, both among those directly employed by the industry and others
  • It can also create disparities between regions receiving royalties and those that do not 
  • For example, the dependence on tin mining for the people of Sungai Lembing, Malaysia led to the decline of the town when tin prices fell in the 1980s