Social licence to operate and the granting of mineral rights in sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring tensions between communities, governments and multi-national mining companies

Akua Asamoah Debrah, Hudson Mtegha and Frederick Cawood

Resources Policy, 2018, vol. 56, issue C, 95-103

Abstract: Traditional communities in Africa hold land in high esteem. As such, when rights to minerals are granted to Multi-National Mining Companies on community lands, it heightens tensions and sometime erode the trust relationship with local governments and the State. A factor which contributes to this, is the non-alignment of the interest between the States’ exclusive rights and communities’ right to land after minerals’ discovery. In addition, experiences from colonial practices infringing on customary and mineral rights heighten the tensions between traditional societies and governments. This paper discusses some of the root causes of such tensions vis-à-vis the assignment of mineral rights and their effect on customary land rights frameworks. The mineral rights’ frameworks of Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania are explored for a better understanding of the tensions that arise in mining communities. Recommendations in light of formalising communities’ rights with mining companies’ and social licence to operate may assist in building transparency and the ‘trust’ needed amongst stakeholders in mining regimes.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa; Mineral rights; Customary land rights; Social licence; Colonial legacies; Traditional authorities; Trust deficit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420717302337
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:56:y:2018:i:c:p:95-103

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.02.008

Access Statistics for this article

Resources Policy is currently edited by R. G. Eggert

More articles in Resources Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().