| Summary: | Earning and sustaining a "social license to operate" is of critical importance to the mining
industry. Aligning mining practice with societal expectations of sustainability and public
participation is crucial to achieving this aim. Multi-stakeholder Structured Decision
Processes based on decision analysis are promising tools for effective stakeholder
consultation, but have seen very little application in the mining industry. This innovative
approach involves stakeholders in collaboratively building a structured decision
framework that is transparent and grounded in principles of effective decision making.
This thesis assesses the effectiveness of using decision analysis in consultation by
evaluating a case study consultation process regarding the optimization of a tailings
management plan at the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada. This
represents the first time a decision analysis-based process has been used for project-based
consultation with wide stakeholder involvement in the Canadian mining industry. The
forces driving public participation and criteria for its evaluation, as well as the decision
analysis approach are discussed. The case study process, involving the use of a decision
analysis tool called Multiple Accounts Analysis (MAA), is evaluated from the
perspective of its participants (including mining company staff) based on questionnaires
and interviews using the critical incident technique.
A strong majority of respondents were satisfied with the outcome of the process and an
even greater majority recommended future use of MAA. Strength and weakness themes
generated from inductive analysis of the data are discussed in detail. The most important
strength themes are learning, engagement, facilitation and representation of values, and
the most important weakness themes are unequal and insufficient participation, trust and
transparency, and time constraints and time management. These themes are compared
with the public participation evaluative frameworks found in the literature, which are
based on government rather than corporate public participation efforts. Practical
recommendations for improving the application of MAA to consultation, both at Ekati
and at other mines, are given and drivers for further application of Structured Decision
Processes in the mining industry are discussed. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of === Graduate
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