The importance of community engagement and strong working partnerships during operations and inevitable mine closure cannot be overstated.
In many jurisdictions around the world, mining and extractive industries are closely associated with environmental degradation, injustice, and colonial dispossession.
Less frequently considered in the scholarship on mining and injustice are the impacts of mine closure and mining's long-term social and environmental legacies.
Mine closure and remediation is often the longest and most complex phase of the mining cycle, yet it receives the least attention during project assessment and approval. The long-term, even perpetual, nature of post-mining impacts is a major socio-ecological challenge and contributes to cumulative impacts in extractive regions, particularly for local and Indigenous communities whose lands host large-scale mining, but who are often excluded or marginalized in discussions of mine closure and remediation.
This Special Section brings together a series of Indigenous-authored and collaborative articles offering a deeper exploration of community perspectives, engagements and governance practices at extractive sites in Australia and Canada.
Written from diverse ecological, social and political contexts, taken together the articles elevate Indigenous voices and experiences in mine closure governance.
This addresses the significant gap in the literature on the social aspects of mine closure, which is particularly glaring in relation to Indigenous peoples' rights and interests.
Authors: Holcombe, S. E., Hall, R. J. & Keeling, A., (2025) “Self-Determination in mine site transitions and mine closure governance across Indigenous nations”, Journal of Political Ecology 32(1): 8604. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.8604
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Thanks for use of the cover photo by Yong Chuan Tan on Unsplash