2216 3. SOCIAL MANAGEMENT, SOCIAL INVESTMENT AND PARTICIPATION 3.1 Social management of mining: dominant practices and limitations In the mining industry, social management is typically structured around four recurring practices: (i) community relations and dialogue, (ii) sectoral social investment (education, health, basic infrastructure), (iii) complaint and support mechanisms, and (iv) commitment management and ESG reporting. Sustainability reports from leading companies tend to describe educational programs (scholarships, infrastructure, teacher training), strengthening of productive capacities (agriculture, entrepreneurship), and dialogue mechanisms. However, these models often face two limitations: participation remains at levels of consultation or benefit—lower rungs of Arnstein's ladder (1969)—and sociocultural and census data are primarily produced through external studies with limited community ownership and updating. 3.2 Empirical evidence: social reporting of the Top 5 Peruvian mining companies (Merco 2025) To empirically support the identified gap, the 2024 sustainability reports of the five mining companies with the best corporate reputation in Peru were analyzed according to the 14th edition of the Merco Business and Leaders Ranking 2025 (MERCO, 2025; SNMPE/Desde Adentro, 2025): Minsur (38th overall position), Compañía Minera Antamina, Minera Las Bambas (MMG), Gold Fields Perú and Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde. Minsur —for the first time as the leading mining company in the Merco ranking, displacing Antamina after 13 years of leadership—focuses its social management on local employment (60% of the staff at its Circular Tin Plant B2 come from nearby communities), productive projects, and infrastructure. It does not document cultural production programs, participatory social research, or community libraries (Minsur, 2025). Antamina represents the group's highest standard of social management, with 20 communities of influence, 14 multi-stakeholder development committees, a Multi-Stakeholder Model articulated with central, regional, and local government, and approximately S/ 2 billion in accumulated commitments through Public Works for Taxes. Chapter 4, "Sustainability – The Path to Development" (pp. 66-88), details programs for health, conventional education, infrastructure, and productive strengthening. However, no programs for co-production of community information, community journalism, participatory audiovisual production, or co-produced territorial assessments are identified (Antamina, 2025). Las Bambas (MMG) operates in one of the most conflict-ridden mining territories in Peru (Apurímac). The case is paradigmatic: despite multimillion-dollar investments in infrastructure, local employment, and royalties, the operation experienced 173 days of blockades in 2022 and approximately 700 days of total shutdown (CEPLAN, 2024). The absence of informational and cultural co-production programs left a void where conflict narratives were amplified without community counterweight (MMG, 2025). Gold Fields Peru has the group's most recognizable educational program: "Saber Para Ganar" (Knowledge to Win), which ran for nine consecutive years in Hualgayoc. However, this is a conventional education program (improving school learning), not a cultural co-production or participatory social research program. Its "Protagonistas Mineras" (Mining Protagonists) and "Beca Futuro Mujer" (Future Women Scholarship) programs focus on job placement, not on community knowledge production (Gold Fields, 2025). Cerro Verde —a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan—focuses its social management on large infrastructure projects (such as the La Tomilla II Water Treatment Plant, which benefits the entire Arequipa region). Its approach is characteristically top-down and infrastructural, without documented programs of cultural co-production or participatory research (Cerro Verde, 2025).
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