unanswered the one question that determines whether those requirements can function: who ensures that communities can access the legal support they need to participate as genuine equals? The environmental rehabilitation guarantee, a financial provision mining companies are widely required to make for future environmental liabilities, demonstrates that the industry accepts the principle of pre-funded provisions for foreseeable social costs. The Community Legal Equity Fund proposed in this paper applies exactly the same logic to a foreseeable social cost: the cost of ensuring that communities can access independent legal representation in resettlement processes. The minerals that the world urgently needs will not be delivered responsibly if the communities most directly affected by their extraction cannot afford a lawyer. Trust cannot be claimed; it must be structurally earned. Institutionalising independent legal funding is one of the most direct, operationally feasible and ethically necessary steps the mining industry can take towards that goal. references Anglo American (2014) Anglo American Social Way Version 2. Inclusive Development International (2026) ‘Submission on Reforming IFC Performance Standards on Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement’. Online: www.inclusivedevelopment.net International Council on Mining and Metals (2015) Land Acquisition and Resettlement: Lessons Learned. London: ICMM International Finance Corporation (2012) Guidance Note 5. Washington DC. IFC. International Finance Corporation (2012) Performance Standard 5: Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement. Washington DC. IFC. Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (2011) UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Geneva. OHCHR Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2018) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. Paris: OECD Reddy, G., Smyth, E. and Steyn, M. (2015) Land Access and Resettlement: A Guide to Best Practice. Sheffield: Greenfield. Republic of South Africa (1996) Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Republic of South Africa (1997) Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA), Act 62 of 1997. 117
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