Cities are fully independent ecosystems, while Smart Territories often cannot support all smart infrastructure and services, but the high quality of life of the ST population should be provided. Smart Territories can outsource some smart components from neighboring areas or larger administrative divisions, as their size, population, and location often prevent full local deployment. STs aim for sustainable development by improving quality of life across domains such as economic growth, environmental sustainability, and mobility. Mapping these dimensions and evaluating accessibility can guide ST development. Altogether, these concepts point to promote smart mining territories. 2. Research design and approach The research design proceeds in three sequential steps. First, the paper undertakes conceptual model development by proposing an expansion of the SBSC into the Territorial Development and Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (TD-SBSC). This model is explicitly designed to connect mining strategy with territorial development outcomes and trust-building mechanisms by integrating three complementary components: (i) AI-enabled territorial diagnostic platforms, (ii) digital twin models of mining territories, and (iii) multi-stakeholder governance coalitions. These components reflect the need to move beyond firm-centric sustainability efforts toward data-enabled, participatory, and institutionally anchored territorial governance. In the proposed framework, AI-enabled diagnostic platforms and digital twins provide the informational backbone for transparent scenario planning and improved public decision-making, while multi stakeholder governance coalitions strengthen collective problem-solving, coordination, and policy continuity. Second, the paper implements a comparative case analysis across ten cases: eight mining company cases from Peru, Chile, and Brazil, and two public policy cases from Peru and Chile. Empirically, the analysis relies on author-prepared descriptive case briefs synthesized from publicly available, official sources (e.g., corporate websites, sustainability reports, and accessible technical analyses). The objective is not statistical inference, but structured learning through comparison: each case is examined to identify qualitative evidence of how territorial development impacts are pursued, how trust and social acceptance are strengthened, and how the four TD-SBSC components are implemented (or remain incipient). This constitutes an exploratory qualitative test of the framework’s practical uptake: the cases are used to assess the degree and manner in which each TD-SBSC component is present across corporate and policy settings, and to surface implementation gaps and enabling conditions. Third, the paper consolidates the cross-case insights through a descriptive positioning matrix, the “Case Positioning Matrix for Smart Mining Territories.” This matrix integrates (a) the case-selection criteria, (b) the elements of the proposal (the three TD-SBSC components grouped into two pillars: multi-stakeholder governance coalitions; and AI-enabled platforms + digital twins), and (c) the intended outcome of smart mining territories. 134
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