The mining industry of today exists in a unique structural tension. Demand for mined minerals to support global electrification and energy targets is only escalating, with demand for critical minerals such as lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt expected to increase dramatically by 2040 (International Energy Agency, 2025). More than half of proposed global critical minerals projects are on or near Indigenous lands (Owen et al., 2022), meaning that access to these minerals crucially depends on the industry’s ability to work productively with Indigenous communities. Yet the mining industry’s historical relationship with Indigenous groups has been complicated (Coronado & Fallon, 2010), and the consultation models most commonly used have not been designed to build the level of trust that genuine social license and partnership requires (Prno & Slocombe, 2012). Government also plays an increasingly important role not only in the legal and political license to operate (Robinson et al., 2020), but also in facilitating the social license to operate in some jurisdictions (Saenz, 2023). The result is a sector operating in what Bryant & Eagle (2025a) describe as a world of ‘low trust and high tension’, where community conflict has been shown to translate directly into project delays and costly consequences for companies (Franks et al., 2014). Rising demand for critical minerals means this tension is only predicted to continue. Previous papers presented at the World Mining Congress have highlighted the impossibility of a one-size-fits-all approach to consultation and stakeholder engagement in this environment, and the resulting need to combine bold ideas, new approaches and innovation with stakeholder engagement to achieve greater success (Bryant, 2023, Tyrrell & George, 2023). Taking the structural tensions among mining, Indigenous groups, and government into account, this paper presents a governance framework supported by a replicable, tested methodology to move stakeholders from consultation to co-ownership, applied globally with consistent results. 2. THE CONSULTATION DEFICIT: WHY THE STATUS QUO FAILS It is widely accepted that stakeholder engagement operates on a spectrum (Arnstein, 1969), ranging from one-way information to two-way consultation with limited influence, to involvement and collaboration, peaking at co-ownership or partnership. Moving further along this spectrum requires increasing levels of trust between the parties (Walsh et al., 2017) – a trust that may not be present in mining industry interactions. Historically, Indigenous communities have been treated as a final checkpoint in consultation rather than as partners in shaping the plan (Bryant & Eagle, 2025a). A significant consequence of this approach is that communities feel that consultation is ‘done to’ them rather than ‘with’ them, and that they arrive at the point of dialogue with entrenched positions. The government must act as a mediator, and companies bear the ongoing costs of opposition to projects. This is not just theoretical: Lèbre et al. (2024) found that 12% of projects have faced or will face severe costs arising from interactions with the local context. Add to this the normative obligation for companies to recognise international policy around Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), referring to the process whereby Indigenous peoples 41
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