Comparative research highlights that legitimacy disputes often intensify in low-trust and politically polarized environments, where mining projects become symbols of broader social and governance concerns (Bebbington et al., 2019). In such contexts, compliance with standards or engagement processes has limited influence once confidence in decision-makers has eroded. Research also shows that legitimacy operates across multiple scales: local acceptance does not guarantee national support, and legal approval does not ensure social acceptance (Poelzer & Yu, 2021). Against this background, the author published study examines mining governance during a period of acute institutional disruption (Eddine, 2025). Rather than focusing on procedural compliance, it explores how declining trust and politicized decision-making shaped public responses to mining. The study helps explain why consent-based and participatory approaches struggled to sustain legitimacy once institutional credibility collapsed, offering insights that inform the discussion in the following sections. 5. IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERS AND POLICYMAKERS The literature reviewed in this article suggests that improving sustainability and legitimacy in mining does not primarily require new frameworks or additional standards. Rather, it requires a shift in how existing tools are understood, prioritized, and applied by people responsible for making decisions. This section outlines key implications for mining leaders and policymakers built on the literature and empirical insights discussed in Sections 2–4. 5.1 Move Beyond Compliance Toward Purpose-Driven Decisions For both companies and governments, compliance with standards and legal requirements remains essential. However, compliance alone is not sufficient to secure social legitimacy. Leaders should distinguish clearly between meeting requirements and guiding decisions. This means embedding sustainability as purpose, not only as policy. When economic, social, and environmental objectives come into tension, leaders should be able to explain how decisions reflect a coherent purpose rather than short-term pressure. Purpose-driven decision-making provides consistency over time, which is critical for building trust in uncertain and contested environments. 5.2 Treat Legitimacy as Shared and Multi-Scalar Leaders should avoid treating legitimacy as something that can be secured from a single group or at a single level. Community support, legal approval, and national acceptance are related but distinct sources of legitimacy. For policymakers, this implies greater attention to how national narratives, regulatory credibility, and political messaging shape public perceptions of mining. For companies, it requires recognizing that strong local relationships may not be enough to protect projects from wider societal opposition, and that engagement strategies must be aligned across scales. 59
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