The systemic issue is therefore not only the existence of illegal mining, but the absence of an integrated territorial governance risk framework capable of identifying where legitimacy competition has reached structurally destabilizing levels. For industry, the challenge is twofold: 1. Protect operational continuity and supply chain integrity. 2. Maintain trust and compliance under global sustainability standards. However, this challenge also presents an opportunity. By integrating territorial governance intelligence into risk management systems, mining companies and regulators can move from reactive crisis response to preventive risk anticipation. The Territorial Legitimacy Risk Index (TLRI) proposed in this paper addresses this gap by providing a structured, scalable mechanism to detect governance competition before it escalates into operational disruption or institutional erosion. In doing so, it contributes directly to the Congress theme of building trust, enabling transformation in governance practices, and advancing data-informed approaches to responsible mineral delivery. 4.1 General Objective The primary objective of this paper is to develop and propose a structured governance early warning framework — the Territorial Legitimacy Risk Index (TLRI) — capable of identifying and anticipating legitimacy competition between illegal and formal mining within extractive territories. By operationalizing legitimacy dynamics into measurable territorial indicators, the paper seeks to provide industry and policymakers with a preventive risk management tool that strengthens supply chain integrity and institutional reliability. 4.2 Specific Objectives This contribution pursues four specific objectives: 1. To conceptualize illegal mining as a legitimacy-based governance competitor rather than solely a criminal or environmental issue. 2. To identify and systematize territorial, economic, political, and social indicators that reflect structural consolidation of illegal mining influence. 3. To design a semi-quantitative composite index (TLRI) that integrates these dimensions into an actionable risk assessment model. 4. To illustrate the applicability of this framework using the Peruvian gold sector as an 30
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