Mining is at the base of green technologies for a more sustainable future; however, responsible mining is not often achieved. This exploratory case study focuses on the case of the agreement between the US American mining company Albemarle and the local Indigenous communities that formed the Council of the Atacameño People, in Northern Chile. This agreement is part of Albemarle’s Corporate Social Responsibility approach and is seen as one of the positive examples of practices working towards mining that benefits the local community and limits the effects on the local environment. This case is explored through a deductive thematic analysis to explore and define the nature of the agreement: whether it can be classified as a cooperation or collaboration, after which the experiences of the Indigenous communities will be studied in a summative content analysis of social media posts which is visualized in a word cloud. The analysis shows that the agreement can be classified as a collaboration, however with important elements that are cooperative. Although this means that the agreement aims to include the Indigenous communities in several ways, it also highlights the fact that the Indigenous communities are not equal in the agreement and their goals are considered less in the process. The studied social media posts show that the Indigenous communities have shifted their perspective of Albemarle seemingly positively, notwithstanding that there are increasing expressions of worry about the future existence as communities. This thesis concludes that even though the agreement sounds promising on paper, the experiences of the Indigenous communities in the area are still that they are risking losing their culture and ecosystem. The local communities have formally consented to the mining practices by signing the agreements, but there is dissent among community members regarding their true attitudes. This is extremely worrisome as this thesis is focused on one of the most positive examples of CSR efforts within mining companies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-530947 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | van Driel, Rianne Fleur |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 ; 2024/21 |
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