Responsible mining

Responsible mining is commonly defined as mining that involves and respects all stakeholders, minimizes and takes account of its environmental impact, and prioritizes a fair division of economic and financial benefits.^[1][2][3] There is a strong focus on stakeholder engagement, involving governments and the affected communities.

The underlying principles are based on existing international agreements, such as the Rio Declaration and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), involving polluter responsibility, equity, participatory decision making and accountability and transparency.^[4] Because the Earth contains a finite amount of minerals – making mining a finite activity – the term responsible mining is preferred over sustainable mining.^[5] In practice, responsible mining has different interpretations, referring to advocacy to reform mining activity, as well as to a marketing strategy used by mining companies to promote their operations as environmentally or socially sound. Goals may vary by group.

Responsible mining first appeared in an article entitled "Re-inhabitory Mining"^[6] and next in another article titled "Ecological Mining".^[7] The term "Responsible Mining" is also claimed as having been formulated by Ranil Senanayake of the International Analog Forestry Network and Brian Hill of the Institute for Cultural Ecology.^{[citation needed]}