Governance in mining: Management, ethics, sustainability and efficiency

The concept of governance in the specialized literature is shown to be multidimensional and polysemic. Its development and meaning are marked by the fields in which it is implemented. Notions of governance range from generic approaches with ethical nuances, originating in public management, to more limited and pragmatic approaches, clearly situated in the effective and efficient management of corporate decision-making systems. This paper shows that the concept of governance is applied in a field of activity with a high socio-environmental and economic impact, namely mining. For this purpose, a mixed method study of a database of 186 specialized bibliographical references was undertaken, combining content analysis and conceptual network analysis. The results revealed four models of governance, differing from each other but also with interesting overlaps in theory and application, showing parallels with the specific meanings of governance theories of a more general scope. Mining assumes governance as key to the environment and, as a consequence, to the business. It increasingly sees the environment as complex, difficult and risky, and therefore mining companies tend to consider specific environmental features (natural, social, economic and political) in the internal and external management of their operations. The negative external effects of the extractive industry have forced it to rethink corporate governance beyond internal corporate management, focused until recently (perhaps even today) on economic efficiency.