This glossary of terms has been developed to help navigate the technical language used by mining companies, including around mine closure.

These terms and their definitions have been adapted from:

11. Community engagement

An ongoing and inclusive process in which a mining company connects with a group of people who live near each other or have common interests. Based on a set of guiding principles, strategies and approaches that respect the right of community members to be informed, consulted, involved and empowered about matters that affect them.

The term is often used interchangeably with ‘public participation’. While community engagement is seen as an ongoing, two-way or multi-way process, public participation originally centred on specific decisions by organisations, particularly industry and government organisations, in which decision-making rather than relationships was the focus.

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Professor Sandy Worden

Research Fellow, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining

+61 7 3346 3496 CSRM homepage