Local Responses to Mine Closure in South Africa: Dependencies and Social Disruption

This book investigates mine closure and local responses in South Africa, linking dependencies and social disruption.

Mine closure presents a major challenge to the mining industry and government policymakers globally, but particularly in the Global South. South Africa is experiencing notable numbers of mine closures, and this book explores the notion of social disruption, a concept often applied to describe the effects of mine growth on communities but often neglecting the impact of mine closures. The book begins with three theoretical chapters that discuss theory, closure cost frameworks and policy development in South Africa. It uses evolutionary governance theory to show how mining creates dependencies and how mining growth often blinds communities and governments to the likelihood of closure. Too easily, mining goes ahead with no concern for the possibility, or indeed inevitability, of eventual closure and how mining communities will cope. These impacts are showcased through eight place-based case studies from across South Africa, one focusing on mine workers, to demonstrate that mine closure causes significant social disruption.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure and social impact assessments.

Sethulego Matebesi is Associate Professor and Academic Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. His previous publications include Civil Strife Against Local Governance: Dynamics of Community Protests in South Africa (2017) and Social Licensing and Mining in South Africa (Routledge, 2020).

Lochner Marais is Professor of Development Studies at the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa, and an executive editor of the newly established journal Research Directions: Mine Closure and Transitions. He is also an honorary professor at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Australia. He has published The Social Impacts of Mine Closure in South Africa: Housing Policy and Place Attachment (Routledge, 2022).

Verna Nel is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She is also qualified as a town and regional planner at Wits University, South Africa.