Large-scale mines and local-level politics / Colin Filer and Pierre-Yves le Meur -- From anticipation to practice: social and economic management of the nickel plant's establishment in New Caledonia's North Province / Jean-Michel Sourisseau, Sonia Grochain and David Poithily -- Social and environmental transformations in the neighbourhood of nickel mining project: a case study from northern New Caledonia / Matthias Kowasch -- The Boakaine Mine in New Caledonia: a local development issue? / Christine Demmer -- Conflict and agreement: the politics of nickel in Thio, New Caledonia / Pierre-Yves Le Meur -- Contesting the Goro Nickel Mining Project, New Caledonia: indigenous rights, sustainable development and the land issue / Claire Levacher -- Dissecting corporate community development in the large-scale Melanesian mining sector / Glenn Banks, Dora Kuir-Ayius, David Kombako and Bill F. Sagir -- Negotiating community support for closure or continuation of the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea / Colin Filer and Phillipa Jenkins -- Disconnected development worlds: responsibility towards local communities in Papua New Guinea / John burton and Joyce Onguglo -- Gender mainstreaming and local politics: women, women's associations and mining in Lihir / Susan R. Hemer -- Migrants, labourers and landowners at the Lihir Gold Mine, Papua New Guinea / Nicholas A. Bainton -- Bougainville: origins of the conflict, and debating the future of large-scale mining / Anthony J. Regan -- Between New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea / Colin Filer and Pierre-Yves le Meur.

Despite the difference in their populations and political status, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea have comparable levels of economic dependence on the extraction and export of mineral resources. For this reason, the costs and benefits of large-scale mining projects for indigenous communities has been a major political issue in both jurisdictions, and one that has come to be negotiated through multiple channels at different levels of political organisation. The 'resource boom' that took place in the early years of the current century has only served to intensify the political contests and conflicts that surround the distribution of social, economic and environmental costs and benefits between community members and other 'stakeholders' in the large-scale mining industry. However, the mutual isolation of Anglophone and Francophone scholars has formed a barrier to systematic comparison of the relationship between large-scale mines and local-level politics in Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, despite their geographical proximity. This collection of essays represents an effort to overcome this barrier, but is also intended as a major contribution to the growth of academic and political debate about the social impact of the large-scale mining industry in Melanesia and beyond.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

880-01 Colin Filer is an Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. Pierre-Yves Le Meur is a Senior Researcher at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, France.

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