Invisibility and the extractive-pandemic nexus

Area of Science:

• Socio-economic impacts of global events
• Corporate social responsibility in resource extraction

Background:

• The Covid-19 pandemic is reshaping the global economy.
• Mining companies are publicly portrayed as stabilizing economic forces.
• Headline narratives often obscure local operational realities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the narrative of mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• To highlight the invisibility of company-community interface issues to external audiences.
• To underscore the need for scholarship on mining dynamics in the Covid-19 era.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of public narratives and company reports.
• Examination of company-community interactions under travel restrictions.
• Historical contextualization of current mining practices.

Main Results:

• Public narratives of mining companies as economic stabilizers mask complex local issues.
• Travel restrictions exacerbate the lack of visibility into company-community relations.
• The pandemic's long-term effects on mining communities require in-depth study.

Conclusions:

• The dominant narrative surrounding mining during Covid-19 is incomplete.
• Understanding local impacts requires looking beyond surface-level economic contributions.
• Historical and contextualized research is crucial for grasping the full scope of mining's role in the pandemic.