Isoman copper mine (hypothetical case study)/Isoman copper mine stakeholders

Think about the perspectives of each stakeholder and summarise their opinion on the issue. You can use the following examples as an inspiration to help you think of other perspectives:

• viewpoint of the Minister of Minerals and Energy:

You are the Minister responsible for using mining licences. Copper Pacific is applying for a licence to mine the Isoman Copper deposit.

Isoman province has been notorious to your political party as it is a very strong nationalist area. You are mindful of the next general election. You want your party to win the Isoman seats so your decision will be critical to their return to parliament.

The priority of your government is economic development and the income from the copper mine will certainly boost the economy of the country.

However, you are also mindful of the harmful effect of the mine on the environment.

• viewpoint of the Isoman landowners

Isoman land-owners claim that their province has been the most neglected part of the country. There is very little economic development taking place in Isoman. The roads are bad; some villages can only be reached by horseback and the people still depend on root crops and yaqona for their income.

The people feel that the government has neglected them for too long. Since the closing of the banana industry several years back, nothing in particular has been introduced to the province except for a few fish ponds, beef farming through Government loans and a dwindling cocoa industry.

Opening the Isoman Copper Mine will be good for the local community as it will accelerate economic development and will help Isoman contribute positively to the achievement of national economic goals.

• viewpoint of the Environwatch conservation group

You are the elected leader of the Environwatch conservation group and you do not want the Minister to grant the licence.

You believe that there is not enough information available to gauge the environmental impact of the mine.

This could be used as a delaying tactic. A time frame of five years will be needed to get all the information.

Copper Pacific might lose interest as a result and hopefully, in the meantime, a new government will be elected that might decide against the opening of the copper mine.