How are indigenous and local people faring in their dealings with mining and related industries in the first part of the 21st century? The unifying experience in all the resource-rich states covered in the book is the social and economic disadvantage experienced by indigenous peoples and local communities, paradoxically surrounded by wealth-producing projects. Another critical commonality is the role of law. Where the imposition of statutory regulation is likely to result in conflict with local people, some large modern corporations have shown a preference for alternatives to repressive measures and expensive litigation. Ensuring that local people benefit economically is now a core goal for those companies that seek a social licence to operate to secure these resources. There is almost universal agreement that the best use of the financial and other benefits that flow to indigenous and local people from these projects is investment in the economic participation, education and health of present generations and accumulation of wealth for future generations. There is much hanging on the success of these strategies: it is often asserted that they will result in dramatic improvements in the status of indigenous and local communities. What happens in practice is fascinating, as the contributors to this book explain in case studies and analysis of legal and economic problems and solutions.

Introduction, Marcia Langton; PART 1:Impacts, strategies and choices: the resource extraction industry and the economic and social status of indigenous and local peoples; 1: The resource curse compared: Australian Aboriginal participation in the resource extraction industry and distribution of impacts, Marcia Langton and Odette Mazel; 2. Curse or opportunity? Mineral revenues, rent seeking and development in Aboriginal Australia, Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh; 3.Measuring indigenous outcomes from mining agreements in Australia: the role of applied demography, John Taylor; 4. Papua New Guinea: conflicts, customary landholding and resource exploitation, George Yapao, Lee Godden and Steven Pettigrove; 5. Mining companies as agents for social development: the case for more effectual corporate-community investments, Ana Maria Esteves; PART II: Agreements, taxation and natural wealth accounts: distribution, preservation and economic development: 6. Legal forms and their implications for long-term relationships and economic, cultural and social empowerment: structuring agreements in Australia, Maureen Tehan and Lee Godden; 7. Five principles for managing Timor-Leste's natural resource revenue wisely, Jen Drysdale; 8. The development forum in Papua New Guinea: evaluating outcomes for local communities, Colin Filer; 9. Tax law and policy for indigenous economic development in Australia, Miranda Stewart; 10. Native title agreements, taxation and economic development in Australia, Lisa Strelein; 11.The income tax exempt charitable structure as a vehicle for holding Australian native title interests: some lessons from New Zealand, Fiona Martin; PART III: Economic development for local and indigenous people: case studies of the dynamics among states, corporations and local communities: 12.Turning a benefit agreement into practical development: a case study of a Papua New Guinea development foundation, Tim Offor and Barbara Sharp; 13. From paternalism to partnership: the Good Neighbour Agreement and the Argyle Diamond Mine Indigenous Land Use Agreement in Western Australia, Kim Doohan, Marcia Langton and Odette Mazel; 14. Engaging communities in resource development initiatives in Timor-Leste, Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho and Lisa Palmer , 15. To be destitute or to benefit: corporate social responsibility and mining in South Africa, Henk Kloppers and Willemien Du Plessis.