Local effects, global assemblages, and assessing future impacts of an undeveloped mining project

Led by Dr Emilka Skrzypek, this project explores the role of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) review process in identifying and evaluating the impacts of the proposed Frieda River Project – one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world.

The EIS review is one of the main participatory components of a new mine approval process, and a way for indigenous communities, international observers, and others to feed into the government’s decision-making regarding new mining developments. Engaging groups and individuals who were directly involved in the EIS review process at Frieda River in PNG, his project explores diverse perceptions of the role, value and effectiveness of the EIS review; the kinds of relationships that were formed around and illuminated by the review process; and factors facilitating and restricting access to the process for different interest groups. Building on Emilka’s extensive experience of conducting research in resource exploration and extraction contexts in Melanesia, the project brings together anthropological perspectives with a study of regulatory mechanisms and geopolitics of resource extraction.

The project is funded by the Scottish Funding Council.