Cases, Comparisons and Conclusions

In today's increasingly charged political and social environment, resource governance requires a commitment at the highest corporate level to support the communities in which the companies do business, to ensure that the benefits of natural resource extraction are broadly felt and that their investments are well-served. Since the cases included in the study were existing mines, questions of tax stability and predictability mattered less. In San Marcos, for example, the closest town to the Antamina mine site, the city government received $53 million in 2012 alone; yet the town of San Marcos, with a population of 13,607, still does not have potable water, and two successive mayors have been trailed by allegations of corruption. Because of the lack of confidence in the state, mining companies like those in Peru prefer to provide direct support through their own foundations for development and social programs-effectively bypassing the local government.