The relationship between sustainable development objectives and mining activity

Abstract

This article reflects on the potential of the mining industry to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) into its management, in addition to considering the negative impacts that this industry has on the environment and assesses how they can be incorporated into mining activity. This process begins by analyzing the singularities of the concept of sustainable development proposed in the "Our Common Future" report, which highlights the need to conceptualize it for mining, looking for the points of coincidence that mining has with the SDG, which open up a real space for community interaction between mining companies and society, in which it is possible to create conditions for the emergence of alternative economic activities to the closure of mines. The aim of this article is to analyses the relationship between the SDG and mining as a way of visualizing the real possibility that mining can contribute to the fulfilment of these goals through compensation that facilitates the emergence of alternative economic activities to mine closure. The literature review is based on classic documents on sustainable development, those specific to the SDG and those specific to mining. As a result, it is hoped to produce a study that will serve as a reference for drawing up sustainability policies in mining areas.