The paradox of sustainability in the extraction of ''green minerals'' from highly volatile contexts: A case study of graphite mining in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique

Abstract

The extractive industry is experiencing a revival due to the global sustainability ambitions. As the global society begins to recognise the importance and urgency of the transition to sustainability, companies are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunities that jumping on the sustainability bandwagon offers for their organisation, the society and the environment. Exemplary is the manufacturing industry that is going overboard to develop new, cleaner forms of energy sources to reap the economic benefits of this sustainability transition, as witnessed by the development and use of new technologies such as electric cars. Undeniably driven by the global sustainability ambition and the economic prospect, this development results in the opening of new frontiers of extraction aimed at supplying raw materials for these industries, also known as “green minerals”. Projects in the extractive industry are often accompanied by many negative socio-economic and environmental impacts. Regrettably, the same applies to extraction industries that are driven by the sustainability ambition. As the transition to sustainability is expected to accelerate in the coming years, it is important to understand why such projects, despite their efforts, do not succeed in materialising the intended sustainable development in the implementation of their activities. To this end, the socio-economic and environmental impacts of one of the world's largest green mineral extraction areas, that being the Syrah Resources graphite mine in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, were analysed using a qualitative case study. For this study, sustainable development is approached by taking the moral, political and ecological theoretical concepts of the Sustainable Development Imperatives model as the starting point for the analysis, i.e. how the project relates to ensuring social equality, satisfying human needs and respecting environmental limits. The findings of this thesis indicate that the sustainability paradox in the new extraction frontier of Cabo Delgado can largely be understood by factors including disparity in the interpretations of what adequate public participation entails, lack of government experience, weak enforcement of outdated legislation due to the lack of government means, wrong government priorities, discouraging government incentives, misunderstood community perceptions, misaligned and diverse local development needs among locals, market dependent cycles and deteriorating contextual phenomena.