“The Indigenous Exchange Forum: transitions in mine closure” was held on 2–3 November 2021 over Zoom, hosted by the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) in the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), at The University of Queensland.
The Forum aimed to affirm, connect, and elevate the voices of First Nations leaders and interested community members impacted by mining and mine closure. In doing so, we hoped to begin to build an international network across these Indigenous communities, to enable the sharing of experiences, struggles, and sentiments in relation to mine site transition and mine-related impacts on their lands.
The intent was to recognise each other’s unique cultural position and the impact of mining and mine closure through lessons learned: first with each other and then with industry.
The Forum had a strong foundation of reciprocity. The objective was:
- To provide an independent and culturally safe space to facilitate the connection between First Nations peoples, whose customary lands have been impacted by mining.
- To position First Nations voices individually and collectively in a shared learning journey full of experiences and lessons learned through online network exchange.
- To facilitate knowledge exchange and elevate the connectivity between Canadian, Australian, and Aotearoa (New Zealand) First Nations regarding impacts, issues, and innovative ideas and practices in response to mine site transitions and mine closure.
Holcombe, S., Elliott, V., Keeling, A., Berryman, M., Hall, R., Ngaamo, R., Beckett, C., Moon, W., Hudson, M., Kusabs, N. and Ross River Lands Office. 2022. Indigenous Exchange Forum: Transitions in mine closure. St Lucia: Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, University of Queensland.