New Publication by our own SPPA Professors Jennifer Stewart, Graeme Auld, and Lisa Mills!

We’re excited to share a new publication by our own SPPA professors Jennifer Stewart, Graeme Auld, and Lisa Mills, just published in ScienceDirect!

The article, Licensing to operate: Understanding variations in regulatory outcomes in the Australian mining sector, explores how mining companies must navigate not just legal regulations, but also social and economic expectations to move forward with development. Using data from 409 mining applications in Australia between 2000 and 2020, the authors analyze how business risks—like extended review times, added conditions, or project withdrawal—are shaped by mine characteristics, land-use conflicts, political shifts, opposition movements, and market forces. They found that new projects and those requiring independent water impact assessments often experienced longer reviews. When mining overlapped with agricultural land use, delays and withdrawals were more likely. Interestingly, opposition mobilization was associated with quicker approvals, but with more conditions attached.
This study offers important insights into how different dimensions of the “licence to operate” interact in practice.

Check out here: https://lnkd.in/getJd4_3