Assessing the Social and Economic Impacts of Coal Mining on Communities in the Bowen Basin: Summary and Recommendations

The broad aim of this project was to assist coal mining companies develop effective processes for engaging with their communities and developing impact assessment and planning processes that can be agreed by their stakeholders. The focus of the project has been in three key areas:

(a) demonstrating that assessment of social and economic impacts can occur at any stage during the life of mine operations,

(b) developing new tools for the assessment of social and economic impacts, and

(c) comparing the impacts from mining between mining-focus and rural-focus towns.

The use of four different impact assessment tools has been demonstrated in two case study applications in this project. One case study has focused on assessing the impacts of mining on Blackwater, a predominantly mining service town. The other case study has focused on assessing the impacts of mining on the Bauhinia Shire, a predominantly agricultural shire where mining activities are just starting up. Each case study involved the application of stakeholder analysis, input output modelling, choice modelling and experimental workshop assessment tools.