Assessing the impact of mining on Indigenous well-being: A case study from the Northern Territory, Australia

Trade-offs between the economic benefits of mining and the loss of ecosystem services (ES) with profound implications for Indigenous well-being remain poorly understood at the global scale. While mining operations are designed to generate economic development and employment opportunities, research examining how these intended benefits compare to culturally significant ES losses remains limited. Using thematic analysis of focus group discussions with Indigenous peoples affected by large-scale zinc-lead-silver extraction in northern Australia, this study identified 14 ES, 4 provisioning and 10 cultural, crucial to Indigenous well-being across the mining landscape. The research reveals four universal constituents of Indigenous well-being: healthy Country (Indigenous state), social cohesion, cultural practices, and spiritual connections, all of which are significantly impacted by extractive operations. Participants reported mining-induced disappearance of three out of four provisioning ES and six out of ten cultural ES due to pollution, sacred site damage, wildlife decline, and restricted territorial access. Despite mining’s intended economic contributions, limited local benefits reached Indigenous communities, while ES losses profoundly impacted well-being across physical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. These findings demonstrate systematic asymmetries between promised economic development and actual Indigenous outcomes,a pattern documented across global mining contexts. The four-pillar Indigenous well-being conceptual model provides a replicable methodology for assessing mining trade-offs in diverse Indigenous contexts. Results recommend integrating Indigenous well-being constituents and ES approaches into environmental impact assessments and mining policies globally, establishing benefit-sharing mechanisms that ensure Indigenous communities receive equitable compensation for ES and well-being losses, and developing co-management frameworks that balance economic development with cultural and environmental protection. These findings contribute to international discussions on Indigenous rights and aspirations in relation to extractive industries, providing evidence-based approaches for more equitable mining governance that are applicable across diverse global mining contexts.