A practice-based perspective on when social maturity lags behind technical and financial project decisions—and how this gap can affect project delivery.
Mining projects can reach advanced levels of technical and financial maturity while critical social dimensions remain insufficiently understood or integrated into decision-making. Despite decades of progress in impact assessment, this disconnect persists: social assessment may identify impacts and risks without influencing project decisions on design, alternatives, schedules, costs and feasibility.
Drawing on professional practice in land acquisition, resettlement and social risk management in Brazilian mining projects, this presentation defines the social feasibility gap as the distance between the maturity of project decisions and the maturity of the social knowledge required to support them.
Practice-based observations reveal recurring exposure: incomplete understanding of social context and cumulative impacts; insufficient assessment of alternatives and resettlement solutions; late integration of social risks into project planning; underestimation of implementation time and resources; and weak links between assessment findings and strategic decisions.
Rather than proposing another assessment tool, the paper argues for a shift in how existing social knowledge is used. Social considerations should inform project choices earlier and with relevance comparable to technical, environmental and financial factors.
Looking back, progress should be measured not only by assessment quality, but by the capacity to influence decisions. Closing this gap can strengthen project feasibility, improve social outcomes and support more responsible mining development.
Kerlley is a mining ESG specialist with 16+ years of experience in social performance, resettlement, social risk management and international social standards.