Thursday, August 28, 2014

BOOM BUST MINING TOWNS in the PILBARA

3 MINUTE THESIS Presentation

12 Noon, Tues. 14th Oct. 2014 in Princeton Room

Brent J McKenna, PhD Candidate, FSD, Bond Uni., GOLD COAST, QLD.

Supervisors: Dr. Daryl McPhee (Associate Dean of Research) & Dr. Bhishna Bajracharya

https://twitter.com/BrentJMcKenna


Short Title: BOOM BUST MINING TOWNS: “Stay Put” Communities or More Ghost Towns & “Throw Away” Cities


Thesis Title: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Boom Bust Impacts on a Set of Pilbara-Based Mining Towns: towards addressing the strategic policy management problem of developing mining communities and their sustainability


My PhD is about  remote mining communities in the multi-billion dollar resources industry that has had bigger Booms and Busts  ever since the Gold Rush.

My research area is Australia’s most productive mining region where: Families are building Dream Homes and Billions are being spent on infrastructure.

In these remote communities Booms and Busts occur as commodity prices rise or fall and that means the communities face severe impacts beyond those in more visible communities.

Consequently, it is my view that if we know more about the difficulties and seek to improve the management of major projects, we will reduce stress in these communities and increase serious commitment to “Sustainable Development”.

My Action Research process includes measuring Boom Bust impacts on “community well-being” and finding out how long mining will last to encourage:
  • Residents to talk about “community sustainability” and
  • Policy Makers to talk about “industry development” to capitalise on our investments.
So far, Geoscience Australia has provided the data needed to calculate the end of mining projects that will help in conversations about preventing mining towns becoming Ghost Towns.

Another Ally is the Intl. Council on Mining & Metals which is also concerned about the predictable demise of mining towns, so they’re offering assistance in preventing the Resource Curse suffered by countries who fail to plan before resources are mined out.

My thesis is therefore an evolving critique on resources industry policy complemented by measuring indicators of well-being in remote communities AND identifying REAL prospects for sustainable development rather than pretending sustainababble achieves sustainability.

And Now for the Good News! My research will propose a “How to” strategic management framework for mining towns that includes:
  •  Adopting Sustainable Development Plans and monitoring progress;
  •  Establishing purposeful investment funds from “one-off” mining taxes;
  •  Engaging with communities to plan transitions and
  •  Assisting families who choose to “stay put”.
In Summing Up; Traditional Research would probably call Resources Industry failures “Throw-Away Cities” whereas my thesis will  Baseline Boom-Bust impacts in the Pilbara according to the NEW Science of Sustainability.  

Wouldn’t it be great if we invested in sustainable industries from mining taxes before mining ends? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to save public mining towns rather than writing them ALL off as another multi-billion dollar government mistake



No comments:

Post a Comment