The assessment of new mining projects in Thailand

Mining is an anthropogenic activity that creates both positive and negative impacts on society and the environment. Governmental authorities play an important role in managing mining activities throughout a project's life cycle. The concession granting process is a common mechanism applied at the early stage of every mining project to regulate and balance the positive and negative results. Inefficient decision-making in this process can lead to short- and long-term problems with extensive negative impacts. Thus, governments need to evaluate and ensure that a new mining project is worth developing before approving it. This study develops an assessment framework that will provide information for the Thai government for a better decision-making performance in relation to the development of new mining projects. The development of this assessment framework is based on Buddhist principles, which are the foundation of Thai values and national policies. It will help identify and overcome the weaknesses of the current assessment approaches which are driven by an emphasis on self-interest and the influence of reductionism within the concept of sustainable development. The assessment framework considers the necessity of mining projects and the negative impacts of these projects, each of which is determined by a set of key risks and anticipated impacts of the proposed projects on the main stakeholders arranged in a hierarchy. The project’s worthiness is presented as a development priority. The case of underground potash mining in Bamnet Narong, Thailand is used as an example for the application of the new assessment framework. The assessment results confirm the applicability of the framework and provide information that can support decision-making during the approval process. They can also be used by the Thai authorities as well as by investors in order to manage the risks and impacts of projects at later stages