The Impact of Mining Expenditure on Remote Communities in Australia: The Ranger Uranium Mine and the Tanami Gold Mine in the Northern Territory

Abstract

While the recent mining boom has been widely addressed in the literature, to date little effort has been devoted to assessing how the returns from mining spatially affect local and remote communities. Given the paucity of adequate data at the local and remote levels, in this article we adopt a factor share approach and find that mining companies in the Northern Territory provide benefits to local communities through their employment of land, labour and capital which translate into expenditure and essential services for the local economy. Moreover, mining companies assist remote communities to develop a social network with external parties which can assist in building enduring value.