Lost in the dust
Institutional perspective of the mining disasters and surrounding communities in environments with institutional voids
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13069600 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cinara Gambirage (0000-0002-8166-1171, University of Groningen, corresponding author), Jaison Caetano Da Silva (0000-0001-8516-5821, Fundação Getulio Vargas), Carmem Pires Migueles (0000-0002-3003-3714, Fundação Getulio Vargas), Marco Tulio Fundão Zanini (0000-0002-2653-7151, Fundação Getulio Vargas) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Pages | 101655-101655 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Extractive Industries and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2214-790X • E-ISSN: 2214-7918 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101655 |
| OpenAlex | W4408956072 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 65 |
Institutional voids allow inadequate risk management in mining operations. • Mariana and Brumadinho disasters reveal critical systemic failures. • Surrounding communities faces insecurity due to lack of clear information. • The mining company's information manipulation contrasts with its safety claims. • Regulatory reforms are urgent to strengthen safety and oversight. Although scholars have dedicated their efforts to analyzing technical risks in the extractive industry and a body of research has generated impressive insights into these risks, continued tailings dam disasters suggest critical aspects are being disregarded and there are significant gaps that need filling. In this study, we attempt to progress our understanding of how institutional voids affect the way in which mining firms manage the risk of tailings dam failures and the resulting impacts on surrounding communities. Considering the context of a traditional and key mining producer globally, we examined the two largest tailings dam failures in the history of the mining industry and their impact on a community located near where the two spills occurred, which is now facing the imminent risk of two further tailings dam failures upstream of the village. We adopted a triangulated approach and performed an extensive document analysis of dam failures and, 209 interviews, over two years, with subgroups of local people and related actors
Business · Economic geography · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Perspective (graphical · Environmental Science · Mining and Resource Management · Public Procurement and Policy · Tailings Management and Properties
Corporate Social Responsibility in the extractive industries
Institutional Theory in the Study of Multinational Corporations
Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids
Building Inclusive Markets in Rural Bangladesh
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Antecedents of corporate misconduct
Ethnography
Mining and community relations
Environmental impacts of mining in Brazil and the environmental licensing process
Mining dam failure
The Rio Doce mining disaster
Unearthing power
Mapping industrial disaster recovery
Managing risk through dependency
Qualitative Case Study Methodology
The Iron Cage Revisited
Beyond "Socially Constructed" Disasters
Institutionalized Organizations
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |