The valuation of a mine – values, facts and contested notions of sustainability in the prospecting for new mines

ABSTRACT

With the current technology-based transition strategy, prospecting for new mines has increased, and the extractive damage involved in mining is justified as a means of protecting the climate. The mining permit process involves fundamental trade-offs between values and goals (environmental, social, and economic) relating to global security and local livelihoods, as well as conflicting understandings of sustainability. These value conflicts and dilemmas lie at the heart of sustainable transformation. Drawing on pragmatic sociology and the orders of worth established by Boltanski and Thévenot, this paper illustrates that competing standpoints claim legitimacy by referring to different modes of judging what is good, right, and sustainable. The analysis shows that institutionalized ideals about legitimate forms of proof constrain and limit the possible ways of justifying a position, and this shapes the way nature is valued, as well as how contestation is formulated. When critics adopt legitimate forms of justification, they might win the case, but at the same time, strengthen the dominance of specific ways of ascribing value. The paper concludes that active engagement with diverging ways of ascribing worth, and thus different forms of proof, may enable governance that leads to more just and sustainable futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Valuation
• environmental values
• justification
• mining
• transformation
• orders of worth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical review and approval were not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the national legislation and institutional requirements (according to Swedish legislation, ethical review is only demanded for studies involving personal sensitive information. This interview study concerns informant interviews with professions (public officials) and does not cover any personal sensitive information). Oral informed consent for participation and recording was acquired, in accordance with the national legislation and institutional requirements.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas.

Notes on contributors

Monika Berg

Monika Berg is associate professor in sociology and research leader of the Environmental Sociology Section at Örebro University Sweden. Her research examines the interrelationship between science and policy, values and facts, and explores its relation to democratic values and green transformation.