ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a preliminary and exploratory contribution to a conceptual understanding. It seeks to locate Aboriginal-mining company agreements within a broader set of relationships between Aboriginal peoples and other elements of a liberal democratic political system within which mining projects are approved and regulated. The chapter examines how the creation of a contractual relationship through negotiation of project-based agreements between Aboriginal groups and mining companies affects the legal and political status of Aboriginal groups and the nature of their relationship with other elements of the political system. The discovery of a major mineral deposit on an Aboriginal group's land often focuses state attention on land tenure issues, in many cases in response to corporate pressure on state agencies and on political leaders to have these issues resolved as a precondition for undertaking major capital investments. The implications of a stronger state focus on resolving land tenure issues as a result of major mineral discoveries are unclear.
