ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a first of its kind engagement and consultative experience that occurred in southern Venezuela in the 1990s, involving a Canadian mining company, the regional state development corporation, and local indigenous and displaced “illegal” artisanal mining communities. This resulted in the development of a unique set of mutually cooperative and supportive working relationships and benefit sharing arrangements between company and local communities. The discussion concludes by questioning whether the more top-down and formalised approaches that have emerged over the past 20 years have been able to make site-level engagement and consultation any more “meaningful” or positive for project-affected communities.
