The OECD provides an international forum for governments to work together and address common problems. It has established a project focused on mining regions and cities to help address regional development challenges from mining activities. The project aims to develop recommendations and share best practices between regions on issues like productivity, quality of life, and governance. Key activities include case studies of mining regions, workshops, and publications to build knowledge sharing between member countries and mining communities. The goal is to help regions better manage opportunities and impacts from their local mining industries.

1. OECD MINING REGIONS AND
CITIES PROJECT
Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions
and Cities
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development

2. • The OECD provides an international forum for governments to work together to share
experiences and seek solutions to common problems – it has 36 member countries, and
also works closely with a number of partner, accession and non-member countries
• We also work with representatives of industry and labour through advisory committees,
and are actively engaged with civil society organisations.
• A strength of the OECD is the capacity for governments to learn from each other through
peer review (whereby each country’s policy in a particular area is examined by fellow
members on an equal basis). Our work is supported by data and engagement with
stakeholders.
• The OECD is overseen by various Committees and working parties, which are made up
of delegates from member countries, and non-member countries which are also invited to
participate
• The Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) was established in 1999 and
oversees work by the OECD Secretariat in regards to policies related to regions, rural
areas and cities (see - http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/regionaldevelopment.htm)
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Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD)

3. • Issue that affects virtually all OECD member countries – mining of
minerals and metals, extraction of coal, oil and gas, and downstream
production (investment, production, and decline/ transition)
• Challenges associated with mining and extractive activities are amplified
at the local and regional scale for example conflicts with other land users,
population changes and impacts on housing markets and public services, and
structural adjustment and transition costs
• Policies related to mining tend to be shaped at the national level with a
sectoral focus - trade and fiscal settings, concession and permitting
processes, local content – integration with local and regional development
strategies can be weak
• This centralised approach makes it difficult to manage the territorial
impacts of mining, exacerbates challenges and tensions, and leads to
missed opportunities and benefits – resulting in problems such as
difficulties in securing and sustaining social license to operate
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Motivation for this work from the OECD Regional
Development Policy Committee (RDPC)

4. Summary of findings:
• Mining is spatially concentrated, often in
low density economies – linkages with local
economies vary considerably
• Strong productivity performance coupled
with volatility in growth, inequalities, and local
dutch disease effects
• Place-based approaches are needed to
address these issues – land use and
housing, supply of local skills and
competencies, and linking local SMEs to
mining value chains
• Importance of multi-level governance -
decentralisation and alignment with revenues
and institutional capacities at a sub-national
level to support integration of mining with
regional development
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Mining and extractive industries has been a topic
of interest for OECD Work

5. 5
Mining and extractive activities are spatially
concentrated
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2
3
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Locational quotient
Regional specialisation in industry* (employment), select OECD countries
Source: OECD Regional Database. *Industry category in this chart includes mining and extractive activities, energy and water. The
locational quotient (LQ) for is the ratio between the sector weight in employment for the region, and the weight of the same sector in
national employment. A value above 1 implies that the region is more specialised in that sector than the rest of the economy. LQ
scores for Sweden and Finland are 2012, and for other countries 2014.

6. 6
Coping with changes in external markets and
volatility in regional growth performance
GDP growth index, select OECD countries and regions, 2001-2014 (2001 = 100)
Source: OECD Regional Database. *25 regions across Australia, Canada, Hungary, Finland,
Sweden, the United States. Regions with a locational quotient higher than 2 were included in the
sample.
Standard deviation of
difference in GDP
growth (2001-2011) for
a larger sample of
OECD regions
specialised in mining
was 28.08 compared
to 13.08 for the
national level*.
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
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190
200
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Sweden
Norrbottens County United States Wyoming

7. Key issues Examples
Localised environmental
externalities
Impacts on water quality and availability, run-off and
emissions, dust and noise
Conflicts with other land
users
Residents, food producers, tourism operators, and Indigenous
peoples
Innovation and value-
chains
Adapting production techniques to local environment
conditions, local procurement and supply chain opportunities
Local workforce Skills mismatches, access to air services, temporary
accommodation and housing, amenities and public services
Regional infrastructure
networks
Bottlenecks in existing transport, energy and communications
networks, opportunities for investment and shared use
Mining closure and
transition
Environmental remediation, localised transition and structural
adjustment costs
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Mining is a global business and matter of national
interest – but regional and local issues matter

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Objectives of the project
1. Develop tool-box with recommendations
and global evidence for regional development in
a mining and extractives industry context for the
mining industry, national and sub-national
governments, and non-government organisations
to cooperate on addressing shared challenges.
2. Produce a series of case studies that deliver
regional specific recommendations and
implementation support, and a tool-kit
(benchmarking and guidance, indicators and
data, and best practices) to support the
implementation of better regional development
policies in a mining and extractives context
across countries
3. Develop a global platform for mining
regions and cities through events and peer-
review that enable knowledge sharing, advocacy
and dialogue between public/private sectors and
local communities on better policies to enhance
regional productivity and wellbeing.

9. Productivity, jobs and economic diversification - Policies that enable the
development of the mining industry, that support productivity and also strengthen
the supply chain linkages around mining activities and support economic
diversification efforts.
Quality of life and wellbeing - Policies that enhance quality of life and address
inclusive growth and well-being challenges that affect regions and cities with a
high degree of dependency on mining and extractive industries.
Sub-national governance and fiscal arrangements - Sub-national governance
and fiscal arrangements that address the complex relationships between national
and sub-national governments, the mining industry and community stakeholders
in relation to issues of economic development and wellbeing.
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Priority themes that will be addressed by this
project
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10. Events and Knowledge Sharing Activities :
• OECD meetings on Mining Regions and their Cities (1 to 2 per year) to discuss
OECD findings, share and identify good practices and promote knowledge-sharing
• Policy Workshops – at existing mining conferences to test analysis and
recommendations, and mobilise private sector input and support.
• OECD missions (as part of regional case studies) with peer reviewers (public and
private representatives from other mining regions and cities), experts to gather data
exchange experiences of best practices involving local stakeholders, experts and peer
reviewers
Case-Studies and Thematic Work:
• Published proceedings from these events that identify good practice actions to
enhance the productivity and wellbeing of mining regions and cities, and priority areas
for future cooperation
• Regional case studies that deliver an in-depth analysis, assessment and
recommendations of a mining region and/or city in a national and global context, and
also provide a mechanism to monitor and support implementation
• Thematic report that will synthesise analysis from across countries and develop a tool-
kit containing guidelines, indicators, and good practices about integrating mining and
extractive industries, and regional development
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Project deliverables

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Building a global community of mining regions
and cities
Events
Thematic
Work
Pilbara, Western
Australia, Australia
(June)
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Antofagasta,
Chile
Darwin, Northern
Territory, Australia
Skellefteå,
Västerbotten,
Sweden (June)
TBC – final event in
Latin America
Greater Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada
(October)
North Karelia,
Finland
Antofagasta, Chile
Other case studies
Västerbotten &
Norrbotten, Sweden
Northern Territory,
Australia
Production of final
tool-kit/ thematic
report
Thematic/ statistical pillar
Achievements so far Next steps (TBC)

12. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
CHRIS.MCDONALD@OECD.ORG
WWW.OECD.ORG/CFE/REGIONAL-POLICY/MINING-
REGIONS.HTM
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