Applying grey clustering and Shannon entropy to assess social impact from lithium mining project

The social aspect has become a key factor in the viability of mining projects in Latin America, and Peru is no exception. In this work, we implemented a methodology called the Integration of the grey clustering and entropy-weight method (IGCEW) which aims to determine social impact and assess potential environmental conflicts. The case study examined a mining project in southern Peru where four stakeholder groups and seven criteria were identified. The results revealed that for the local government and business groups, the project would have a positive and normal social impact, respectively. While for the community authorities and alpaca herders groups, the impact would be negative. In addition, it was also determined that the criterion most likely to generate environmental conflicts was Employment rate. These findings could help the central and regional government of Peru to seek appropriate measures to prevent environmental conflicts during the implementation of the mining project.

I. Introduction

Human activities, by their interactive nature, generate differences or contrapositions, which sometimes can induce conflicts between groups of people who participate in it directly or indirectly. For this reason, political tools are needed in which the government, companies, and citizens have the capacity to make effective agreements that allow them to profit collectively [1] [2] . Thus the interests of business, communities, government, urban populations, and civil society organizations must be aligned [3] . One of the indispensable activities in the world economy is mining since, at present, “mining companies find themselves at the very core of some of the most significant real world development debates of the moment” according to [3] [4] . The type of conflict that occurs mostly in Peru is environmental, with a percentage of 65.7% recorded as of June of 2019 (117 cases out of 178) [5] .