The costs and benefits of large-scale mining to local communities and the evolution of the relationship between mining companies and communities is a subject that has become important in countries spanning the globe. To date, however, it is also a subject on which there has been a dearth of comprehensive research. In a context in which this relationship is changing rapidly —albeit unevenly and unsystematically —the need to develop tools that will allow the assessment of the impact of different approaches to this relationship has become paramount.  To address this need, a..