Agreements between the mining  industry and Indigenous people are not creating sustainable economic  futures for Indigenous people, and this demands consideration of  alternate forms of economic engagement in order to realise such  ‘futures’. Within the context of three mining agreements in north  Australia this study considers Indigenous livelihood aspirations and  their intersection with sustainable development agendas. The three  agreements are the Yandi Land Use Agreement in the Central Pilbara in  Western Australia, the Ranger Uranium Mine Agreement in the Kakadu  region of the Northern Territory, and the Gulf Communities Agreement in  relation to the Century zinc mine in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria in  Queensland. Recent shifts in Indigenous policy in  Australia seek to de-emphasise the cultural behaviour or imperatives of  Indigenous people in undertaking economic action, in favour of a  mainstream conventional approach to economic development. Concepts of  ‘value’, ‘identity’, and ‘community’ are key elements in the tension  between culture and economics that exists in the Indigenous policy  environment. Whilst significant diversity exists within the Indigenous  polity, Indigenous aspirations for the future typically emphasise a  desire for alternate forms of economic engagement that combine elements  of the mainstream economy with the maintenance and enhancement of  Indigenous institutions and ‘livelihood’ activities. Such aspirations  reflect ongoing and dynamic responses to modernity, and typically  concern the interrelated issues of access to and management of  ‘country’, the maintenance of Indigenous institutions associated with  family and kin, access to resources such as cash and vehicles, the  establishment of robust representative organisations, and are integrally  linked to the derivation of both symbolic and economic value of  livelihood pursuits