FPIC and the Social License to Operate: Project Risk in the Critical Minerals Era

Roughly half of identified critical-mineral projects sit on or near Indigenous peoples' territories, making consent a first-order factor in project delivery rather than a reputational afterthought. This report sets out the legal architecture governing free, prior, and informed consent under UNDRIP and ILO 169, maps the gap between international standards and domestic permitting law across major mining jurisdictions, and quantifies the schedule and capital exposure when consent is absent or contested. Flashpoints include the Oak Flat transfer to Resolution Copper, Thacker Pass lithium in Nevada, and the Jabiluka uranium lease in Australia. It also assesses the shift in impact-benefit agreements toward equity, royalties, and enforceable veto provisions, and what that means for project financing.