Large and/or multiple mining operations generate opportunities for and challenges to the communities in which they operate—influencing the lives of workers, workers’ families, mining communities, rural communities, Indigenous communities and the wider region. Change can occur on many levels—economic, social, environmental, individual and so on. Mining activity commonly boosts the economic growth of regions, builds the capacity of local communities through vocational training and employment, and adds much-needed infrastructure to underserviced towns in remote areas. Conversely, mining workforce ‘in-migrations’ can alter the social identity of local towns, cause housing shortages, particularly for low-income and Indigenous groups, and place pressure on often already under-resourced local services. Features of the mine, the community and the external environment contribute to how a community might be affected by mining activity. Mining operations have a life cycle: at each stage, factors such as workforce numbers, work tasks, the locality of tasks and the use of equipment differ. Figure 1.1 highlights the confluence of the life-of-mine and life-of-community to prompt further insight into how the different mining stages might differentially affect the various social groups of neighbouring communities and regions. A mining company that has not taken constructive action to close a mine can potentially leave a negative environmental legacy that affects the health and safety of the continuum of groups in the life of the community. As the model suggests, exposure can occur through environmental, social and economic channels. Spills from abandoned mine pits can result in the discharge of acid and heavy metals into river catchments, seas and oceans—damaging the livelihood and health of local farmers as well as fishermen in coastal regions.