Public comment evaluation with large language models as a window into pathways towards social license to operate for mining companies

The transition to green energy is causing rising demand for critical minerals and expanded mining. While mines must obtain permits from local authorities, they must also achieve a social license to operate in their communities. With this relationship in place, project delays from community 2 opposition are less likely to delay mining projects and communities are likely to be more satisfied with mining projects. Herein, we use public comments about projects in the U.S. and Chile as a data source and propose a modelling framework that combines sentiment analysis to characterize overall public attitudes with topic modelling to identify and rank the mining impacts of greatest public concern. The proposed approach facilitates standardized assessment of public sentiment about mining across multiple cultural contexts and supports more rapid responses to public feedback.