In the sparsely populated northern areas of Australia, Sweden, and Canada, the physical distance between Indigenous communities, governments and companies makes it difficult to adapt mining project agreements as characteristics and interests of each actor change over time. This project will look at the experiences of a variety of northern communities who have been involved in the full life cycle of mining projects. We are interested in how relationships between actors change as projects proceed, and what mechanisms are available to communities to ensure that their needs and interests continue to be taken into account. We have a particular focus on communities which have experienced the end of a mining project, or who have been subject to the coming and going of projects over time. The project design reflects the diversity of ‘Indigenous communities’ and of mining projects, involving large and small communities, relatively homogenous and quite diverse communities, and large and small mining projects. The role of the provincial government in negotiating is of particular concern because they have dual interests of economic development and community advocacy, and are usually physically distant from the community, the mining company, the national government, and other stakeholders. Australia, Sweden and Canada have different forms of provincial government, and different organisation and structures of Indigenous communities. Our aim, therefore, is to find out whether there are ‘key lessons’ in how to manage relationships over the mining life cycle that can be shared despite these differences.