Materialism as a theory frames the importance of property, economic power, and the presence of inequality. Marxist doctrines around exploitation weave a pattern through the theory as well as more modern theories of cultural hegemony (or "dominance") studying the phenomena of legitimacy and consent to dominate. Market-driven structures are juxtaposed and the identification of mining rights as property is highlighted. A mixture of hegemonic behaviour - commercial, legislative, and communal - opens a funnel of possibilities to generate conflicts around mining projects. This is exacerbated by the often transactional nature of agreements by mining companies to access land owned by communities. This relationship is more stable when deconstructed and remade as transformational. The wide-ranging, or pluralistic, interest in mining projects (both positive and negative) supports the study of mining through the International Relations Theory lens, and reveals the sometimes exponential growth of conflicts involving many actors with differing voices. Materialism forms part of this funnel of attention..... see our video here.