South Africa's mining industry would go a long way in addressing many of the issues it faces if the relevant communities were treated as important partners by mines and accorded tangible benefits from the mines' business operations. Lucas Moalusi, director in mining and advising also traditional communities at legal firm Bell Dewar, says while some mining communities have been given a nominal stake in the mining operations, the business operations in question are not structured in a way that adequately benefit the communities.