Planning and approval processes (PAAPs) too often exclude communities from the forums in which decisions that directly affect them are made. Industries involved in renewable energy and natural resource developments have well-established, organised and powerful interest groups and lobbying capacities, yet few communities have the resources and political leverage to influence the process in any meaningful way. As a result, administrative decisions and environmental regulations are being drafted and approved with little or no consideration to the broad impacts they have on rural landholders, nor the type and level of participation that would give stakeholders a true sense inclusion, ownership and commitment to a decision. It is becoming increasingly evident that obtaining a formal licence to operate from governments and complying with regulatory requirements is not enough to avoid costly conflicts down the road (Moffat and Zhang, 2013). CITATION:Castilla-Rho, J C, Dupen, P, Kennewell, D and Nelson, R L, 2019. The social licence pathway towards a collaborative planning and approval process for the digital age, in Proceedings 9th International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry, pp 9498 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).