The 60-page publication Maori and Mining covered myriad guides about resource extraction issues, from the controversial fracking method of releasing oil and deposits to Treaty rights, wider environmental issues and Maori values in mining, co-author Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl said.
''The book looks at Maori values, drawing from Maori resource management plans and other source documents.
''The legal context of mining as it affects Maori is examined, as is mining's economic merits,'' Dr Ruckstuhl said.
Recent reports in the ODT on oil and gas exploration and production in Taranaki and Glass Earth Gold exploration have reflected how iwi consultation is becoming a larger part of resource consent applications, in not only access agreements but in considering land use.
Dr Ruckstuhl said the book also looked at the environmental aspects of mining - including both good and poor practices - and raised the issue of global climate change.
While mining was not a new debate, Dr Ruckstuhl said the nine contributing authors were aware that before their book there was no resource allowing whanau, hapu or iwi to assess ''the often bewildering and sometimes contradictory'' information available to make informed decisions.
''Maori in Mining is a comprehensive yet easily accessible publication which includes a brief survey in the inter-related and complex issues that make up the mining debate in Aotearoa,'' she said.
Maori had responded to mining's issues in three ways; as an economic opportunity, if there are environmental safeguards, as a discussion on Treaty rights and as an environmental issue.
Two examples are given of northern Maori benefitting by $50 million from their ironsand leases since 1972, and Ngai Tahu seeking economic benefits from pounamu in the South Island.
However, Te Whanau a Apanui protested against Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and initiated a High Court challenge in 2012 on Treaty and environmental grounds.
''This history should be borne in mind when considering the new challenges Maori face in responding to government and companies' consultation requests to explore and extract mineral resources in traditional tribal rohe,'' the book said.
The book notes Maori collectives are being asked to develop positions on mining using existing processes and approaches.
''Meanwhile, individual whanau are expressing their viewpoints, sometime in contradiction to their own iwi,'' the book said.
The ''social licence'' of mining activity remains contested in many areas and Maori organisations, such as the Iwi Leaders Group, have called for further examination of natural resource exploitation.
''If Maori are to benefit from mining, as owners, partners, licencees, employers or workers, then there needs to be far more certainty about how such a social licence might be gained,'' one of the book's conclusions suggests.
The book's five chapters examine the process of mining, values, minerals law and Maori, the economics of mining for Maori and the environmental impacts of mining, plus identifying many of the largest mining operations.
• The book's launch will start at 5.30pm today at the School of Business, with guests Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei and Dunedin North Labour MP David Clark.
