France has a long history in mining and, to a lesser extent, in hydrocarbon extraction, but these industries were both in decline by the end of the 20 th century. Following the American shale boom in the 2000's, there was a sudden renewal of hydrocarbon exploration in 2010 with new exploration licenses being delivered for unconventional oil and gas projects. These projects first remained confined to specialists of such industries until the end of 2010, when a massive social movement opposed shale gas exploration. This paper aims at drawing a picture of this social movement and its narrative work to obtain the ban on hydraulic fracturing by the French government in 2011. We show that i) public and political perceptions of unconventional gas in general were built mostly during the sudden burst of mobilization in late 2010, with the opponent's narratives encountering almost no resistance, ii) previous knowledge and experience with extractive industries in some areas of France facilitates social license there, but it does not guarantee the development of the industry, iii) the controversy about hydraulic fracturing participated to shape negative perception about extractive industries in France in general, including ore mining.

Cet article expose une controverse au cours de laquelle une nouvelle catégorie d’acteurs, se définissant comme autochtones et environnementalistes, s’est instaurée suite à un conflit minier en Province-Sud de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Le texte revient sur la façon dont des associations écologistes ont fait cause commune avec des populations locales kanak pour lutter contre le projet minier de Goro-Nickel, créant ainsi une forme de mobilisation nouvelle sur le territoire et participant à la définition de nouveaux espaces politiques et scientifiques.

Le renouveau minier français fait intervenir des acteurs nouveaux en France métropolitaine, les juniors d’exploration minière, dont l’organisation économique est proche des start-up. Celles-ci doivent lever des fonds avant de pouvoir faire aboutir leurs coûteux projets d’explorations minières. Cet article étudie le travail réalisé par ces acteurs privés pour convaincre différents publics de la rentabilité et de l’intérêt futurs de développements miniers. Nous parlons d’ingénierie de la promesse pour qualifier cette activité. Les projets miniers suscitent de nombreuses controverses dans les territoires concernés. Pour les comprendre, l’article analyse les tensions entre les promesses que les compagnies formulent à un public d’investisseurs potentiels et celles adressées aux populations vivant à proximité des projets d’exploration.

This paper analyses promises made by companies to various publics, including global investors, national public administrative bodies, and local populations. We speak of 'promise engineering' to describe both the integration of the making of promises in mining exploration operations, and the attempted articulation of promises made to different publics with different concerns. We focus on the French 'mining revival', which prompted exploration projects that became controversial, and integrated a government-led approach meant to introduce an objective of 'responsibility' in mining operations. Mining junior companies attempted to make promises that were both technical and social, while responsibility proved consistent with the crucial role of financial investment. We show that promise engineering offers an analytical lens for studying anticipation practices in industrial projects and the opposition these projects face.