The article discusses the theme of social licensing of the resource extraction companies. Its purpose is to explore the concept of social license to operate (SLO) from the point of view of expediency of its application as a new tool for municipal development in Russia, and describes the SLO concept that implies the acquiring of local communities’ consent for the operation of the companies. We present causes which determined the emergence of the concept and the reasons for its growing popularity throughout the world. To find out whether the elements of social licensing are present in Russia, results of the case study research of the two mining companies operating in Murmansk region are presented. Data for the study have been obtained from scientific literature, media sources and through interviews conducted by the authors.

It is revealed that the SLO concept is not familiar to the companies and the communities studied. However, elements of the social licensing have been found, and the SLO levels for the companies have been estimated. We come to the conclusion that practical use of the concept in Russia is expedient, since it could benefit both companies and local communities. The SLO concept can serve as a new governance instrument for municipal development working on the basis of establishing trustful cooperation between companies and host communities.

The paper is the outcome of the authors’ participation in the international research project “Sustainable mining, local communities and environmental regulation in the Kolarctic area” (SUMILCERE, KO 554, 2013–2014, within the Kolarctic European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument of the Cross-Border Cooperation Program ).