The construction industry in the United States started to develop 'partnering' as an approach to project mangement in the 1980s.  The UK followed in the early 1990s.  The use of Tri-sector Partnering as a tool to mange social issues in the extractive industries is more recent, the first systematic piloting being that undertaken through the Business Partners for Development programme.  With references to case-examples this paper examines the lessons to be learned for Tri-sector Partnering from the more established discipline of Project Partnering.