New report on small-scale mining

A new report has expressed optimism for the future of artisanal and small-scale mining, saying the sector could be a major source of sustainable livelihoods for millions of marginalised people.


Released by London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the report said artisanal/small-scale mining is a sector that governments and development agencies often see mainly as a problem.

“The sector is a paradox: productive but undervalued, conspicuous yet overlooked, and ‘small-scale’ but economically and socially significant,” it said.

Titled “Responding to the Challenge of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining”, the report aims to help policymakers ensure small-scale mining improves living conditions and preserves local environments.

It said small-scale mining produces about 85 percent of the world’s gemstones and 20-25 percent of all the gold. It also provides jobs and incomes for 20 to 30 million of the world’s poorest people, and supports the livelihoods of five times that number.

The report pointed out that artisanal/small-scale mining employs 10 times more people than large-scale mining. But it takes place in very remote areas, usually involves poor and vulnerable people -- including women and children -- and is renowned for severe pollution and harsh working conditions.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the workforce in small-scale gold mines in Africa is comprised of 30-50 percent children below 18 years. Due to the poverty, parents even encourage their children to work in the mines so they can buy food and clothes.

Examples like this moved IIED researchers to create a plan that helps connect stakeholders, including miners and their communities, to ensure that better quality information is generated and used effectively in policymaking at local, corporate, national and international levels.

“Small-scale and artisanal mines can be a force for good, just as small-scale forestry and agriculture are -- but right now they operate in a hidden world,” said Sarah Best, Interim Programme Lead, Artisanal Small-scale Mining (ASM) Knowledge Programme, IIED.

“We want to identify ways to overcome the challenges -- in information, investment and institutions -- that prevent small-scale mining from realising its potential to contribute to sustainable development.”

Best explained that development agencies and national authorities have historically given little attention to the sector and, especially, to how it could be a sustainable activity. Instead, they focus on large-scale mining.

As a result Government policies are often poorly-designed or implemented, or even repressive, while miners themselves lack access to the rights, financial services, market information and technology they need, the study said.

“Most small miners are often driven to operate illegally -- and it is this illegality that has biased attitudes about the whole sector.”

The new programme, said the IIED, will seek to address some of the underlying and ongoing challenges to ensure progress over the next 10 years.

Estimates of artisanal and small-scale miners vary from 20 to 30 million. The last official figures were 10 million, including up to 50 percent women and 10 percent children, estimated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1999.

Over the past 10 years the numbers have increased dramatically, driven by a host of factors including increasing gold prices -- which rocketed from US$290/ounce in October 2001 to US$1,740/ounce in October 2011.

Overall, artisanal and small-scale mining contributes 15–20 percent of global minerals and metals. Within this, the sector produces approximately 80 percent of all sapphires, 20 percent of all gold and up to 20 percent of diamonds.

Artisanal/small-scale mining is present in over 80 countries and is the dominant livelihood in some. In the Central African Republic two-thirds of people are estimated to rely directly or indirectly on artisanal diamond mining, and conservative estimates suggest it injects as much as US$144.7million into the economy.

In Bolivia, mining makes up approximately 40 percent of current income from exports, 32 percent of which comes from ASM, with 85 percent of the mining sector’s total employment in small-mining cooperatives and mines.

In Mongolia, local economies near mining areas are worth an estimated US$505million annually.