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Hilson, Gavin --- "‘A Conflict of Interest’? A Critical Examination of Artisanal/Large-scale Miner Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa" [2011] ELECD 406; in Botchway, N. Francis (ed), "Natural Resource Investment and Africa’s Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Natural Resource Investment and Africa’s Development

Editor(s): Botchway, N. Francis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446793

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: ‘A Conflict of Interest’? A Critical Examination of Artisanal/Large-scale Miner Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author(s): Hilson, Gavin

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

5. `A conflict of interest'? A critical
examination of artisanal/large-scale
miner relations in sub-Saharan Africa
Gavin Hilson

1 INTRODUCTION

Over the past two decades, multinational mining companies headquar-
tered in Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia have estab-
lished and/or expanded several operations across the region, lured by
generous investment incentives offered by host governments desperate to
revive slumping economies. At the same time, indigenously supported,
labour-intensive artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)1 ­ particularly
activities emphasizing the extraction and processing of gold ­ has also
expanded, in the process intensifying competition for increasingly scarce
mineralized lands. With few exceptions, however, the needs of artisanal
gold miners have been, and continue to be, overlooked in favour of those
of large-scale gold mine operators. The latter comprise an industry which
is backed by billions of dollars in foreign investment and receives addi-
tional support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the
private finance arm of the World Bank.2 The region's artisanal gold miners
have struggled to secure licences to work what little viable land remains;
desperate to generate an income, many have resorted to encroaching on
to sections of concessions that have been demarcated to large-scale mine
operators,3 which in some cases has led to violent confrontation.
The recent and rapid proliferation of so-called `illegal' artisanal gold
mining has caught the attention of donors, large-scale miners currently
operating across sub-Saharan Africa and prospective foreign investors.
Over the past ...