Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning

Despite the considerable challenges posed by artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), it remains part of our lives. Conflict between ASM miners as well with large-scale mining companies, civil strife, social unrest, and corruption to mention a few problems are the order of the day in ASM. Environment...

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Main Authors: Zvarivadza, Tawanda, Nhleko, A. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.12.003
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4595
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author Zvarivadza, Tawanda
Nhleko, A. S.
author_facet Zvarivadza, Tawanda
Nhleko, A. S.
author_sort Zvarivadza, Tawanda
collection DSpace
description Despite the considerable challenges posed by artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), it remains part of our lives. Conflict between ASM miners as well with large-scale mining companies, civil strife, social unrest, and corruption to mention a few problems are the order of the day in ASM. Environmental damage and possible contribution to economic meltdown are a cause for concern. The main thrust of this paper is to discuss the challenges posed by ASM across the whole spectrum of political, social, economic, and environmental and health and safety issues. The paper also proposes some proactive and realistic approaches to resolve the challenges discussed in order to move from conflict to sustainability in mine planning. ASM is characterized by relatively uneducated and unregistered miners, and policies targeting ASM miners should be disseminated in a comprehensible manner lest such policies remain in our dreams and the policy books. Since it is the government that funds clean-up of the mess from ASM, one of the best ways to avoid this expenditure is developing cooperative approaches through different governmental instruments, persuading the ASM miners to mine responsibly. The contribution of ASM to unemployment reduction cannot be ignored, but being mainly an informal sector, it is very difficult to quantify its contribution to economic development. Capturing meaningful rent from these miners may also remain a dream if non-consultative policies are imposed on this sector. Tracing the miners can be a nightmare when reactive approaches are implemented. Large-scale mining companies, government, and civil society at large have to adopt a cooperative approach to devise sustainable, workable, and realistic ways to convert ASM miners into contributors to sustainable development.
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spelling ir-11408-45952022-06-27T13:49:06Z Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning Zvarivadza, Tawanda Nhleko, A. S. Artisanal Small-scale mining Sustainable development Mine planning Conflict resolution Despite the considerable challenges posed by artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), it remains part of our lives. Conflict between ASM miners as well with large-scale mining companies, civil strife, social unrest, and corruption to mention a few problems are the order of the day in ASM. Environmental damage and possible contribution to economic meltdown are a cause for concern. The main thrust of this paper is to discuss the challenges posed by ASM across the whole spectrum of political, social, economic, and environmental and health and safety issues. The paper also proposes some proactive and realistic approaches to resolve the challenges discussed in order to move from conflict to sustainability in mine planning. ASM is characterized by relatively uneducated and unregistered miners, and policies targeting ASM miners should be disseminated in a comprehensible manner lest such policies remain in our dreams and the policy books. Since it is the government that funds clean-up of the mess from ASM, one of the best ways to avoid this expenditure is developing cooperative approaches through different governmental instruments, persuading the ASM miners to mine responsibly. The contribution of ASM to unemployment reduction cannot be ignored, but being mainly an informal sector, it is very difficult to quantify its contribution to economic development. Capturing meaningful rent from these miners may also remain a dream if non-consultative policies are imposed on this sector. Tracing the miners can be a nightmare when reactive approaches are implemented. Large-scale mining companies, government, and civil society at large have to adopt a cooperative approach to devise sustainable, workable, and realistic ways to convert ASM miners into contributors to sustainable development. 2021-11-24T14:02:14Z 2021-11-24T14:02:14Z 2018 Article 0301-4207 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.12.003 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4595 en Resources Policy;Vol. 56: p. 78-86. open Elsevier
spellingShingle Artisanal
Small-scale mining
Sustainable development
Mine planning
Conflict resolution
Zvarivadza, Tawanda
Nhleko, A. S.
Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title_full Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title_fullStr Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title_full_unstemmed Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title_short Resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
title_sort resolving artisanal and small-scale mining challenges: moving from conflict to cooperation for sustainability in mine planning
topic Artisanal
Small-scale mining
Sustainable development
Mine planning
Conflict resolution
url https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.12.003
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4595
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AT nhlekoas resolvingartisanalandsmallscaleminingchallengesmovingfromconflicttocooperationforsustainabilityinmineplanning