Artisanat minier, un filon pour le développement agricole
Artisanal and small-scale mining has experienced significant growth worldwide since the 2000s. It is often perceived as negative for agriculture and pastoralism. However, mining and agriculture have a complex relationship. The growth of these mines is both the consequence of significant rural poverty and can also be a real lever for agricultural financing and territorial development. A research team is taking stock of the subject for the FARM Foundation.
Artisanal mining can contribute to agricultural development[1]. Given the widely documented environmental, health, and social impacts of mining activities, this assertion may be open to criticism. However, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) also contributes to a distribution of wealth that can meet the demand for jobs in a context of population growth and can contribute to agricultural financing. This observation, however, calls for appropriate supporting public policies.
Presents in more than 80 countries, EMAPE is a booming economic activity in the SouthIn twenty years, the number of workers directly involved in artisanal mining, particularly young rural people looking for work, has tripled to reach almost 45 million people worldwide[2]Nearly a third of them work in artisanal gold mining. Hundreds of millions of people live directly or indirectly from the income from artisanal mines. In some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 10% of the population is dependent on this economic sector.[3].
EMAPE provides a variety of products that integrate globalized sectors : metals, precious stones, industrial minerals… Some of these minerals are considered as critical for the energy and digital transition[4], but the artisanal component of their production is rarely understood. Artisanal mining also plays a major role in the extraction of " development minerals » (industrial and construction minerals: sand, earth, stones, etc.).
Artisanal mining provides a significant share of the global production of certain minerals: 80 % of sapphire production, 20 % of diamonds, 26 % of tantalum, 20 % of gold. In 2022, artisanal gold production in sub-Saharan Africa reached between 443 and 596 tonnes, more than half of the gold mined on the continent and almost a sixth of global production.[5].
The recent rise of ASGM is ffueled by the significant increase in the price of minerals since the 2000s driven by global economic growth and increased demand. For example, between 1990 and 2018, the current price of silver increased by 226 %, cobalt by 251 %, tungsten by 441 %[6]. Safe haven and support for speculation in a period marked by the multiplication of crises (health, environmental, geopolitical), gold saw its price multiplied by 5 between 1990 and 2023!
On the other hand, theimproved techniques and increasing investments in the sector facilitate mining and increase productivity per worker. Finally, the rise of EMAPE responds to a strong demand for employment in contexts marked by significant population growth, a low number of jobs in the formal sector and a prevalence of rural poverty.
A diversity of situations
ASM presents a diversity of situations that vary in particular depending on the resource and the methods of its exploitation. For example, artisanal gold mining, or panning, is experiencing a dynamic of mechanization and an increasing use of chemical treatment of the ore.[7].
Ore extraction is carried out in a variety of forms which are arranged along a continuum ranging from of purely manual work (wells dug with a pickaxe, washing the ore with a pan, etc.) to the use of small equipment (metal detectors, jackhammers, explosives, high-pressure lances, etc.) up to the creation of small mines dug with hydraulic shovelsThe increasing use of dredges also allows the exploitation of riverbeds. After extraction, different methods of processing the ore exist. While some players only carry out a simple water wash of the ore to concentrate the gold, others use mercury and cyanide to increase the gold recovery rate.[8].
Different resource governance situations also stand out. In response to the recent boom in activity, states have developed contrasting policies that cover a continuum between prohibition and support[9].
In sub-Saharan African states, the trend is generally towards tolerance, which fluctuates in particular depending on the intensity of production and the development of industrial mines. Thus, recent mining codes generally include specific provisions for ASM. However, the activity is mainly carried out in an undeclared manner and outside the legal frameworkUnlike industrial mines, the state plays, in practice, a weak role in the governance of ASM.
Different regulation systems exist at the scale of mining sites. They allow local stakeholders (customary authorities, local communities, gold counters, big men – Editor's note: an individual who has status and great influence within his community – …) to benefit from the exploitation through taxation mechanisms which escape the central State and can, in certain cases, be a source of financing for armed groups, often under duress.
Unsustainable by nature, artisanal and small-scale mining is source of pollutionThe uncontrolled use of chemicals in ore processing is harmful to the environment and health. Gold panning is thus the leading cause of mercury releases worldwide.[10].
EMAPE is also source of physical pollution. Ore processing and dredging of watercourses significantly increase water turbidity and promote the silting of rivers and streams. The growth of artisanal mining activity is accompanied by increased pressure on natural resources : wood used for shoring up shafts, forests cut down during mining operations, increased hunting near mining sites, etc.
Furthermore, the territorial expansion of mining sites produces a change of land use which can be sustainable[11]. In fact, during the phases of extraction and processing of the ore, the space is occupied by mining activity. Then, the possibilities of land use depend on the extent of the transformations linked to the mine and the rarely carried out actions to rehabilitate sites. Furthermore, the growth of EMAPE results in a local boost to the economy and the emergence of mobility directed towards mining regions, which has consequences on land, leading to a intensification of urbanization.
Mining-agriculture complementarities
The relationship between agriculture and ASGM is ambivalent. The environmental effects of ASGM penalize agricultural and pastoral activities. Furthermore, mining activity can represent a competition for laborIndeed, the opportunities – real or supposed – for income in mines are often greater than agricultural income.
Sometimes seen as simply the result of a quest for quick wealth, the recent rise of EMAPE results first and foremost from a need jobs[12]In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture, the leading employment sector, faces several challenges. The remuneration of agricultural activities is particularly penalized by international trade rules and the absence of price support for agricultural products ; public agricultural support services are often insufficient.
The strong demographic growth results in an average reduction in available space per worker, which primarily affects social cadets.[13]Although economies are transforming, the job offer in the industrial sector is very low and struggles to provide sources of income. ASM therefore represents an interesting opportunity. Wealth creation through artisanal mining provides a source of direct and indirect income for many people., particularly women and young people, participating in their greater empowerment[14].
The mine is not not just an economic alternative to agricultureMany people practice both activities, successively during their lives or in parallel.[15]. Some family units practice a mining-agriculture multi-activity, using income from one activity to finance the other.
Occasionally, mining activities allow a temporary funding contribution in response to a loss of income or that can be used as an investment. Chronically, this type of mining provides additional or main income for people with low agricultural incomes. Finally, in mining regions, it provides local outlets, directly through the demand for market garden products, indirectly through the associated urbanization dynamics.
The mining model, a public policy issue
In the South, theIndustrial mining is growing in parallel with the expansion of ASM. Some resources, which are very weakly concentrated and of low value, are almost exclusively exploited industrially, for example bauxite, iron or copper. For others (gold, diamonds), which are of higher value, exploitation can be carried out according to several models. The two forms of activity are therefore in interaction : competition for access to minerals, use of the presence of one or other of the models as indicators of resource availability, etc.
Some states tend to favor the industrial model[16]. Several factors explain this orientation. It is part of rentier systems[17] where the state receives income from industrial production and exports. Industrial forms benefit from a " paradigm of modernity " In other words, for the State, investment in the most advanced technical forms would be a factor of economic development by having a leverage effect on other sectors of the economy and creating formal jobs.
However, compared to craft activities, industrial mines are very low in employmentFor example, in Guinea, for comparable production volumes, industrial gold mining employs more than 40 times fewer people than gold panning.[18].
Furthermore, industrial investments, based on the enclave model[19], have weak effects on the diversification of economies, while having a set of negative impacts sometimes grouped under the term natural resource curse[20]The capital is mainly foreign, investments are based on imports (particularly energy) and the wealth created is little invested in the country.
Artisanal and small-scale mining can, however, play a positive role in the current context of growing demand for raw materials and a significant need for employment linked to demographic change. It will do so on condition that a framework and adapted public policies are implemented in order to limit the negative effects of the activity on the environment and health. Indeed, although mining codes are expanding to include the issues of regulating ASGM, the supervision of the activity remains weakThe challenge is particularly the need to plan for the post-mining period by carrying out site rehabilitation actions. These public policies should also make it possible to improve the indirect distribution of mining revenues – via levies on artisanal production – which are currently not very transparent.
While the negative environmental and health impacts should not be overlooked, the contribution of ASGM to agricultural and rural development must be studied holistically and in light of the economic and demographic context of the countries in which it is deployed. Mining activities should not be reduced to competitors of agriculture. Their growth is a consequence of both agricultural poverty and a lack of financing.
It also appears necessary to take into account the diversity of technical, economic, social and environmental situations of artisanal and small-scale mining and to strengthen, with the support of international aid, national, regional and international public policies in terms of support for ASM.
A way of formalization adapted to the situations of artisanal miners must support the development of EMAPE by combining environmental preservation, site rehabilitation, improvement of working conditions, support for employment, transparency in value chains and mobilization of artisanal mining revenues as a lever for territorial development.
[1] To explore this topic further, as an extension of a research partnership in Guinea, Iram and the Prodig laboratory are organizing a study day "Mining craftsmanship and rural development: a risky vein?" on June 26, 2024 in a hybrid format. Information and registration and to find out more, see the Inter-Réseaux Thematic Monitoring Bulletin “Mining craftsmanship and rural development: a risky vein?”
[2] World Bank, (2020), 2020 State of the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Sector, World Bank, Washington, 170 p.
[3] Fritz, WM, McQuilken, J., Collins, N. & Weldegiorgis, F., (2018), Global Trends in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM): A review of key numbers and issues, Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) – The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Winnipeg, 91 p.
[4] Bosse, P., Gourdon, J., Lapeyronie, H. & Normand, E., (2023), Minerals for the energy and digital transition: an opportunity for Africa? (Summary of AFD studies and research no 68), AFD, Paris, 4 p.
[5] Ummel, M. & Schulz, Y., (2024), On the Trail of African Gold: Quantifying Production and Trade to Combat Illicit Flows (Research report), Swissaid, Lausanne, 140 p.
[6] Data: USGS, Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States, 2024
[7] Bikubanya, D.-L. & Radley, B., (2022), Productivity and profitability: Investigating the economic impact of gold mining mechanization in Kamituga, DR Congo, The Extractive Industries and Society, vol. 12, p. 101162.; Bohbot, J., (2023), The rise of mining activity in Western Kenya: Interweaving practices and actors in the service of local development, EchoGeo, n°66, .; Cortés-McPherson, D., (2019), Expansion of small-scale gold mining in Madre de Dios: 'capital interests' and the emergence of a new elite of entrepreneurs in the Peruvian Amazon, The Extractive Industries and Society, vol. 6, n°2, p. 382‑389. ; Dessertine, A., Chevrillon-Guibert, R., Gagnol, L., Betabelet, JR, Diallo, L., Petit-Roulet, R., … Magrin, G., (2022), Gold panning and territorial development in Africa: a difficult equation?, In: E. PEYROUX, C. RAIMOND, V. VIEL and E. LAVIE (eds.), Development, global changes and territorial dynamics: theories, approaches and research perspectives, ISTE Editions, London, pp. 178-196.
[8] Gagnol, L. & Afane, A., (2019), Of sand, gold and mercury: Note on the contrasting urban production of the gold rush in the Sahara, Contemporary Africa, flight. 1, n°269‑270, p. 225-248.
[9] Chevrillon-Guibert, R., Gagnol, L. & Magrin, G., (2019), Gold rushes in the Sahara and the northern Sahel. Crisis starter or stabilizer?, Herodotus, vol. 1, n°172, p. 193‑215. Chevrillon-Guibert, R. & Magrin, G., (2018), Gold rushes in Sudan, Chad and the Sahel: state logic, mobility and territorial control, Bulletin of the Association of French Geographers. Geographies, flight. 95, n°2, p. 272-289.
[10] UNEP, (2019), Global mercury assessment 2018, United Nations Environment Program Chemicals and Health Branch, Geneva.
[11] Petit-Roulet, R., (2023), Effects of the development and transformation of gold mining on land dynamics in Guinea, Technical Committee “Land & Development” (AFD, MEAE), Paris, 123 p.
[12] Hilson, G. & Garforth, C., (2012), 'Agricultural Poverty' and the Expansion of Artisanal Mining in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences from Southwest Mali and Southeast Ghana, Population Research and Policy Review, flight. 31, n°3, p. 435‑464.
[13] This concept designates a status which does not allow one to inherit or access land.
[14] Bolay, M., (2022), Miners on the move, American Ethnologist, vol. 0, no. 0, p. 1‑15.
[15] Hilson, G. & Garforth, C., (2013), 'Everyone Now is Concentrating on the Mining': Drivers and Implications of Rural Economic Transition in the Eastern Region of Ghana, Journal of Development Studies, vol. 49, n°3, p. 348‑364. and Ouédraogo, L., (2019), Artisanal gold panning and rural development (Doctoral thesis in Agroeconomics), Quebec, University of Laval, 167 p.
[16] Diasso, Y. & Mainguy, C., (2022), Mining and poverty: is the mode of exploitation decisive?, The Notebooks of the Third World Association, No. 36, pp. 21-34.
[17] Magrin, G., (2013), Journey to Africa's Rentier Country: A Geographical Reading of Development Trajectories, Publications of the Sorbonne, Paris, 424 p.
[18] Enerteam, (2023), 2021 EITI Soft Report, EITI Guinea, Conakry, 150 p.
[19] Magrin, G., (2013), Journey to Africa's Rentier Country: A Geographical Reading of Development Trajectories, Publications of the Sorbonne, Paris, 424 p.
[20] Auty, R., (1993), Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis, Routledge, London, 288 p.
