As a wide range of stakeholders prepare to come together and exchange knowledge at the 2026 Global Forum on ASGM, meet some of the miner representatives who will be in attendance to share their candid input and perspectives.
Agyo Ede Jonathan
Nigeria
Please share your name, title, and where you are from.
My name is Agyo Ede Jonathan, miner and ASM operator. I hail from onda in Nasarawa local government of Nasarawa State Nigeria. I’m a miner and an artisanal operator. I work around in Nigeria states wherever mining site is discovered. But the community where my warehouse and where my mining activities take place mostly in Nasarawa local government.
How did you come to work in mining?
I came into mining through livelihood choice since I was born and brought up in the farm doing mere jobs.
What does your daily work look like?
I work both in the hillside and river where it becomes necessary and gainful. The number of people working with me vary from time to time depending on the demand for the minerals resources in the market.
What is the single biggest barrier you face?
The major obstacle we faced in our daily activities here are: regulators and miner extension workers who are supposed to carry out enlightment to ASM workers and lack of government financial intervention to aid the workers.
What is one hope you carry for the future?
One hope I am having for the future engagement in mining activities is for government to assist us with modern technology and financial support.
Kundai Chikonzo Midzi
Zimbabwe
Kundai Chikonzo Midzi is a small-scale gold miner based in Filabusi, Zimbabwe, in the Insiza District, with over 14 years of experience in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) sector. An accountant by profession, she is a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment, community development, and sustainable growth within the artisanal and small-scale women’s mining sector. Kundai’s journey into mining began as a livelihood choice that emerged from consultancy work she was conducting with miners. As an accountant, she provided consultancy services in project management, project proposal development, and facilitating loan applications for mining operations. Through this work, she developed a close understanding of the challenges faced by miners and became actively involved in supporting their business growth.
A defining milestone in her journey came when she successfully applied for funding through the Fidelity Gold Refinery Gold Development Initiative. She not only secured the funding but successfully managed repayment, demonstrating the viability of responsible financing in small-scale mining. She also played a pioneering role by convincing the bank to accept a mining claim as collateral for financing a significant breakthrough in accessing mining finance. Following her success, she became the first woman miner to feature in a month-long national television campaign promoting the gold funding initiative after successfully accessing and utilizing the facility.
While working closely with miners, Kundai observed a recurring challenge, many miners struggled to repay loans despite securing funding. This sparked her curiosity and inspired her to gain a deeper understanding of the realities, economics, and operational challenges of mining from the miners’ perspective. Driven by this passion, Kundai pursued studies at the Zimbabwe School of Mines to strengthen her technical understanding of the industry and gain practical mining expertise. She further expanded her professional capacity through studies in Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation at Catholic University. Her transition from consultancy into hands-on mining enabled her to combine financial expertise with practical field experience.
Today, Kundai works extensively in underground mining, particularly in inclined shafts and straight shafts. She oversees a workforce of 44 employees operating daily on-site through a structured shift system, with teams of six workers assigned per shift. Operations are guided by production targets for each shaft to maintain productivity, operational efficiency, and sustainability.
Throughout her mining journey, Kundai has identified critical barriers affecting her small-scale mining operations. One of the major challenges is dependence on mercury, as many operations continue to rely heavily on mercury in gold processing. Another significant challenge is limited access to modern mining technologies, which affects productivity and operational efficiency. These technological limitations are closely linked to financing constraints, creating barriers to growth and sector transformation.
Looking toward the future, Kundai envisions increased access to modern technologies that support responsible gold sourcing and reduce dependence on mercury. She is equally passionate about advancing the formalization of women in mining and improving working conditions for mine workers. Through her work and advocacy, she continues to champion safer, more sustainable, and inclusive mining practices while creating opportunities for women to thrive as leaders and contributors within the mining sector.
Kundai believes in creating pathways that empower women to become leaders, innovators, and agents of change in society and the mining industry.
Soveida Beatriz Castañeda
Honduras
My name is Soveida Beatriz Castañeda. I am from Lago de Yojoa, Cortés, and I currently work in the community of Santa Cruz Minas, Quimistán, Santa Bárbara, Honduras. I am a single mother, and I started working in mining out of the need to provide for my three children and give them an education and a better future. With a lot of effort, I learned this trade, which today also provides a livelihood for several families.
My job consists of coordinating the workers during the extraction of the ore, transporting the material for processing, and supervising each stage at the processing plants. After selling the gold, the profits are shared with the people involved in the work. I currently work in partnership with eight people—four women and four men—and they also subcontract other workers from the area. Most of the work we do is artisanal, since we cannot use heavy machinery like tractors or backhoes.
One of my biggest dreams is to legalize our operations so we can work more safely and efficiently, especially in high-risk areas due to the fragile terrain. Having access to machinery would allow us to improve working conditions and make further progress in this field. More than just a job, for me, mining represents struggle, sacrifice, and hope for many families who make a living from this daily effort.
