Resources

Knowledge-sharing in ASM Communities: Mercury, Technology, and Sustainability in Developing Countries

Spiegel, S. J., & Veiga, M. M. English

While various past development efforts have sought to reduce mercury-related problems, we conclude that sustainable development should seek to intertwine knowledge-sharing on environmental goals with concrete ways of improving economic well-being. We demonstrate how such models of knowledge-sharing can help to catalyze local innovation, technology-sharing and community organization. This paper discusses how this knowledge can be applied by governments to create capacity building policies as well as regulations that support sustained improvement in mining standards. 

Impacto del coronavirus (COVID-19) en la minería artesanal y de pequeña escala de Bolivia

Solidaridad Cumbre del Sajama S.A 2020 Spanish

Reporte de caso desde un enfoque de género

Programa Nacional para la Gestión de Sustancias Químicas Peligrosas 2019 Spanish

Parte de "Desarrollo de un producto financiero para ser utilizado en el sector de la Mineria Artesanal y de Pequena Escala de oro" del Programa Nacional para la Gestión Ambientalmente Racional y la Gestión del Ciclo de Vida de las Sustancias Químicas – proyecto

Mujeres en la mineria artesanal y de pequeña escala: Testimonios de 10 mujeres mineras

Alianza por la Minería Responsable (ARM) 2012 Spanish

Los siguientes testimonios fueron grabados en el Segundo Taller Regional de la Red Latinoamericano de la Alianza por La Minería Responsable (ARM) en La Paz, Bolivia Octubre 2012 en las sesiones sobre género lideradas por Ana María Aranibar Gerente General de Cumbre del Sajama (Bolivia) y Olinda Orozco Zevallos, Presidenta de Red Social (Perú), ambas expertas internacionales con amplio conocimiento y experiencia en el tema de género y comunidades mineras.

Gender and Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Central and East Africa: Barriers and Benefits

Doris Buss, Blair Rutherford, Jennifer Hinton and Jennifer Stewart (Carleton University); Joanne Lebert and Gisèle Eva Côté (Partnership Africa Canada); Abby Sebina-Zziwa, Richard Kibombo and Frederick Kisekka (Development Research and Policy Analysis Center) - Institute for the Study of International Development 2017 English

This paper examines: the structural gender inequalities that impact on access to resources and relationships; gendered social and political institutions that structure ASM livelihoods; and gendered “meaning systems,” the discourses, terms, and metaphors that structure how mining and mining activities, and the women and men whose lives are enmeshed in those activities, are made knowable.

Addressing Forced Labor in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM) A Practitioner’s Toolkit

Alliance for Responsible Mining 2014 English

Managing the risk of forced labor in ASM is complex. Strategies to tackle it must address the double objective of eradicating forced labor and making sure that innocent people who rely on Artisanal and Small-scale Mining for their livelihoods are not excluded from mineral supply chains. ASM is a poverty-alleviating activity that directly and indirectly employs hundreds of millions of people around the world; excluding ASM from mineral supply chains could have a terrible impact on their livelihoods. The aim of this toolkit is to provide a handson approach that will help organizations, companies and government institutions to cooperate with artisanal miners rather than exclude them.

Gender and artisanal and small-scale mining: implications for formalization

Doris Buss et al. 2019 English

This paper explores the gendered contexts of artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa, and traces how women are likely to be excluded from current policy pushes to formally regulate the sector. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research results from six artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sites, two in each of Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, the paper traces how the gendered organization of mining roles, when viewed in relation to women’s disproportionate household and care work, and the gendered norms around what women should do, devalues and delimits women’s mining work. The result, we argue, is that most women will be unlikely to access mining licenses or join and effectively participate in decision-making in miners’ associations/cooperatives. Seemingly neutral interventions like licenses or grouping miners into cooperatives may thus incorporate while normalizing existing gendered exclusions. The paper argues for a recalibration of ASM formalization to ensure that gender is placed at the centre of design and implementation.

Women Mine-rock Waste Collectors in Artisanal and Small-scale Mining in Ecuador: Challenges and Opportunities

Patricio Colón Velásquez-López, Claudia Páez-Varas, Ximena Benavides-Zúñiga, Francisco Gallegos, Gerald Fallon 2020 English

CIRDI conducted an exploratory study of the nature of women mine-rock waste collectors’ (WWC) activities and analysed their working conditions managing mine waste rock in Ponce Enríquez, Ecuador. A WWC is locally known as janchera, and currently hundreds of women are involved in this activity within artisanal and small-scale gold mining. 

Communicating about ASGM (Issue Brief)

Gabriela Flores - for planetGOLD 2020 English

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is often associated with environmental degradation, workers’ exploitation, unsafe practices and even conflict. However, the sector is also a source of employment and local economic development in some of the world’s most deprived areas, where few alternatives exist. Few are aware of these benefits, but effective communications can help provide a more balanced view. This issue brief summarizes an analysis of the state of play in ASGM communications (including barriers to effective communication) and emerging trends, along with recommendations aimed at communicators and decision-makers.

Resources and Resourcefulness: Roles, opportunities and Risks for Women Working at Artisanal Mines in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Kelly, Jocelyn T.D.; King-Close, Alexandria; Perks, Rachel 2014 English

This research shows women actively migrate to mining centers in DRC seeking employment. However, this relocation brings vulnerability to physical, sexual and economic predation. Programs should help promote women's access to safe and equitable employment in these areas.