Resources

This report summarizes the activities and results of the project Developing Training Materials to Promote the Reduction of Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining. Overall, the project sought to produce a business training module based on leading global practice in ASGM and designed to promote Minamata Convention compliance. This project is intended to enhance coordination among ASGM education programs throughout the APEC region in support of domestic and international mercury reduction efforts.

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.

The issue

This case study highlights how to improve women’s participation in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), complementing the IGF’s previous report, Women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining: Challenges and opportunities for greater participation.

Women play a crucial role in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). While their challenges in the sector have been studied extensively, increased effort is needed to create a more widespread understanding of their importance to ASM.

This study estimates costs that enforcement imposes and the level of enforcement required to deter informal gold mining, and adds to the growing body of evidence that enforcement and alternative livelihood approaches alone are unlikely to deter informal gold mining.

USAID’s Land and Urban Office hosted a webinar with a panel of experts from USAID, Oro Legal, and other partners. The webinar provided a broad overview of USAID’s work on ASM globally, then focused on an example of the multi-faceted Oro Legal program in Colombia, which seeks to strengthen sector governance, encourage stakeholder participation, develop alternative livelihoods, and reduce the environmental impact of illegal mining.

Delve is a global platform for artisanal and small-scale mining data

La presente compilación de tecnologías para el procesamiento de material aurífero se une a los esfuerzos del Gobierno Colombiano y el Gobierno Canadiense para reducir las liberaciones antropogénicas del mercurio al medio ambiente.  En el presente documento observarán equipos y recomendaciones para el beneficio del oro, paso a paso desde la llegada del mineral a la planta de procesamiento hasta la fundición. Se presentarán cuatro casos relevantes a nivel nacional, en la minería artesanal libre de mercurio.

For many years, the use of mercury in ASGM has afforded an income for many persons without better options, but has brought with it extensive harm to the environment, the miners and their communities. This paper analyzes the stakeholders and their diverse roles with regard to the trade and supply of mercury for Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining and applies a supply chain management approach to stakeholder theory.

This article uses an ecological economics approach to analyse tensions surrounding efforts to phase out mercury in Indonesia's artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, among the largest sources of mercury pollution worldwide. It also discusses implications of domestic cinnabar mining for controlling mercury in Indonesia's ASGM sector, highlighting obstacles to implementing the Minamata Convention, a treaty that aims to restrict mercury use.