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

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.