Conflicts in marginal locations: Small-scale gold-mining in the Amazon

Theije, M.E.M. de; Salman, Ton

doi:10.22459/bpp.03.2018.12

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Similarly, with ASM, oversight is lacking for the same reasons. There is indifference because ASM often operates in poorly accessible locations outside of state control (de Theije & Salman, 2018). For example, in the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon River, “the central government in Lima is not really interested in the miners, or in the region, and gives no priority to combating illegal small‐scale mining” (de Theije & Salman, 2018).…”

Section: The Problems Of Data and Resource Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The challenge in realizing the economic potential of ASM is with formalization and regulation (Debrah et al, 2014). The term formalization refers to codifying ASM in a government's legal and economic framework with, for example, policies around mineral rights, taxation, environmental regulations, and workplace safety (de Theije & Salman, 2018; Siegel & Veiga, 2010). ASM has operated for centuries as a small unorganized and informal activity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of the Scope of Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining Worldwide, Poverty, and the Associated Health Impacts

2021

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Some of the poorest people in the world's poorest countries eke out a living in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Equipped with primitive tools like picks, shovels, buckets, and gold pans, they work mining valuable resources, like gold, diamonds, tin, lithium, rare earth elements, tantalum, and cobalt, and any other usable commodity, for example, sand, coal, or mica. The mining and refining processes are labor intensive and associated with a variety of health problems due to accidents, overheating, overexertion, dust inhalation, exposure to toxic chemicals and gases, violence, and illicit and prescription drug and alcohol addiction. Evident disadvantages with ASM are counterbalanced by the immense economic benefits. For many, the true scope and scale of ASM activities are unappreciated, along with the unknown health and societal impacts. Here, we set out to elucidate the scope of ASM beyond the recovery of familiar commodities, such as gold and diamonds. We adopt a holistic perspective toward health impacts of ASM, which includes unique occupational, environmental, and human/social drivers. A particular focus is poverty as a health risk with artisanal miners. They are commonly poverty-stricken people in poor countries, ensnared by a variety of poverty traps, which take a toll on the health and well-being of individuals and communities. ASM sometimes provides an opportunity to diversify income in the face of a decline in subsistence agriculture. However, ASM often trades one kind of generational poverty for another, coming along with serious health risks and turmoil associated with work in an informal "cash-rich" business. Plain Language Summary Many of the world's most valuable commodities, for example, gold, diamonds, and strategic metals, and less valuable resources, for example, sand, clay, and coal, are the products of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). The miners are commonly poor people with rudimentary tools, like shovels, buckets, and pans subsisting by working shallow ore deposits. Although an inefficient mining method, the large numbers of people can contribute substantially to a country's total production. Much of this mining occurs in distant, lawless areas like the Amazon River basin or the outback in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The work is grueling and dangerous because of violence and unregulated work sites. Miners suffer from the expected collection of occupational health risks, due to, for example, accidents, chemical exposures, dust inhalation, and lifting and lugging of heavy loads. Mining communities are at risk from incidental exposures to mercury, mosquito-borne diseases, poor sanitation, and more. Human and social problems also impact health. Our paper emphasizes poverty as a risk factor for disease, as miners are caught in poverty traps-unable to leave. Injuries and disease often must remain untreated because of costs and absent clinics.

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Section: The Problems Of Data and Resource Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Scope of Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining Worldwide, Poverty, and the Associated Health Impacts

2021

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“…The existence of human trafficking implies the existence of some kind of criminality around mining rather than simple artisanal mining. The actors can be smalltime players (claim owners, business owners) or a more powerful criminal organization organizing mining efforts (de Theije & Salman, 2018). In Colombia and Peru, these actors have been organized crime or criminal groups (Wagner, 2016).…”

Section: The Scope Of Violence and Criminalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Profit comes by extorting a share of the gold or commodities produced (Soud, 2019) and the cash flows in local economies, and by controlling the supply chain. Sometimes, they become de facto local governing authorities, maintaining order and settling disputes when the official government lacks the capacity to govern these sites (de Theije & Salman, 2018). Thus, takeovers did not necessarily come along with chaos, “mobocracy,” and a “complete explosion of violence” (de Theije & Salman, 2018).…”

Section: The Scope Of Violence and Criminalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of Health Issues Related to Child Labor and Violence Within Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining

2021

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Around the world, several tens of millions of people work in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Traditional ASM involves using primitive tools such as picks, shovels, gold pans, etc. to mine accessible metals, precious stones, colored stones, and industrial commodities such as sand, coal and more (Schwartz et al., 2020). Worldwide, such mining has gone on for centuries or even millennia. Compared to modern industrial mining, ASM is inefficient and labor intensive. A single miner can only process a small quantity of material, limiting the capacity for resource recovery. However, because thousands or tens of thousands of people work a single deposit, the production of gold, diamonds or cobalt can comprise a significant fraction of a country's total production.

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