Artisanal mining

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a blanket term for a wide variety of types of small mining that range from manual subsistence mining using simple tools to vocational mining that is semi-mechanised involving light machinery such as generators, water pumps, and small motorized mills, through to organised mechanised mining that employs industrial equipment such as excavators and bull dozers. ASM involves miners who may or may not be officially employed. Although there can be large numbers of miners working at a mining site, they typically work in small teams according to a customary system of organisation that includes a manager, skilled and unskilled labour.

While the terms are generally used interchangeably or synonymously, by definition 'artisanal mining' refers to purely manual labor while 'small-scale mining' typically involves larger operations and some use of mechanical or industrial tools. While there is no completely coherent definition for ASM, artisanal mining generally includes miners who are not officially employed by a mining company and use their own resources to mine. As such, they are part of an informal economy. ASM also includes, in small-scale mining, enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but who generally still use similar manually-intensive methods as artisanal miners (such as working with hand tools). In addition, ASM can be characterized as distinct from large-scale mining (LSM) by less efficient extraction of pure minerals from the ore, lower wages, decreased occupational safety, benefits, and health standards for miners, and a lack of environmental protection measures. ASM has on occasion been evaluated positively in terms of negligible capital outflow, the employment it generates and the connection it has with local society and economy in contrast with the enclave economies of some LSM.

Artisanal miners often undertake the activity of mining seasonally. For example, crops are planted in the rainy season, and mining is pursued in the dry season. However, they also frequently travel to mining areas and work year-round. There are four broad types of ASM:

ASM is an important socio-economic sector for the rural poor in many developing nations, many of whom have few other options for supporting their families. Over 90% of the world's mining workforce are engaged in ASM, with an estimated 40.5 million people directly engaged in ASM, from over 80 countries in the global south. More than 150 million people indirectly depend on ASM for their livelihood. 70–80% of small-scale miners are informal, and approximately 30% are women, although this ranges in certain countries and commodities from 5% to 80%.

Artisanal mining can include activities as simple as panning for gold in rivers, to as complex as development of underground workings and small-scale processing plants. Miners use a variety of methods to locate minerals, including historical knowledge, the observation of other minerals or rocks, or technology such as mineral detectors and audio-based reflection seismology surveys. In addition, ASM targets a variety of minerals in addition to metals, including bauxite, coltan, cobalt, coal, sand, gravel, and dimension stones.

The rise in the price of certain minerals, such as precious stones or precious metals, has driven rural residents in the global south to increasingly turn to artisanal mining as supplementary income, as higher mineral prices yield better returns for those engaged in ASM. This is reflected in the growth of the ASM industry. For instance, the 400% rise in the price of gold from 2002 (US$274/oz) to 2012 (US$1,230/oz) appears to be reflected as an increase in the number of miners engaged in ASM. Similarly, an increase in demand for lithium-ion battery-powered products has led to increased demand for cobalt, leading to a corresponding boom in ASM for minerals containing cobalt.

Globally, artisanal mining contributes 17% to 20%, or between 380 and 450, metric tonnes of annual gold production. This gold input is equally a significant contribution to both the international gold industry and the economy for a given community.

The ASM sector produces 80% of the global sapphire supply, 20% of global diamond supply, 26% of the global tantalum supply, and 25% of global tin production.