Review Article
Four decades of support for artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa: A critical review

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Abstract

This review reflects critically on why, despite its growing economic importance, artisanal and small-scale (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing – occupies such a peripheral position on the economic development agenda of sub-Saharan Africa. A poor understanding of the sector's role in the region's liberalized economies has certainly contributed to this oversight; as has the strong influence, at the policymaking level, of unfounded ideas and generalizations about the sector's activities. After providing a brief overview of ASM in sub-Saharan Africa, the paper explores why the sector has yet to make a mark on the region's local economic development agenda and feature prominently in its poverty alleviation strategies.

Introduction

Why does artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – the low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing found across the developing world – continue to be overlooked in most international, regional and local economic policies and programs? Despite surfacing on the international development agenda over four decades ago, the sector has yet to capture the attention of donor agencies, NGOs and host governments. Nowhere has this been more evident than in sub-Saharan Africa, where ASM provides direct employment to tens of millions of people and has created innumerable economic opportunities for many millions more in the downstream industries it has spawned.1

This paper reflects critically on why, despite its growing economic importance, ASM occupies such a peripheral position on the economic development agenda of sub-Saharan Africa. A poor understanding of the sector's role in the region's liberalized economies has certainly contributed to this oversight; as has the strong influence, at the policymaking level, of unfounded ideas and generalizations about the sector's activities. A growing body of evidence (Barry, 1996, UNECA, 2003, Fisher, 2007) which points to ASM having alleviated significant rural hardship, reinvigorated deteriorating smallholder farming activities, catalysed the growth of infrastructure and reduced rural–urban migration across sub-Saharan Africa has failed to energize a donor agenda that continues to promote archaic policies and measures to facilitate local economic development. After providing a brief overview of ASM in sub-Saharan Africa, the paper comes to grips with why the sector has yet to make a mark on the region's local economic development agenda and feature prominently in its poverty alleviation strategies.

Section snippets

Artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa: A Snapshot

Nearly three decades ago, the World Bank published the landmark report, Small-Scale Mining: A Review of the Issues (Noetstaller, 1987). The organization relied heavily on this document for guidance throughout the 1990s, when several ambitious multimillion dollar mining sector reform programs and restructuring projects were commissioned across sub-Saharan Africa.

Importantly, Small-Scale Mining: A Review of the Issues drew attention, for the first time, to how ASM could potentially be an

In the beginning…

Why, during the years following publication of Small-Scale Mining in the Developing Countries, did ASM fail to gain much traction in development and economic plans and policies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa? In hindsight, this was, indeed, a missed opportunity because the donor agenda was in transition at the time: the overall approach taken to deliver aid was being ‘rethought’. As Lancaster (1999) recalls, most ‘aid donors during the 1960s and 1970s began to deal directly with spending

The 1980s

In the 1980s, donor strategy experienced a major overhaul. Emphasizing ‘big-project development’ and ‘economic liberalization’, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began to launch Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) in a number of developing countries heavily indebted to Western banks. In exchange for these loan packages, recipients were required to adhere rigidly to a series of conditionalities, including committing to reducing government spending and shedding labour in key public

Questionable technical assistance and more missed opportunities

In the 1990s, there was a recognizable shift in support strategies for ASM, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The decade, however, featured two very distinct periods, each of which will be examined separately. The first, which spanned the beginning of the decade, was effectively an extension of the 1980s, during which, mainly technical-oriented interventions for ASM were pursued. But this was also a time when several bilateral agencies began to put aside monies to support, both directly and

The mid-1990s onward: perpetuating a disconnected policy dialogue?

The 1990s is often seen as a turning point for ASM policy. As the impacts of structural adjustment began to take effect, and joblessness became widespread, perspectives on ASM began to change, particularly in the donor community. The first significant signs of this were at the international workshop, the Harare Guidelines for the Development of Small/Medium-Scale Mining, held in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 1993 (see ILO, 1999). Organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social

Concluding remarks

This paper has reflected on why, despite its economic importance, ASM continues to occupy such a marginal position on the economic development agenda of sub-Saharan Africa. A poor understanding of the sector's role in the region's liberalized economies has certainly contributed to this oversight; as has the strong influence, at the policymaking level, of unfounded ideas and generalizations about the sector's activities.

A review of ASM's policy treatment over the past four decades reveals that,

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