A proposed DEMATEL based framework for appraising challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector

Abstract

The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector is a source of livelihood for many people that cannot get white-collar jobs. However, the sector has a plethora of challenges that threaten its economic stability and/or growth. These need to be mitigated or ameliorated through strategic policy response. To attain this, the criticality levels of challenges should be quantitatively assessed based on their intensity and ability to influence or cause other challenges. Currently, no quantitative framework has been developed for this undertaking. Therefore, in this paper, a DEMATEL based framework integrating an expert questionnaire survey, intensity-influence scoring matrix, and sensitivity analysis has been proposed. The framework identifies and ranks critical challenges to prioritize policy response. To illustrate its practical application, it was applied in the assessment of challenges in Zambia's artisanal and small-scale manganese mining sector. Results show that the number of highly, mildly, and tolerably critical challenges are three, four, and one, respectively. Highly, mildly, and tolerably critical challenges are those having a criticality rating of (12–25), (6–10), and (1–5), respectively. The proposed framework has the potential to be used by governments to aid the systematic and strategic formulation of policies that can mitigate critical causal challenges to attain economic stability and/or growth of the ASM sector.