From diurnal to nocturnal: Surviving in a chaotic artisanal and small-scale mining sector

Abstract

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)–mostly informal, low-tech, and hazardous form of mining–serves as a significant source of livelihood for many populations in many countries. Characterized by widespread environmental vandalism, the government of Ghana banned ASM in March 2017 for a period of six months but later extended the ban indefinitely. Subsequently, the government formed a security taskforce to clamp down on miners who defied the ban. In December 2018, the government lifted the ban to allow only registered artisanal gold miners to operate, depriving a significant proportion of unregistered informal miners of their livelihoods. Unregistered informal mining is still banned. To explore the coping and adaption strategies adopted by the affected informal miners, a mixed-methods approach, including purposive and snowball sampling techniques and in-depth interviews, was employed. Amid brutalities, injuries, pay-to-play corruption, and destruction of mining equipment, many of the affected informal miners navigate a chaotic, ever-changing landscape in search of income to feed themselves and their dependents. While some of these miners defy government orders and work during the day–facing brutalities of government security forces–many others operate at night to evade the security forces. For some, they have to brace dangerous situations on the Gulf of Guinea and unknown and challenging terrains to engage in ASM in neighboring countries where the miners believe that mining regulations and enforcement are lax.