Los pirquineros de la Gran Minería: informalidad y precarización en la Mina Vieja de Potrerillos (Chile, 1959-1978)

The mining sector in Asia has often been characterized more by poor rather than by good environmental management. Thus, “mining and the environment” occupy contested terrain. This article focuses mainly on the small-scale mining sector, with examples drawn from the region. Small-scale artisanal mining is frequently depicted as environmentally harmful; however, even with large mining operations there are areas where environmental mismanagement may occur. Tailings disposal and reclamation following mine closure are the most frequent examples. Sometimes the nexus between large-scale mines and national or regional government makes environmental regulation enforcement problematic. Links between local government and small-scale mining operations can bring similar regulatory problems. In some countries, small-scale mining’s illegality makes regulation a near impossibility. Although acknowledging that little actually has been achieved so far, the article suggests that nonetheless good environmental management might be easier to establish in this sector.

Small-scale artisanal mining, MAPE (for its initials in Spanish), presents significant challenges and opportunities that must be analyzed systemically. To carry out the analysis, this paper proposes the PAIIO methodology (Participation, Actors, Impact, Idealized design, Opportunities), based on the Russell Ackoff Interactive Planning methodology. This proposed methodology propounds four steps to address environmental and common property management issues, where local communities must be the key player in decision-making, participating from the design of the solution in its implementation and monitoring. The PAIIO methodology was applied in the MAPE study in the Santa Rita village, Municipality of Andes. As a first step, for the development of the methodology in the case study, key actors in the community were identified, such as “barequeros” (gold miners) and scrap dealers, workers in the pitheads, workers of the “entables” (ranches); from their perceptions, impacts of the MAPE were identified; subsequently, together with them, the idealized design of the situation, the gaps between this design and the real situation were depicted; and finally, proposals and improvement opportunities were described to close the gaps between these scenarios. The community’s proposals go beyond good practices in mining, involving proposals related to their organization and investment in the territory.

A MULTINATIONAL SEEKING IN VAIN A UNION as a counterpart in bargaining; another multinational expelling union representatives from the firm; companies with good and bad labour relations; small and medium-size firms with no unions at all-all these may be found in news items, case-studies and episodes from the near past of labour relations in transformation and development in the post-socialist countries. After five to six years of the political, social and economic transformation can we already speak about a new system in the field of labour relations, or is it still in transformation? Is the experience of this half-decade sufficient to identify the features of the new emerging system with any of the already known patterns of labour relations? In the late 1980s and early 1990s in Central and Eastern Europe there were widespread illusions as to the prospects of labour relations and the new role of employees and their interest associations. The international, economic and social conditions of the real processes of social transformation in these countries, however, framed events differently, and the new institutions of labour relations and social cooperation seem to display unexpected patterns. Social scientists and politicians as well as unionists are now seeking to understand the real logic of the transformation process and the motives and intentions of the social partners within it. Since the social and economic context of the current transformation process varies from country to country in Eastern and East-Central Europe, very different strategies and practices of institution building, combined with national and local traditions of interest representation and participation, are creating a rich variety of new autonomous systems of labour relations. Several elements of the political and economic transformation are closely connected to the shaping of the labour relations system in the post-socialist countries. Some of them are supporting its development, while others are unfavourable to its strengthening. Certain factors are unique in the different Central and East European countries, others represent international trends. This article aims to illustrate the characteristics of institution building in the field of labour relations in Hungary. In Hungary the new democratic political order, its laws and institutions, has finally ensured the existence of an autonomous labour relations system after a long period of reforms since the late 1960s aiming at loosening the subordination of labour relations to a monolithic political order. The political transformation was carried out by social actors and organisations that-even if newly created in democratic processes-were

FOREWORD by Ian Smillie, Partnership Africa Canada, Ottawa Introduction: Resuscitating the Policy and Research Agendas for Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining 1. Section 1: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in West Africa - An Overview of the Issue 2. Poverty and Economic Development in West Africa: An Historical Analysis 3. Poverty and Artisanal Mining in West Africa 4. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in West Africa: An Overview of Sustainable Development and Environmental Issues 5. Mercury: An Agent of Poverty in West Africa's Small-Scale Gold Mining Industry 6. Fostering cooperation between small- and large-scale gold miners in West Africa 7. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in West Africa: Achieving Sustainable Development through Environmental and Human Rights Law 8. Section 2: Country Case Studies - Francophone West Africa 9. Artisanal Mining in Mali: An Overview of the Issues 10. Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mines in Burkina Faso: Today and Tomorrow 11. Artisanal Gold Mining in Burkina Faso: Permits, Poverty and Perceptions of the Poor in Sanmatenga, The 'Land of Gold' 12. Artisanal Gold-Mining in Northern Benin: A Socio-Cultural Perspective 13. Section 3: Country Case Studies - Anglophone West Africa 14. Diamonds, poverty and war in Sierra Leone 15. Reflections on the Political Economy of Artisanal Diamond Mining in Kono District, Sierra Leone 16. Integrative Perspectives on Diamond Mining and Public Health in Akwatia, Ghana 17. Socio-Economic, Environmental and Policy Implications of Alluvial Diamond Mining in the Birim 18. 'Live and Let's Live' - The Relationship between Artisanal/Small-Scale and Large-scale miners in Ghana: The Abosso Goldfields' Experience 19. Strained relations: a critical assessment of the mining conflict in Prestea, Ghana 20. Addressing the Environmental Challenges of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Nigeria Postscript: Progress on the Horizon?

Gold in Ghana: The effects of changes in large-scale mining on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

The world is going through a new-millennium rush in precious metals, especially gold. The great increase in gold price in the last years, probably due to a shift towards safe investments in a period of crisis in the global economy, created a rapid increase in gold production. The faster response to this shift in production came from Artisanal (ASM) and Small-scale (SSM) mining units in remote locations of the world, and Brazil is one of the main countries that has ASM and SSM on its territory. The present paper draws some definitions of Small-Scale Mining and Artisanal Mining, based on its productivity and its actual social and environmental implications, and of their sustainability. The analysis of production data of Small Scale and Large Scale Mining on global scale and on Brazilian scale shows the high potential of SSM in dealing with lower mineral grades and market fluctuations, due to its high flexibility. A general growth of the role of SSM in precious metals production in the next decades is foreseen. An elaboration on world ASM data led to a clear correlation between efficiency in production and an index of human development; this result is shown and discussed. Based on the potential of SSM to attend to the mineral market needs, efficiency in productivity is finally proposed as the main path to turn an ASM unit into a sustainable and profitable Small-Scale industrial extractive unit.

In the two decades following its 1980 independence, Zimbabwe's gendered social and political transformation seemed, on the face of it, to be characterised by a swinging pendulum of state-led progress on women's issues followed by a period of back-sliding on earlier commitments. However, upon closer examination, the state's commitment to women's issues was always ambivalent, at best. If the story of gendered social and political transformation begins during the decade-long liberation war that preceded independence, the contradictory gender ideologies of ZANU(PF), the liberation movement that became the dominant party after independence, and the contradictory expectations of women who supported the liberation struggle in different capacities are clear. These contradictions, combined with the state's shallow commitment to improving the lives of Zimbabwean women, help to explain the state's lacklustre gender transformation, particularly in the areas of legal reform and developing state institutions to address women's development needs. As the state's increasing authoritarianism effectively eliminated spaces for advocacy that it created after independence, a growing number of women's NGOs developed issue-oriented approaches that criticised the government while at the same time developing relationships with particular segments of the government, and the increasingly organised opposition, in order to address women's issues. Thus, the gendered social and political transformation in Zimbabwe has been both non-linear and reconfigured to fit the spaces of the transformed state

<p><em>Natural resource extraction in Africa has been characterised by conflicts between large scale and small scale miners on the one hand and large scale miners and the communities on the other. In some countries such as Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Liberia, natural resources have bred political instability and civil wars. A great deal of academic discourse on resource conflicts in Africa focuses on greed, corruption, political struggles for state capture and control over resources, economic liberalisation policies for attracting foreign investors and creating conducive climate for them to invest their capital in natural resource extraction, and foreign forces. While recognising the significance of the above approaches in explaining resource conflicts in Africa, this paper aims at explaining resource conflicts as a struggle for space between the communities, artisanal and small scale miners and large scale foreign mining corporations. The paper, therefore, argues that natural resource extraction conflicts in Africa can well be understood if we approach them as a struggle for space. Data for this paper are drawn from secondary sources including academic literature, government reports, media reports and internet sources.</em></p>

Mining continues to be a dangerous activity, whether large-scale industrial mining or small-scale artisanal mining. Not only are there accidents, but exposure to dust and toxins, along with stress from the working environment or managerial pressures, give rise to a range of diseases that affect miners. I look at mining and health from various personal perspectives: that of the ordinary man (much of life depends on mined elements in the house, car and phone); as a member of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health (environmental contamination and degradation leads to ill health in nearby communities); as a public health doctor (mining health is affected by many factors, usually acting in a mix, ranging from individual inheritance—genetic makeup, sex, age; personal choices—diet, lifestyle; living conditions—employment, war; social support—family, local community; environmental conditions—education, work; to national and international constraints—trade, economy, natural world); as a volunteer (mining health costs are not restricted to miners or industry but borne by everyone who partakes of mining benefits—all of us); and as a lay preacher (the current global economy concentrates on profit at the expense of the health of miners). Partnership working by academics with communities, government and industry should develop evidence-based solutions. Employment, health, economic stability and environmental protection need not be mutually exclusive. We all need to act.

Producing mining territories: The centrality of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Colombia from colonization to the present

Impact of post- reclamation of soil by large-scale, small-scale and illegal mining on water balance components and sediment yield: Pra River Basin case study

Socio-technical context of the interactions between large-scale and small-scale mining in Marmato, Colombia

While promoting both large-scale and small-scale mining to facilitate rural development and poverty reduction, it becomes imperative to examine the level of exposure and the risk of mining on assets and livelihoods of agrarian households in mining communities. The study was, therefore, designed to examine the differential effect of the risk of large-scale and small-scale mining on livelihoods of agrarian households. The study covered five regions of Ghana namely, Ashanti, Eastern, Western, Central and Brong-Ahafo Regions, where both large-scale and small-scale mining are pervasive. A two-stage sampling technique was used to sample 864 agrarian households in the study area for primary data. The 864 households comprised 432 households selected from 36 communities which are exclusively exposed to the activities of large-scale mining and 432 households selected from 36 communities exclusively exposed to the activities of small-scale mining. Household livelihood vulnerability (HLV) index was used to measure livelihood vulnerability to the risk of mining. The study established that though agrarian households are susceptible to both large-scale and small-scale mining, assets and livelihoods of such households are more vulnerable to the risk of large-scale mining than small-scale mining. Emanating from the study are recommendations to reduce household livelihood vulnerability to both large-scale and small-scale mining and facilitate livelihood development among agrarian households in mining communities of rural Ghana.

Development theory and the three worlds: Towards an international political economy of development: 2nd edn, Björn Hettne, Longman, Harlow, 1995, 319pp., ISBN 0 582 23738 6 (pbk)

The article is devoted to the evolution of the main concepts of public administration, which is considered through the prism of the historical periods of the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and the emergence of capitalism. The author analyzes how approaches to management changed in the context of social, economic, and political transformations, and also considers how these changes were reflected in modern concepts of management science. Public administration is a key element in ensuring the effective functioning of state institutions, since the ability of the state to solve complex problems, maintain stability, and ensure development depends on its quality. The article emphasizes the importance of ethics, human rights, and democratic principles, which remain relevant for effective management today, in particular in the context of globalization, the development of information technologies, and social transformations. The study of the concepts of T. Aquinas, N. Machiavelli, D. Diderot, S. Montesquieu, I. Kant, and G. Hegel allows us to establish the relationship between historical theories and modern approaches to public administration. T. Aquinas's ideas about the harmony between faith and reason, as well as the need for moral principles in governance, find their application in the modern fight against corruption and abuse of power. N. Machiavelli's ideas about the state as an organic system that depends on the attitude of the people and the ability of rulers to achieve results, are of profound importance in the context of today's challenges. I. Kant's ideas about the autonomy of the individual and freedom, as well as H. Hegel's ideas about the importance of implementing laws through educated and conscious officials, are of great importance for the development of ethical governance. In general, the article demonstrates how historical concepts of public administration form the foundations of modern management theory, contributing to the improvement of management practices in the context of global changes, social and political transformations. The key trends in the development of public administration are identified, and the need to improve management methods and principles for effective adaptation to a changing environment is substantiated.