Small-Scale Gold Mining and the State in the Philippines

Abstract

This chapter analyses the expansion of informal small-scale mining (SSM) in the southern Philippines against the background of open-ended, contested processes of state formation. It is first demonstrated that the expansion of informal SSM has, somewhat counter-intuitively, gone hand in hand with a consolidation of local state structures. The parallel processes of SSM expansion and state expansion are epitomised by the emergence of a joint extraction regime that connects local miner-politicians to SSM interests. It is then argued that this joint extraction regime is a logical outcome of a longstanding tradition of decentralised state-building, which is, however, now at risk of being undermined by the expansion of large-scale mining forwarded by the national government, with potentially significant consequences for socio-political stability.