Mining In Africa Research Articles

Management Gaps in the Implementation of Legislation Regulating Derelict and Ownerless Mines in South Africa

Little attention has been paid to the rehabilitation of derelict and ownerless mines in South Africa after their lifespan. This paper aims to explore management gaps in legislation that have resulted in the non-rehabilitation of derelict and ownerless mines in South Africa. There is growing evidence that supports the distressing effects of mining on people living around these mines in the North West Province. This paper was motivated by the current socio-economic status quo of old mining towns, the influx of illegal miners (Zama Zamas), severe environmental damages, and the violence associated with derelict mines. Underpinning this research was an ecosystem approach and integrated resources management principles, which formed the foundation for the decision-making process.The researcher used a mixed-method approach and employed convergent techniques. A semi-structured instrument was used to collect data from 200 respondents. The results indicated that there is a dire need for community-based consultative processes, and an absence of clear guidelines for derelict and ownerless mines to pressure mine management to adhere to rehabilitation standards. Moreover, the mining charter is ambiguous regarding policy implementation, budgetary allocation, and duration of the rehabilitation of these mines. The paper concluded that management challenges associated with derelict mines can be reduced if all stakeholders follow the guidelines as outlined in the environmental legislative framework (NEMA) of South Africa while being open to innovations in line with international best practices. It also contributes towards the development of guidelines for the management and implementation of legislation related to derelict and ownerless mines in South Africa from a philosophical, theoretical, and policy perspective.

Mechanization of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Guinea: Socio-technical trajectory of a rural mining site in Upper Guinea

Since the beginning of the 21st century, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in West Africa has undergone intensification and significant development due to the introduction of increasingly mechanized extraction and processing method. Mechanization generates significant transformations in the socio-technical dynamics of artisanal gold mining. In the specific context of ASGM in Upper Guinea, the article argues that small-scale innovations (ie. ‘low noise’ or ‘low technological level’ innovations) are leading to a profound socio-economic transformation of the rural environment over a long period of time. We begin by describing and analyzing the impact of the introduction of minor innovations (metal detectors, solonins and fan motors) on ASGM practices. We then examine the political, social and economic changes brought about by the adoption of these new mechanized practices, again at the rural level. Finally, we discuss the transition toward a new socio-technical regime, questioning the reshaping of local governance and its impact on new configurations of land ownership and use in rural areas.

Does Board Gender Diversity Influence SDGs Disclosure? Insight from Top 15 JSE-Listed Mining Companies

An assessment was made halfway into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda period, and the findings indicated a slower than anticipated pace towards the implementation of the SDGs agenda. One of the possible causes of the slower pace is a lack of strong governance mechanisms such as gender diversity, sustainability committees, and board sustainability experience in institutions. The study sought to investigate the influence of board gender diversity on SDGs disclosure amongst the top 15 JSE-listed mining companies in light of their contribution towards the attainment of this global agenda. Mining in South Africa affects about nine percent of the country’s population. The study was anchored on the agency and the stakeholder theories. This is quantitative research which employed a keyword search to measure SDGs disclosure in the annual integrated reports for the sampled companies from 2019 to 2023. The study hypothesised that there is a significant positive relationship between a female-dominated board and SDGs disclosure in the sampled companies. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, as well as regression analysis were employed. The results established a lack of significant evidence of a positive or negative relationship between gender diversity and SDGs disclosure, a significant positive relationship between board size and SDGs disclosure, and no relationship between board independence and SDGs disclosure in the sampled mining companies. It was concluded that board gender diversity in corporate boards in the top 15 JSE-listed mining companies has no impact on the SDGs disclosure. The study recommends including more moderating factors and conducting more empirical studies towards the attainment of conclusive results in this space.

A voluntary walk to the cemetery? Understanding the migration of Basotho men into the violent and illegal mining in South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper aims to demonstrate the dangers that Basotho men are exposed to in the illegal mining industry in South Africa, as well as to understand the factors responsible for their migration into this industry despite the apparent dangers. It shows that Basotho men have a long history of migrating to the South African mines in search for employment opportunities. The end of the twentieth century saw job opportunities for Basotho in South African mines diminish, mainly due to the closure of some mines. In desperation, Basotho men resorted to working illegally in the closed mines. This is not only illegal, but also risky and continues to see Basotho men lose their lives in large numbers as a result of mine accidents and gang-related conflicts. Despite loss of life at alarming rates, Basotho men are not deterred and continue to join this illegal and dangerous industry. Those already in the illegal mining industry have become so accustomed to their risky way of life that they are unlikely to abandon the industry and go back to Lesotho. There are various factors, economic and social, that explain this ‘irrational’ migration.

Socio-environmental impacts of mineral mining and conflicts in Southern and West Africa: navigating reflexive governance for environmental justice

Socio-environmental impacts of mineral mining and conflicts in Southern and West Africa: navigating reflexive governance for environmental justice

The status of extended reality technology in South Africa's mining industry

The economic upheaval of COVID-19 forced companies to invest in emerging technologies to aid recovery. One such technology is extended reality, which is becoming a mature and innovative tool. Early adopters are seeing significant benefits in learning, training, immersive data visualization, and remote assistance. In South Africa, the mining industry is increasingly interested in using extended reality to optimize and innovate operations. The Minerals Council of South Africa's July 2021 report highlighted the potential of extended reality's to achieve zero-harm production and modernize the industry. However, the extent of extended reality adoption in mining remains unclear due to limited information on its usage. This study addressed this gap by distributing an online survey to assess awareness, knowledge, and current uses of extended reality in South Africa's mining sector. The results indicated that virtual and augmented reality had the highest levels of awareness and usage, primarily for learning and training. Mixed reality, however, had the lowest awareness and knowledge levels. In terms of applications, visualization and remote assistance had the least use cases. These findings highlight that the South African mining industry is deficient in its understanding and use of extended reality technologies. Without better awareness and application, the South African industry risks missing out on the full benefits of extended reality. The study underlines the need for the South African mining industry to improve its outlook on extended reality technologies to fully leverage their potential applications and benefits.

A conceptual framework for reframing artisanal and small-scale mining: understanding characterization of artisanal and small-scale mining in South Africa

The categorization of artisanal and small-scale mining has a significant impact on perception and understanding of the sector, particularly from a livelihood perspective. Several developing countries classify different types of artisanal and small-scale mining based on legal status. Given the nature such activities, the tragedy of the commons theory has been applied to understand the inevitable environmental, economic, sociocultural, safety, and health negative externalities - which are products of informality and illegality. Consequently, formalization is a panacea to sustainability. This article aims to offer a conceptual organization and foundational knowledge for characterization of artisanal and small-scale mining. It seeks to identify existing literature on the subject to avoid replication and acknowledge other scholars. Moreover, the article aims to place the study within the context of existing literature, establishing relationships with other studies and why the research is necessary. This paper pinpoints gaps left from other studies in so far as the characterization of artisanal and small-scale mining is concerned. Thus, reviewing literature abetted in finding similarities and differences on how artisanal and small-scale mining is defined from a scholarly and legal basis. The paper ascertains major claims made by earlier research on this topic, such as environmental impacts, the lack of adequate regulatory framework, and presents querying and probing questions lacking from other studies.

Migrant labour in South Africa's mining economy: the struggle for the gold mine's labour supply, 1890-1920

Migrant labour in South Africa's mining economy: the struggle for the gold mine's labour supply, 1890-1920

Labour control through risk and profit-sharing: Social inequalities and exploitation through artisanal and small-scale mining in Ghana

Despite the expanse of studies on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Africa, discussions on how the organization of workers and the division of work tasks influence labour outcomes in the sector remain marginal. There are growing concerns that ASM may account for rising income inequalities in communities. Using a case study from Ghana and relying on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with miners and other stakeholders, this paper examines processes of labour exploitation and domination in ASM. It is revealed that ASM labour processes facilitate capitalist accumulation among elites as the organization of work in the sector is moulded around pre-existing social identities and relations. The production of social differences, such as class and gender, is integral to labour exploitation, value extraction and profit accumulation in ASM. The deeply entrenched patriarchal system influences mining practices and facilitates the domination of women in ASM, producing inequalities between men and women. It is argued that capital-labour social relations underpin extractive activities in the sector hence the need to recognize ASM as a capitalist form of production. The paper concludes that the development potential of ASM will not be realized without addressing the persistent gender inequities and prevalence of exploitative relationships in the sector.

Detecting and Monitoring Artisanal Mining Operations in Semi-Arid Terrain Using Multitemporal SAR Data for InSAR Coherence Estimation and Unsupervised Classification

Abstract. The impact of artisanal mining in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries are often huge as they leave trails of environmental and socio-economic effects on the people and the environment. 123 Multi-temporal SAR data acquired between 2019 and 2023 was used. SARPROZ was used to co-register the images and other preprocessing steps like radiometric and geometric correction to transform the images from SAR coordinates to geographic coordinates after generating all the interferograms. A stack of the 122 coherence map was created. Unsupervised classification was implemented on the stack. Principal component analysis of dimensionality reductions method yielded a far better result than the other unsupervised cluster methods attempted, it showed a very high classification accuracy of the terrain. The principal component analysis worked by computing the covariance matrix of the stacked coherence map then performed eigen-decomposition on it to yield eigenvectors and eigenvalues, The eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues represent the principal components. These principal components capture the directions of maximum variance, and the eigenvectors provides a reduced-dimensional representation of the image stack which is then used to reconstruct an approximation of the original image that captures the essential features of the original SAR data. Backscatter intensity of the SAR images processed for this study period for unsupervised change detection and land cover classification, delineated the different features and classes based on long term coherence values.

The race for critical minerals in Africa: A blessing or another resource curse?

There is currently an exponential growth in the global demand for critical minerals, particularly lithium, to meet clean energy and decarbonisation objectives. However, sustainable supply of these minerals is at risk due to declining ore grades, available extraction and processing technologies, socio-environmental concerns, and geopolitical challenges. Africa hosts substantial critical minerals resources, and the continent is currently being positioned as a major global player in the critical minerals supply chain. As a result, there is a rush for Africa's critical mineral resources through investment in exploration activities and license acquisition by foreign mining companies. Drawing on the case of lithium mining in Africa, we analysed the urgency claims of critical minerals in the African context and assessed the inherent socio-ecological impacts. We found that the urgency claims of critical minerals largely serve the geostrategic and economic interests of western countries and China. The rush for Africa's critical minerals is producing significant socio-ecological impacts, including driving loss of rich biodiversity, displacement of communities and breeding new forms of illegalities in the resource sector. Based on our findings, we argue that the current race for Africa's critical mineral resources does not serve the interest of Africa and it is likely to create adverse long-term socio-ecological impacts rather than benefits for the continent unless appropriate sustainable measures, including strategic planning, are carefully considered, and fully implemented. Our findings have implications for policies seeking to promote sustainable and responsible mining in Africa, and elsewhere with similar challenges.

Leadership Coaching and Transformation in the South African Mining Sector

Leadership Coaching and Transformation in the South African Mining Sector

The Imider protest camp: resistance by repossession and lived citizenship at the global margins of Moroccan society

ABSTRACT This article delves into the eight-year protest camp of Imider (2011–2019), analyzing important shifts both in forms of resistance as well as in political subjectivity within Morocco’s protest landscape. The camp was the place/space where a historical struggle against one of the largest silver mines in Africa converged and new lived practices, relationships and subjectivities materialized. We explore the intricate connections between lived citizenship and what we term ‘resistance by repossession’. We aim to understand how meanings of citizenship are (re)made from below as a response to accumulation by dispossession and driven by the intimate ties between marginalized communities and land. In this process, activists deliberately crossed the boundaries and affinities of the nation-state in search of meanings and alliances elsewhere, highlighting the more complex spatialities of lived citizenship and resistance from the margins.

Aquatic Mercury Pollution from Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Sub-Saharan Africa: Status, Impacts, and Interventions

Mercury (Hg) pollution remains an environmental global concern due to its non-degradable and toxic nature. Natural and anthropogenic sources of Hg adversely affect the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and biological processes. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), unregulated artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) contributes up to 20% of global gold production and uses 205–496 tonnes/yr of Hg. Despite being a vital economic driver for 20–30 million people, ASGM threatens the health of aquatic systems from Hg pollution, presenting a complex challenge that demands urgent interventions. This review seeks to (1) establish the current status of aquatic Hg pollution, (2) explore the environmental impacts of aquatic Hg, and (3) highlight the proposed interventions for aquatic Hg pollution in SSA. We examined publications and institutional reports between 2000 and 2023 addressing aquatic Hg pollution, impacts, and interventions in the ASGM of SSA. Results indicate a rise in aquatic Hg pollution due to the expansion and intensification of ASGM. West Africa remained the highest contributor (50.2%), followed by Central Africa (39.6%), Southern Africa (9.6%), and Eastern Africa (<1%). Contamination of freshwater ecosystems, toxicity to aquatic biota, and environmental health risks to humans were evident. Alternative Hg-free ASGM technologies, including physical, metallurgical, and pyrometallurgical, were investigated from case studies and recommended for adoption.

Employee engagement among women in technical positions in the South Africa mining industry

The aims of this study were to investigate the factors that influence women's engagement in technical positions in the South African mining sector and to determine what could be done to promote their successful participation. A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was used to ascertain the factors that facilitate, inhibit, and influence engagement. In the quantitative phase of the study, questionnaires were circulated to women employeees; and in the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with employer representatives, most of whom were human resource personnel. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor structure (vigour, dedication, and absorption) of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale fit the sample data reasonably well. Although there is room for improvement, respondents demonstrated acceptable levels of engagement in their work. On the other hand, the qualitative findings showed that employee engagement is impacted by unfavourable working conditions, work-life balance, and the mining industry's male-dominated work culture. The findings showed that employee engagement should be elevated to a core human resource function. To increase the participation of women in mining, human resource professionals are encouraged to collaborate with mine supervisors, managers, and employees to develop programmes that promote employees' absorption in and dedication to their work.

Diamonds, risk and insurance practices in British Africa, with an emphasis on the Gold Coast and Tanganyika

ABSTRACT The literature on diamond mining in colonial Africa has focused more on labour, production and cartel-style price fixing than on how theft threatened the wealth generated from this industry. To mediate diamond loss, companies subscribed to financial insurance. This article introduces security-as-insurance to complement the received meaning of (financial) insurance and invites scholars to see security-as-insurance, risk, and value as interlocked. Drawing on sources from Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya, this article argues that once diamonds were imbued with financial value, the distribution of this value was competed for via claims over diamondiferous lands, diamond stealing, and consequently counter-theft security practices plus trans-empire (financial) insurance intended to protect the stones against risk. Overall, this article historically traces how diamonds gained value in Africa, the competing claims over diamonds following discoveries in commercial quantities, and the insurance practices enforced to protect against losses, particularly via theft in colonial Ghana and Tanzania.

Policy Guide on the Adoption of the Mining, Agricultural and Construction (MAC) Protocol in Africa: Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Mining, Agricultural and Construction Equipment

Policy Guide on the Adoption of the Mining, Agricultural and Construction (MAC) Protocol in Africa: Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Mining, Agricultural and Construction Equipment

Mobile Film Festival Africa and Postcolonial Activism

This paper enters into a debate of how new and potentially more accessible technologies might affect freedom of expression for heretofore disenfranchised peoples and postcolonial social and political development. This essay examines short films produced on camera phones by amateur African filmmakers for one of the many existent mobile phone film festivals: Mobile Film Festival Africa held in 2021. Mobile Film Festival, an annual and international festival of short-length movies, was founded in 2005 based on the principle “1 Mobile, 1 Minute, 1 Film”. Because of the highly destructive mining in Africa required to obtain the minerals necessary for mobile phone production, because of the Western narratives of progress mobile phone sales build upon, and because of the fact that mobile phones are instruments of capitalism that largely feed big Western countries, mobile phones are themselves tools of neocolonialism and digital colonialism. Thus, a film festival that markets itself as a means of social progress but that relies upon mobile phones in Africa provides an interesting and quite complicated case study. Two of the award-winning films from this festival recognize in different ways the complicated relationship between mobile phones and postcolonial activism.

Goals of Restoration Ecology and the Role of Grasses in the Processes as Seen in Southeastern Africa Restoration Projects

The goals of a “restoration” programme are often not clearly defined, which may radically influence the course of the change effected by the “restoration”. In this paper, I examine many restoration studies worldwide, the goals and the practice that was followed. Grasses often play an important role in both the succession and restoration processes. In Johannesburg, South Africa, wind-blown dust caused by gold mining was a problem in the early 20th century, so the goal was to stabilise the tailings. This was achieved by establishing vegetation on the dumps or revegetation of the land on which the tailings were deposited. Stabilisation of the Cape Flats was the goal in the late 19th century to allow easy movement along sandy roads in the region and marram grass was introduced from Europe specifically for this purpose. Revegetation with a different vegetation type is often a logical option where land use is of paramount importance. Replacement with crop plants or grasses is where the previous vegetation is replaced by an alternative land use that will be of benefit to the local people. The terms “rehabilitation” and “restoration” are often used interchangeably. Early researchers on the subject pointed out that rehabilitation is on the trajectory to full restoration or the original former state of the degraded site. In this review, the rehabilitation processes are discussed following dune mining in South Africa and at sites in Mozambique.

The effect of HelioPod™ mobility on concentrated solar thermal project economics

The production of heat for industrial processes is one of the significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, with the mining and minerals processing industry in South Africa as a substantial user of high-temperature process heat. South Africa produces 80 % of the world's manganese. The sintering of manganese in South Africa is fossil fuel intensive and emits nearly a million and a half tons of CO2 per year. Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) produces heat that can be utilised at a significantly lower cost than diesel firing, which is currently used for sintering. However, with CST being a nascent technology, most mining operations are reluctant to commit to its use. These risks can be minimised for the customer using an Energy Supply Company (ESCo or energy-as-a-service company) to provide heat to the mine.For the ESCo, one of the most significant risks is the potential for the mining customer to terminate the contract before the end of the life of the CST energy supply asset. Using a solar field based on heliostats, such as the HelioPod™, that can be redeployed presents a level of insurance against this risk. In this analysis, the economic advantage of the HelioPod™ solar field-based CST system is compared to that of a conventional permanent pedestal-based heliostat field. The comparison was made assuming early termination of the contract and scenarios where the CST facility was redeployed once or twice during the nominal life of the facility. The discounted cash flow analysis shows that reusing the heliostat field leads to significant economic improvements. The study shows that the conventional permanent heliostat system reduces the project NPV@7 % by up to 28 % compared to the HelioPod™ system with one move in the project's life.