Mining Policy Research Articles

The Impact of Regulations and Laws Governing on Solid Minerals Exploitation in Three African Countries: A Literature Review

Mining companies from around the world play an important role in socio-economic development in Africa. These mining companies generate revenues for the governments, which create physical and social infrastructure and provide other essential services. However, this objective is not achieved in some cases due to many factors, including inadequate regulations and lack of enforcement of the mining codes. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the environmental laws, rules, and mining codes that govern the exploitation of minerals like diamond and copper in Africa, as well as their relevance for the management of the mining companies by focusing on South Sudan, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Although Rwanda is not as mineral-rich as DRC and South Sudan, they all have a comprehensive mining policy that could make them a significant mineral processing and trading hub in the region. From this evaluation, it is evident that the government and mining companies have a major role to play towards environmental protection and local communities. The government of the day must enact policies and laws and ensure that they are effectively enforced. The mining companies must also adhere to the set environmental rules and efficiently use the available resources. In a nutshell, government, mining companies, and the local community must work together to attain a high-quality environment. This study aims to provide in-depth insights into various environmental laws and regulations and mining codes that exist in DRC, Rwanda, and South Sudan intended to protect the environment from the adverse effects of mining by examining whether mining laws have been relevant to mining operators.

Reconstruction of Mining Policies on Justice in Lampung Province

<p>The purpose of research is to examine the mining potentials and policies that have been implemented in Lampung Province and to reformulate mining policies in Lampung Province, which on the one hand can improve the regional economy, on the other hand while maintaining environmental sustainability. Mining resources are a source of prosperity for the region, but it requires commitment from local governments, public institutions, the private sector and the community to conduct sustainable mining management. Sustainable management is able to meet the needs of the present, in the future and improve the health, prosperity of the environment and surrounding communities. Policies that can be carried out starting from licensing, monitoring post-mining land management, managing mine waste and compiling regulations that can support the realization of green mining and environmental conservation activities. The results of this study indicate that mining management in Lampung Province provides economic value to increase local revenue. However, it must be supported by environment-based policies, because mining activities have the possibility of an environment that becomes uncontrollably damaged. Efforts that can be done by local governments are by paying attention to licensing for managers, providing guidance, supervision, so that mining activities can be controlled and not damage the environment</p><p> </p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Reformulation; Policy; Mining.</p>

Would You Fight? We Asked Aggrieved Artisanal Miners in Eastern Congo

To meet the rising demand for minerals, mining companies have ventured into fragile areas, often at the expense of artisanal miners. This has led to grievances, and at times violence. Who among the aggrieved intend to use violence? How can peace be maintained? This paper uses individual-level data to address these questions. Among a sample of 469 about-to-be-evicted artisanal miners in Eastern Congo, we inquire about the intention to engage in several forms of violence. We identify how this intention varies with miners’ past exposure to violence and attitudes towards policies that seek social peace. A large proportion of miners intends to destroy the company’s property, attack its employees, use fire arms, or join an armed group. These would-be-fighters are motivated by grievances, as well as material and social incentives. Our results contribute to understanding the micro-motivations underpinning the local resource curse and entail concrete lessons for mining policies.

Artisanal mining policy reforms, informality and challenges to the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra Leone

In recent years, governments, donors and policy makers across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have increasingly realised the potential of formalizing and supporting artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low tech, labour-intensive mineral processing and extracting. A significant body of evidence suggests that ASM has become the most important rural non-farm activity across SSA, and by making it the centrepiece of new rural development strategies being launched across the continent, it could help governments meet a number of targets linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focusing on the West African country of Sierra Leone, this paper explores recent reforms to ASM, examining both their potential to support a formalized sector, and to make contributions to the SDGs. In doing so, two broad sets of formalization reforms that have taken place, or are underway, are analysed. First, the paper examines Sierra Leone’s legal, policy and regulatory reforms that have shaped the development of a number of laws and policies, including the Mines and Minerals Act of 2009. Second, it analyses institutional reforms resulting from the splitting of policy making and regulatory functions, especially the decentralization of the artisanal mining licencing process. The paper argues that beneath these changes, there exists intractable continuities of informality that make reforms in the sector superficial, unsustainable, and potentially a barrier to attaining the SDGs. Underlining these continuities, the paper suggests, is the role that ASM has traditionally played in a political economy that links powerful local Chieftains with national politicians in mutually beneficial relationships, which invariably render formal state regulators such as the National Minerals Agency and Environment Protection Agency largely uncoordinated, and operationally weak. The paper concludes by arguing that that the persistence of informality in the sector needs to first be dismantled as a rational strategy for those who profit from it, and only then can sustainable mining reforms be linked to broader development initiatives, such as attaining the SDGs.

A multi-criteria based SWOT analysis of sustainable planning for mining and mineral industry in Pakistan

Lack of strategic planning in the mining and mineral industry (MMI) of Pakistan remains the core issue impeding the development of the industry. This study proposes and, respectively, prioritizes future strategies based on strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats (SWOT) analysis. The proposed strategies aim to foster the sustainable development of the MMI. An integrated approach is introduced to conduct the analysis. Initially, SWOT factors are identified through a literature survey and experts’ feedback. The importance of each element of SWOT analysis and underlying factors is quantified using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). Finally, the weightage obtained using FAHP is used in the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) to rank, prioritize, and determine the best strategies for the future development of MMI. The FAHP results reveal that the strengths and weaknesses receive almost the same priority. It is found that the factors ‘enormous mineral potential’ and ‘demand for minerals’ can drive development in MMI, whereas governmental, organizational, and economic weaknesses place hurdles in the development. The results of FTOPSIS show that the need for new mineral policy development is recognized to be the most important factor, followed, respectively, by financial support to the industry, technological advancement, and human resource development.

Approach to identification and classification of the key, strategic and critical minerals important for the mineral security of Poland

The paper presents a proposal to designate the minerals of key, strategic and critical importance for the mineral security of Poland. Based on a review of the foreign and Polish literature, differences in defining the terms in question were pointed out. Taking into account existing solutions, the authors proposed a comprehensive methodology of designating key, strategic and critical minerals for Poland. 148 individual minerals were selected for analysis. When determining the key minerals, a criterion of average value of their annual consumption in Poland in the last decade was adopted. This approach had also regard to the general tendency of consumption of a given mineral and the net import reliance index. In the case of strategic minerals, a two-stage analysis was performed. In the first stage, the identification of potentially strategic minerals that are indispensable for the sectors defined as crucial for the country's economic security (based on an expert assessment) was performed. In the second stage, for selected potentially strategic raw materials, criteria of the average consumption value in recent years and the net imports reliance were applied. This was the basis for establishing the list of strategic minerals. To identify critical minerals, the methodology developed for the European Union with some significant modifications was adopted. Primarily, all the minerals previously classified as key and/or strategic were granted the status of high economic importance in Poland, while EU’s evaluation of the value of economic importance (EI) indicator was disregarded. Additionally, the value of the supply risk index (SR), above which minerals were identified as critical, was slightly reduced in relation to that adopted for the European Union, i.e. from 1.0 to 0.9. On the basis of the analysis conducted, three lists comprising 42 key, 24 strategic and 17 critical minerals indispensable for the Polish economy development were proposed. Identification of these minerals is of fundamental importance for further works on the Mineral Policy of Poland.

Mining-induced violent resistance: the case of salt mining near Keta lagoon

ABSTRACT There has been an upsurge in mining-induced violent resistance within the vicinity of Keta lagoon in Ghana that questions the legitimacy of ongoing large-scale salt production by Kensington Salt Industries Ltd. Between 2013 and 2017, there was a series of violent protests and clashes at Adina and adjoining communities at the eastern banks of Keta lagoon, leading to deaths and to destruction of the company’s property and equipment. The upsurge of mining-induced violent resistance in Keta follows the displacement of thousands of indigenes and growing state preference for large-scale projects in the salt sector. The article thus questions the credibility of the company’s permits and calls on relevant state agencies to engage Kensington and the affected communities to address the outlined factors responsible for the resistance and conflict. This must be done in accordance with the minerals and mining policy framework as well as regional and continental policy initiatives that the government has committed to.

Game theory for analyzing and improving environmental management in the mining industry

The interactions, negotiations and decision-making involved in environmental sustainability in the mining industry are intricate and multi-faceted. Negotiations between communities, companies, governments and countless other stakeholders occur predominantly during the permitting stage where potential impacts are estimated, management plans are established, site remediation is planned, and the sharing of benefits is discussed. Game theory is a structured tool that can investigate the interactions between two or more players to understand their actions under given conditions. There are many applications of game theory in economics, environmental economics, business, policy, and sciences; however, there are limited examples of applications in the mining industry. With a multi-criteria approach, this research develops five games to explore game theory for the mining industry. The games are developed to investigate scenarios that maximize both overall sustainability and environmental sustainability. A discussion is provided on the challenges of incorporating multi-criteria as well as the general issues with modelling environmental management problems with game theory for the mining industry. Finally, this paper concludes by providing future direction for further research and mineral policy.

Reflections of desynchronized neoliberalism in artisanal and small-scale mining: evidence from Zonguldak, Turkey

This paper investigates the emergence and spread of illegal artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and explores its dynamics and socio-economic effects in Zonguldak, Turkey. The study is based on field research covering a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus group meetings and on-site observations. We argue that the emergence of illegal ASM in Zonguldak is an outcome of a temporal turn in mining policies in 1980s, namely desynchronized neoliberalism. Desynchronized neoliberalism refers to both the distinct operations of neoliberalism in different landscapes and the temporal and conflicting applications of it in a specific landscape. The non-synchronizations, which are also reflected in the current dynamics of coal extraction, allow the issue to be discussed within a mining temporalities framework. Throughout the paper, the heterogeneity and different temporal regimes of illegal ASM in Zonguldak are discussed. The historicity of mining and its consequences for the mining sector are evaluated, including people's experiences and expectations. Mining temporalities in Zonguldak are found to have both local and global characteristics that show similarities as well as differences with ASM experiences around the globe.

Mining conflicts in the European Union: environmental and political perspectives

Comprehensive knowledge on the issues contributing to mining conflicts is crucial in balancing between the exploitation of mineral deposits and local claims. We explore recent mining conflicts in the European Union using information derived from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice to improve the understanding of the potential impacts of the intensification of mining activities by the new minerals policies. The variety of causes of conflict is wide and ranges from environmental impacts to socio-economic and health concerns of the populations residing in the vicinity of the mines. While mining conflicts have arisen during all the phases of the life cycle of a mine, new mining projects have been well presented amongst the conflicts. Policy makers should increasingly pay attention to the multiple impacts that mining has had on the environment and socially, in order to be able to put the plans for increasing minerals extraction in Europe into practice.

The role of domestic policy coalitions in extractive industries' governance: Disentangling the politics of “responsible mining” in the Philippines

AbstractUnder what conditions do global regulatory norms become domesticated in highly contentious policy areas like oil, gas, and mining sectors? Departing from norm diffusion and environmental politics scholarship, the paper draws from the sociological literature on “coalition‐building” to explain the partial, uneven adoption of global regulations aimed at setting standards for corporate behavior in the context of large‐scale mining. We process trace the variation in coalitional politics in the contemporary Philippine's mining regulatory framework through a within‐case comparison of mining policies under Arroyo (2001–2010), Aquino (2010–2016), and Duterte (2016‐present) governments. We argue that the successful inclusion of civil society and mining communities into policy‐making processes can substantively contribute toward mining policies that are acceptable to those who face the socio‐environmental consequences of resource exploitation. In contrast, highly narrow governing coalitions tend to fuel resistance and enhance political opposition vis‐à‐vis large‐scale mineral extraction.

Evaluating the Energy Potential of Solar PV Located on Mining Properties in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa

The lauded Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) has achieved much in stimulating private sector investment in the renewable energy market in South Africa. Yet, 95% of electricity generated is still from a single source, the state-owned utility Eskom. This paper set out to explore the policy sphere governing electricity generation and identifying possible avenues that can contribute to a more vibrant solar energy market in the most solar abundant province of South Africa, the Northern Cape Province. Licensed mines were identified as low hanging fruit due to a large policy overlap and leeway within existing mining policy. A solar audit of these areas was performed, based on accepted multi-criteria decision analysis techniques, and found that a potential 369 TWh to 679 TWh per annum can be generated, exceeding South Africa’s current electricity usage.

Critical factors to green mining construction in China: A two-step fuzzy DEMATEL analysis of state-owned coal mining enterprises

The efficient deployment of green mining policies is an essential precondition for China to achieve its 2025 green mining construction goal. To identify the critical factors in green mining construction and help policy makers develop more effective policies, this paper conducts an overall investigation on executed green mining policies and proposes an evaluation system of green mining construction. For the sake of clarity, all the related policies has been divided into 5 categories including financial factors, regulatory factors, organizational factors, social factors and technical factors. To disentangle the interrelations between factors and ascertain the critical factors, an improved two-step fuzzy DEMATEL model is adopted for assessment with group knowledge from several long-term and experienced experts in state-owned coal mining enterprises. Results reveal that the regulatory factors and organizational factors, especially the political pressure of local governments and the administrative ranking of enterprise leader, are the critical factors to green mining construction in China, and the social factors are relatively insignificant. It can be concluded that the green mining construction is still politically driven campaign-based governance. Thus, it need priority stipulate the respective benefits and responsibilities, and then run the punitive and incentive policies such as environmental taxes, subsidies, and rewards.

Ércföldtan Magyarországon a Földtani Közlöny 150 évének tükrében

Áttekintésünk a Földtani Közlöny megszületésének 150. évfordulójára készült. Célja, hogy a folyóiratban megjelent közleményekből felépítve adjon összegzést a hazai ércföldtan eredményeiről. Áttekintettük az összes, a Közlöny hasábjain megjelent közleményt, s ebből választottuk ki azokat, amelyek valamilyen szempontból jelentős súlyban hoztak napvilágra ércföldtani információt. Úgy változtattuk az áttekintésünk területi merítését, ahogy az ország határai változtak, a történelmi Magyarországra és a mai határainkon belül eső területekre. Az időszakot a politika és történelem diktálta szakaszokra tagoltuk, amelyek egyúttal az állam gazdasági struktúrájában, ezen belül ásványvagyon politikájában fellépő változásokat is tükrözték. A mai országhatáron kivűl eső területeken lévő lelőhelyek esetében a magyar név mellett a ma érvényes helységneveket is feltüntettük. Az információ bőség és a terjedelmi korlát kettős szorítása miatt egy-egy (mégolyan fontos) lelőhely említésére is csak 1-2 mondatot fordíthattunk. Az ábrák néhány legfontosabbnak ítélt telepegyüttes földtani térképe, szelvénye és teleptani modellje révén mutatták be az ismeretek bővülését és az értelmezés fejlődését. Néhány általunk legjelentősebbnek vélt olyan személy nevét is kiemeltük az egyes időszakokban, akik véleményünk szerint a legfontosabb alakítói voltak a mindenkori szakmai tudásunknak. Az összes válogatásunk szubjektiv volt, amit a ma aktív szakemberek három generációját képviselő társszerző csapat önellenörző képessége útján reméltünk kordában tartani.

Rethinking the concept of small-scale mining for technologically advanced raw materials production

The purpose of this paper is conceptual analysis and critique, informing development of a modern technologically-advanced small-scale mining (SSM) concept. The need for SSM has recently been articulated in a European mining policy context. In an attempt to secure access to minerals, European strategy includes the development of new approaches to the extraction of resources from ore deposits, including by SSM operations. However, the application of traditional thinking and definitions of small-scale mining to a European context is problematic, such that the evolution of modern smaller scale mining also requires re-thinking of the underpinning concepts. We discuss various company structures, scales of mining and their specific features. We differentiate SSM from “artisanal small-scale mining” (ASM) and discuss its relationship to “large-scale mining” (LSM). From this analysis, we distill the key features and criteria of SSM and raise important questions concerning social and environmental sustainability in relation to SSM. We suggest that greater definition of what constitutes technological small-scale mining in a European context will substantially improve further research in the development of mining solutions and contribute to the discussion on the future of mining both within and outside of Europe.

Poisoned chalice or opportunity for positive impact? an analysis of the impact of ‘inherited’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments in Kenya's titanium mining industry✰

This paper critically examines the issue of ‘inherited Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) in the mining industry, specifically in the mining of ‘solid’ minerals. It focuses on the case of titanium mining in Kwale County (Kenya), a region plagued with agonising poverty, weak mining policies and laws, issues of historical land injustices, corruption, combined with weak governance. It examines the case of Base Titanium and its CSR activities in Kwale and provides an in-depth analysis of the fate of CSR programmes when mining concerns change hands. This paper follows up on the call for more research into the matter of ‘inherited CSR’ in the mining of ‘solid’ minerals in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper faults the lack of community participation in the choice, prioritisation, design and implementation of the various CSR programmes as the critical missing element that would have otherwise minimised conflict over CSR projects in Kwale.

Divorce after hundreds of years of marriage: Prospects for coal mining in the Czech Republic with regard to the European Union

Since 2015, the Government of the Czech Republic has adopted some decisions that have altered the prospects for coal mining. In 2015 it adjusted its mineral and energy policy by allowing for lignite to be mined in a part of the North Bohemian Basin that was blocked by a political decision driven by the environmental reasons in 1991. An updated state energy policy came into force in 2015, and the government approved a new Mineral Policy of the Czech Republic in 2017. Based on these new data, it is possible to compare the coal mining concept, energy mix, and energy dependence in the Czech Republic with selected EU Member States, specifically Poland and Germany. The analysis shows that the prospects for coal use in the European Union are not only influenced by the amount of coal production in the EU Member States but also by the amount of coal imported to individual EU countries. It is also anticipated that the future of European coal production will not only be determined by geological, mining technology and economic criteria but rather by the increasingly important role of political decisions.

Community Resilience of Mining Area and Food Vulnerability in South Kalimantan

Coal mining policies and activities in addition to having a positive impact on state income, job creation and business, also have a negative impact on ecosystems and communities in the mining area. The study was conducted in two mining communities in South Kalimantan using an emic and etic approach to explore community resilience and food insecurity due to ecological changes and the impact of mining policies and activities. Coal mining policies and activities in South Kalimantan causes catastrophic floods, land damage, and crop failure on lowland rice fields that have an impact on potential food insecurity at the household and community level. The pattern of community resilience in the two communities is in the form of social movements as a form of social adaptation, and agricultural land recovery and changing agricultural commodities as a form of ecological adaptation. The process of community resilience in the two communities is at the level of recovery towards a stable community condition, not yet at the transformation stage. Community capability is the most influential factor on the degree of community resilience so that the handling of food insecurity based on community resilience needs to be done by developing strategies to increase community capability.

Green mining policy for environmental protection and sustainable development

Environmental protection is an inevitable choice for the sustainable development of human society. According to EPA data, 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the industrial areas. The mining is one of the main source of greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve sustainable economic development and ecological environmental protection, the miningindustry must be green. The developed countries have taken policies related to green mining since the 1970s and have already achieved great results. At present, the developing countries such as China have also adopted a series of various legal and institutional measures related to the mining, but it is still not perfect compared with the developed countries, and there are still serious environmental pollution problems.Therefore, this paper will discuss the causes of the environmental problems in mining and the green mining policies of some developed countries, and analyze the current situation of China’s mining industry. Finally, this paper proposed a green mining policy model for in developing countries such as China for environmental protection and sustainable development.

Productivity growth and policy changes: A decomposition analysis of Indian metallic mining

Indian mining sector adopted the National Mineral Policy in 1993 and fully open up for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2005. Prior to 1993, private participation in mining operation was restricted, and public sector played a dominant role in mineral exploration. Metallic minerals hold a vital position in the Indian mining sector and fulfil the input demand of industrial sector by supplying basic raw materials. This paper attempts to estimate and analyse the productive performance of the Indian metallic mining sector by decomposing the total factor productivity (TFP) growth into different components using firm‐level data for the period 1988–89 to 2014–15. Furthermore, the possibility of changes in productivity and its constituent components in different policy regimes have been unravelled. The analysis shows that the average TFP growth of the metallic mining is 0.07% during the study period, which is largely due to technological progress and technical efficiency change. However, TFP growth has declined from 0.28% in 1989–2005 to −0.33% in the period during complete allow of FDI. The decomposition of TFP growth using stochastic production frontier reveals that decline in productivity is due to change in scale efficiency and allocative efficiency components. It could be suggested that to improve the productivity growth further, metallic mining should upgrade to advance technology in operation and take the benefit of the scale factor.