London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Thanks Sotolo.
The amount of reports written on the negative impacts of Artisinal and Small scale mIning, aprt from being mind numbing, is inversely proportion to the effective action to remedy the stuation. There is a whole industry built of do gooders who sit in various Universities, think tanks and NGO's around the world, living off government grants and the donations of well meaning people, writing endless reports based on voluminous studies based on short field trips and analysis of remote sensing data. Part of the root problem is poverty, coupled with ignorance, and lack of employment opportunities,
In one of my frank converstions with some youths in Cote DIvoire who were robbing our wrokers daily , relieving them of all but their underwear (their productivity was abysmal!) went like this. " Well you see Mr, we were born in a prison. It wasn't our choice. There is no door out of the prison. There is a window. We can see a better world, but we can never get there. It hurts. We have no education Mr. We have no trade. We have no job. We have no money. We cannot marry the pretty girl in our villages, as we have nothing to offer. No money to her father and mother. This is how it works for us. No future. Nothings works. No work. So what do you suggest we do Mr?"
So when you donate to a NGO, judge them on their outcomes What did they achieve. How did they measure the achievement. Writing endless reports no longer gets me out of bed, or loosens a donation from me.
There will come a time when all the chickens come home to roost.
best
the Gnome
Thank you GNOME,another great and informative, if sad, post
The true cost of artisinal miing is unknown but likely to be very significant, both short and long term.
The cost to the environment is horrific. The rivers and creeks in Guyana are awash with mercury. IN the fish, IN the people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxCu_zIt0c&t=93s
"Socially and environmentally, it is impacting on the life of the surrounding communities. We are now seeing the impact. All the creeks are polluted. People have a lot more mercury in their system. The miners are back and everything is chaotic,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/node/50362
The western Amazon is being bathed from outside in mercury from the small scale miners in Peru.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aepc6z8pdCc
and bathed from the inside with mercury due to artisinal miing in the Amazon source water regions.
Corruption is pandemic. At the highest levels. Proceeeds go to foreign bank accounts (see Panama papers), are not taxed, and amount of gold won largely not known.
As gold prices soared from 2008 onwards, tens of thousands of foreign miners, especially from China, entered the small-scale mining sector in Ghana, despite it being ‘reserved for Ghanaian citizens’ by law. A free-for-all ensued in which Ghanaian and Chinese miners engaged in both contestation and collaboration over access to gold, a situation described as ‘out of control’ and a ‘culture of impunity’. Where was the state? This paper addresses the question of how and why pervasive and illicit foreign involvement occurred without earlier state intervention. Findings indicate that the state was not absent. Foreign miners operated with impunity precisely because they were protected by those in authority, that is, public officials, politicians and chiefs, in return for private payments. Explaining why state institutions failed in their responsibilities leads to reflection about the contemporary state in Ghana. It is concluded that the informality and corruption characteristic of neopatrimonialism remains predominant over legal–rational structures, albeit in a form that has adapted to neoliberal restructuring. Public office remains a means of private enrichment rather than public service. Such findings cast a shadow over the state and government in Ghana, and tarnish its celebration as a model of democratic governance for Africa.
Shut it down? Just put in proper regulations which are int heir law, but never adhered to becuase of the corruption and under-resourcing
It is truly pathetic state of affairs, and I would urge everynone to educate themselves about this, and support organisations who are trying to do something.
best
the gnome
It is similar to controlling illegal drug trafficking, legalise and make it possible for registered addicts, to buy from pharmacies undercutting the traffickers.
But difficult to get such laws passed.
But many would disagree.
.
Tibbs there is nothing new in this article as Artisanal mining has been in existence in the developing world since before the Pharaohs. Much of this is similar to what the old Western movies describe as the gold rush which is alluvial panning or digging old river beds. This type of mining is somewhat hit and miss very risky.
There have been so many attempts over the years to curb such activities when the answer is to stop prohibition and legalise and form a structure which will give the workers a proper buy in and ownership rather than allowing the smugglers and mafia types the control.
The problems are deep rooted and unless you have worked in such developing countries it is so difficult to explain how difficult it is to change. It is like one step forward and at the very least six steps backwards and that is if anyone who can get changes started is actually interested in doing something as it may or may not be in their interest.
Head and brick wall springs to mind.
I do hope one day artisanal mining is legalised world wide and the guys putting their lives at risk can then be educated, protected and benefit rather than living from hand to mouth.
Rising mineral prices and the increasing difficulties to earn a living from agriculture, have led to an explosive growth in global artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in the last few years.
The activity is emerging as an significant socio-economic sector in a number of developing nations, to the point it has become a major of revenue for millions of people in about 80 countries worldwide — mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, Central and South America — with more than 100 million people currently depending on ASM for their livelihoods.
But what are the exact costs of this activity? The folks at Moneypod have put together this infographic that reveals just that.
https://www.mining.com/infographic-true-costs-artisanal-mining/
https://youtu.be/Da75IrgnOdI
My Thoughts: Better Centamin open a few mines and provide safe, environmentally friendly gold extraction than what you'll see in this video.