Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a widespread livelihood activity across Sub-Saharan Africa, characterised by low-tech, labour-intensive methods for extracting minerals such as gold, gemstones and cobalt. Engaging millions of miners, ASM contributes substantially to rural incomes, poverty alleviation and national economies while frequently operating in informal or unregulated contexts. Economic drivers include scarcity of agricultural land, volatile commodity prices and limited alternative employment. The sector’s dynamics are shaped by local governance, land-tenure conflicts, access to markets and evolving regulatory frameworks. Environmental impacts range from deforestation and soil erosion to the release of mercury and cyanide in gold processing, posing risks to human health and ecosystems. Labour relations vary from independent family units to complex networks involving intermediaries, sometimes giving rise to exploitative practices and child labour. Recent policy efforts aim to formalise operations, improve community engagement and enhance environmental safeguards, yet challenges persist in balancing livelihoods, sustainability and regulatory compliance. Growing global demand for minerals critical to clean-energy technologies has intensified attention on ASM’s social and ecological footprint, underscoring the need for multidisciplinary approaches that address both opportunities for wealth creation and the vulnerabilities inherent in artisanal supply chains.

Research from Nature Portfolio

A study of the 2016 sapphire rush in eastern Madagascar employed counterfactual modelling to assess forest change, revealing that mining activity did not accelerate deforestation compared with other regional pressures. Field interviews and wildlife surveys further indicated limited impact on lemur populations, challenging assumptions of uniformly severe environmental damage. These findings underscore the heterogeneity of ASM’s ecological effects and advocate for context-specific, evidence-based policies that account for local interactions among mining, biodiversity and community livelihoods.

Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in artisanal and small-scale mining dynamics in sub-saharan africa across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM): Low-technology, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing, often informal and locally organised.

Amalgamation: A process of combining mercury with ore to capture fine gold particles, leading to mercury-laden waste.

Retort: A device for heating mercury-gold amalgam to recover metal, thereby reducing airborne mercury emissions.

Cyanidation: A chemical leaching method using cyanide solutions to dissolve and extract gold from ore.

References

1. Changing priorities, shifting narratives: Remapping rural livelihoods in Africa's artisanal and small-scale mining sector. Journal of Rural Studies (2022).
2. No evidence of increased forest loss from a mining rush in Madagascar’s eastern rainforests. Communications Earth & Environment (2024).
3. Mercury mitigation and unintended consequences in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Resources Conservation and Recycling (2023).
4. The lifeways of small-scale gold miners: Addressing sustainability transformations. Global Environmental Change (2023).
5. Integrated Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana — Part 3: Social Sciences and Economics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2015).