Artisanal gold mines near Dodoma, Tanzania. Makeshift sails lead fresh air underground.
An artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM) is a subsistence miner who is not officially employed by a mining company, but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand.[1]
Small-scale mining includes enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but generally still using manually-intensive methods, working with hand tools.
Interior of an artisanal mine near Low's Creek, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The human figures, exploring this mine, show the scale of tunnels driven entirely with hand tools (two-kilogram (4.4 lb) hammer and hand-forged scrap-steel chisel).
Artisanal miners often undertake the activity of mining seasonally—for example crops are planted in the rainy season, and mining is pursued in the dry season. However, they also frequently travel to mining areas and work year-round. There are four broad types of ASM: permanent artisanal mining, seasonal (annually migrating during idle agriculture periods), rush-type (massive migration, pulled often by commodity price jumps), and shock-push (poverty-drive, following conflict or natural disasters).[2]
ASM is an important socio-economic sector for the rural poor in many developing nations, many of whom have few other options for supporting their families. Over 90% of the world's mining workforce are ASM. There are an estimated 40.5 million men, women and children directly engaged in ASM, from over 80 countries in the global south. 20% of the global gold supply is produced by the ASM sector, as well as 80% of the global gemstone and 20% of global diamond supply, and 25% of global tin production.[3] More than 150 million depend on ASM for their livelihood. 70–80% of small-scale miners are informal, and approximately 30% are women, although this ranges in certain countries and commodities from 5% to 80%.[4]
^"Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining". Intergovernmental Forum. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
^"Addressing Forced Labor in Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM)" (PDF). responsiblemines.org. 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
^"Global Trends in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM): A review of key numbers and issues". IISD. 20 January 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
^"Women and Artisanal Mining: Gender Roles and the Road Ahead" (PDF). siteresources.worldbank.org. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM) is a subsistence miner who is not officially employed by a mining company, but works independently, mining...
mining. Artisanal small-scale mining operations are labour-intensive mining because miners do not use machinery to extract the metals. Informal mining occurs...
and most artisanalmining takes place elsewhere, where it is common for artisanal miners to trespass onto industrial sites to work. Artisanal miners at...
centuries, most volume of mining was done by large corporations. However, the value of gold has led to millions of small, artisanal miners in many parts of...
contrast to an industrial process, such as in the phrase artisanalmining. Thus, "artisanal" is sometimes used in marketing and advertising as a buzz...
Mineral extraction in the country is done both via industrial mining and artisanalmining, and both methods of production have had profound impacts on...
electronics "occurred as warlords and armies in the eastern Congo converted artisanalmining operations ... into slave labour regimes to earn hard currency to finance...
cement lids sealing off the mine shafts, there is evidence that some artisanalmining still goes on here. A United Nations inter-agency mission, led by the...
fish stocks in the area. Both forestry operations and the earlier artisanalmining both removed ground cover and likely increased sediment content in...
estimated 15,000 tons of tin, or 4% of global production. In early 2018 artisanalmining activity has stopped, and Alphamin Resources Corp., an exploration...
contains two mines, the main Mutanda mine and the Shabara mine, where artisanalmining (digging by hand) takes place. The mine is owned by Glencore. Acquisition...
80% from industrial copper mines, and the remaining 20% gathered by artisanalmining. The Katanga, or Shaba, copperbelt in the DRC is a belt about 70 kilometres...
Mining in El Salvador expanded in scope from artisanalmining to industrial mining at a mine in San Sebastián in the 1970s. Chemicals from that mine polluted...
activities as artisanal miners and traders were to a certain extent protected by local political and customary elites. The problem with the artisanal miners...
working in the mining and quarrying industries saw an 11 percent increase in revenues every year (in 2008). Under the SMMRP, artisanalmining is part of community...
These initiatives are already taking place with major mining companies, artisanal and small-scale mining companies (ASM). Car manufacturers and battery manufacturer...
intertwined in Congo, as mining for copper and cobalt creates a biodiversity loss as green covers are cleared for constructing artisanal mines and roadways...
can still be shot on sight. Chegga has since become a center of artisanal gold mining by Mauritanians and Malians using hand tools. "de Vries". Retrieved...
separated into two main types of mining: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) and large-scale public-private mining. Artisanal and small-scale operations...
1900s, but diamond mining continues. In 2013, India mined 37,515 carats of diamonds, from one industrial-scale mine and many artisanal mines; this was less...
key industries are services, especially in urban areas, along with artisanalmining and livestock herding. Osun is home to several of Nigeria's most famous...
coastal mining. It operates in 35 countries with mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. It also has an artisanalmining business...
deposits were largely unexplored. According to the Eritrean government, artisanalmining in 1998 collected 573.4 kilograms of gold, however the number of gold...
mercury is still used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). One mechanism by which mercury is employed in hydraulic mining is as an "undercurrent"...
Districts. In the Kono, Kenema, Bo and Pujehun Districts there are 1,700 artisanalmining licenses in operation. In 2009 the government recorded exports of 400...
often dangerous and detrimental to the surrounding ecosystems. Because artisanalmining is prohibited under federal law, the methods employed are often crude...
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