“The New Faces in African

Mining”.Sam Chikowore – Exporien Mining

Zimbabwe Mining and Infrastructure Indaba 2013.

WHO ARE THEY?

THE ARTISANAL MINERS

THE MINING CO-OPERATIVES

WOMEN MINING CO-OPERATIVES

THE JUNIOR MINING COMPANIES

THE ARTISANAL MINERS TYPICALLY NOT FORMALISED/ NOT

ORGANISED / NO BUSINESS STRUCTURE.

SAVINGS CULTURE NOT VERY COMMON- LIVING TESTIMONY OF BIBLICAL MATTHEW 6:34

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION.

NOT MUCH ATTENTION PAID TO PERSONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ISSUES.

MODEL THRIVES MOSTLY ON BLACK MARKET TRADING.

LOCALLY, NORMALLY REFERRED TO AS “AMAKOROKOZA- THE HUSTLERS.”

Good News! Slowly effort is now being made by GOVERNMENTS and stake holders in the MINING SECTOR to get this group of miners recognized, organized and formalized.

ARTISANAL GOLD MINING

MINING CO-OPERATIVES

• The International Cooperative Alliance defines a cooperative as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise.” Cooperative values are “self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity,” as well as “honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.”

• Harms (2008) explains that as cooperatives are “participative self-help organizations … members are also co-owners and have both the rights and obligations of participating in goal-setting, decision-making and control or evaluation processes of their cooperative.” Members must act as “both users and owners in the development of cooperative organizations.” Participation is required at three levels: firstly, in the provision of resources (inputs such as capital, labour, produce), in decision-making, and in receiving benefits.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MINING CO-OPERATIVESCONSOLIDATES INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS OF

GROUPS SUCH AS THE ARTISANAL MINERS. WOMEN MINING CO-OPERATIVES.NORMALLY ATTRACTS MEMBERS FROM THE

COMMUNITIES SURROUNDING THE PROJECT.MEMBERS USUALLY CONTRIBUTE CAPITAL IN

EQUAL PARTS AND ARE EQUALLY LIABLE FOR ANY LIABILITIES ARISING.

USUALLY SEMI-MECHANISED AND NOT VERY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICALLY IN THEIR OPERATIONS.

MOST PREVALENT IN GOLD AND BASE METAL AND GEMSTONE MINING.

MORE FORMALIZED & BETTER ORGANISED.

MORE ADHERENCE TO SAFEFY, HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES.

MORE INTERACTION WITH THE RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS OF GOVRNMENT:-

OFFICE OF THE MINING COMMISSIONER,

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

ENVIRONMENTAL , HEALTH & SAFETY DEPTS.

MINING CO-OPERATIVE OPERATION

WOMEN MINING CO-OPERATIVES SIMILAR TO THE MINING CO-OPERATIVES

DESCRIBED ABOVE SAVE FOR THE BIAS TOWARDS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT.

SERVES AS AN EMPOWERMENT TOOL SINCE WOMEN WERE PREVIOUSLY MAGINALIZED IN MINING SINCE THE SECTOR WAS REGARDED AS A MALE DOMAIN.

ON –GOING MECHANIZATION EFFORTS HAS HELPED INCREASE WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN MINING CO-OPERATIVES.

CONTIRBUTES TOWARDS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SINCE IT IS SAID “A DOLLAR IN THE HANDS OF A WOMAN GOES MUCH FURTHER IN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY UPLIFTMENT COMPARED TO WHAT THE SAME WOULD ACHIEVE IN THE HANDS OF A MAN.”•-disclaimer:- women are not of a homogeneous species hence the above quality will not ALWAYS prove true!WOMEN MINING CO-OPERATIVES ARE MOSTLY VIBRANT IN THE MINING OF:-

GOLD, INDUSTRIAL MINERALS & GEM STONES.

WOMEN MINING CO-OPERATIVES TAKE SERIOUSLY TO LEGISLATIVE ISSUES AROUND:-

MINE INSPECTIONS, HEALTH, SAFETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

WOMEN CO-OPERATIVES THRIVE ON :-

FOCUSED MEMBERSHIP, UNITY OF PURPOSE, COMMON GOALS AND COMMITMENT TO HARD WORK.

WOMEN MINING IN ACTION!

ARTISANAL and SMALL-SCALE MINING (ASM).

The mining groups described above are normally referred to as Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM.)

The table below and the given country examples attempt to demonstrate the impact the ASMs have on their country’s economies.

Country No. ASM Operators Estimated Dependants

Angola 150,000 900,000Burkina Faso 200,000 1,000,000Central African Republic 400,000 2,400,000Chad 100,000 600,000Côte d’Ivoire 100,000 600,000Democratic Republic of the Congo 200,000 1,200,000Eritrea 400,000 2,400,000Ethiopia 500,000 3,000,000Ghana 1,100,000 4,400,000Guinea 300,000 1,500,000Liberia 100,000 600,000Madagascar 500,000 2,500,000Mali 400,000 2,400,000Mozambique 100,000 1,200,000Niger 450,000 2,700,000Nigeria 500,000 2,500,000Sierra Leone 300,000 1,800,000Sudan 200,000 1,200,000Tanzania 1,500,000 9,000,000Uganda 150,000 900,000Zimbabwe 500,000 3,000,000Sources: Estimates based on CASM, ASM statistics for Africa.

Country Examples of ASM impact on the Economy.

Central African Republic- using conservative multiplier effects, as much as $144.7 million may be injected into the economy from informal artisanal diamond mining revenues and spin-off economic enterprises.

When indirect labour, induced employment, and fertility rates (4.6 percent) are considered, about two-thirds of the women, men, and children in the Central African Republic may directly or indirectly rely on artisanal diamond mining.

Liberia- there are an estimated 50,000–75,000 artisanal diamond miners in Liberia, of whom about 10–20 percent are women, most of whom pan for gold at diamond sites. If half of their combined income is spent on local goods and services, more than $13.5 million may be injected into local economies, creating markets for locally grown or supplied products and increasing the cash component of household incomes. This ASM-injected capital may further stimulate local formal and informal enterprises to contribute an additional $33.75 million to local economies.

Mozambique- a study was conducted in the Manica Province, near the Zimbabwean border.The area has a population of roughly 1.4 million ,and the study focused on the following community the Nhamachato Village, where approximately 75 percent of the community house holds are involved in ASM (of which 30 percent are women) and about 70 percent of their income is thought to come from mining;

Tanzania- roughly 1 million may be involved in ASM—approximately 25 percent of whom are women—and that direct and secondary employment from ASM may exceed 7 million Tanzanians, or 31.5 percent of the country’s working-age population. �

Uganda- almost 200,000 women (45 percent) and men (55 percent) are engaged in artisanal mining of gold, tin, coltan, wolfram, and a range of industrial minerals. The average miner is estimated to contribute almost 20 times more to GDP than those employed in farming, fishing, and forestry. In 2008, informal(uncaptured) estimates of gold, tin, coltan, and wolfram sales suggested that ASM was actually the country’s third highest foreign exchange earner. Its contributions are expected to have grown since, with increased commodity prices and the rising number of artisanal miners.

Clearly, ASM has the potential to be an engine for development. A number of critical factors determine whether this potential can be realized, among them the need to formalize ASM; redress the poor culture of savings and skills to professionalize operations; increase access to suitable micro-financing and appropriate, intermediate technologies; and ensure that any efforts to tackle these issues equitably benefit women and men.

JUNIOR MINING COMPANIESA junior mining company usually has no mining

operations and is essentially a venture capital company. It must rely almost entirely on the capital markets to finance its exploration activities [I say "almost entirely" because some juniors derive their financing from private sources, who are usually prepared to offer risk capital]. These junior miners then normally graduate to the next category up: mid-tier producers. These are generally junior companies that have decided to go into production on properties that they have discovered.

It is anticipated that junior exploration companies will be the major source of future mine supply. They find promising properties, prove the resource- the raw material and bring mines into production. With highly trained geologists, geophysicists and engineers on staff, it is the junior mining company that typically is best positioned to determine whether a property is economically viable. Juniors are critical players in the early stages, bridging the long lag time between when a new deposit is found and when it is brought into production.

IN CONCLUSION...

ARTISANAL AND SMALL SCALE MINING (ASM) PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION MOSTLY TO RURAL COMMUNITIES WHO ARE WITHIN PROXIMITY TO EASILY MINEABLE AREAS, WITH COMMODITIES ATTRACTIVE TO ASM.

ASM ARE A MAJOR EMPLOYMENT CREATOR IN AREAS WHERE THERE IS COMMUNITY MINING ACTIVITY.

ASMs MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY’S GDP.

COMMUNITIES ARE EMPOWERED AROUND ASM PROJECTS.

HOWEVER ASMs CAN BE A THREAT TO FOOD SECURITY (AT FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LEVEL )AS AGRICUTURAL ACTIVITY IS OFTEN ABANDONED IN FAVOUR OF MINING WHICH HAS FASTER RETURNS.

MERCURY POLLUTION FROM GOLD PROCESSING STILL REMAINS A MAJOR THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH ITS ENTRY INTO THE WATER SOURCES AND THE ATMOSPHERE.

LAND DEGRADATION REMAINS WORRYSOME AS UGLY SCARS ARE LEFT ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WITH WATER WAYS FACING IMMINENT SILTATION.

GOVERNMENT THEREFORE NEED TO TAKE URGENT STEPS TO FORMALIZE THE ASM IN ORDER TO OPEN DEFINED COMMUNICATION CHANNELS SO AS TO CURB SOME OF THE SHORT-COMINGS OF THE ASM.

ON THE OTHER HAND THE JUNIOR MINING COMPANIES WILL PLAY THE BRIDGING ROLE BETWEEN ASM AND THE BIG MINING COMPANIES.

AS WORLD ECONOMICS NOW AND GOING AHEAD DEMAND MORE AGILE AND SWIFT TRANSACTIONS, THE ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING IN SYMBIOSIS WITH THE JUNIOR MINING COMPANIES, REFLECT THE FACE OF AFRICAN MINING NOW AND GOING INTO THE FUTURE.

THE END.

THANK-YOU!