An artisanal miner or small-scale miner is, in effect, a subsistence miner. They are not officially employed by a mining company, but rather work independently, mining or panning for gold using their own resources. Small scale mining includes enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but generally working with hand tools.

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.

An estimated 13 - 20 million men, women, and children from over 50 developing countries are directly engaged in the artisanal mining sector

Issues in Artisanal Mining

Artisanal mining can include activities as simple as panning for gold in rivers, to as complex as development of underground workings and small scale processing plants. In any of these circumstances, issues can stem from difficulties in achieving regulatory oversight of a large number of small operations (including issues such as security of land tenure for artisanal miners, to enforcement of environment, safety standards, and labour standards).

Globally, artisanal mining contributes up to 12% or 330 tonnes of annual gold production. This gold input is equally a significant contribution to both the international gold industry and the economy for a given community. A steady rise in the price of gold from $274.45 US at the start of 2002 to 1229.88 in May 2010 appears to be reflected as an increasing number of miners undertaking this occupation.

Collaborative group on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (CASM)

CASM is a global networking and coordination facility with a stated mission to “to reduce poverty by improving the environmental, social and economic performance of artisanal and small-scale mining in developing countries.” CASM is currently chaired by the UK's Department for International Development and is housed at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Resourced by a multi-donor trust fund, CASM currently receives its core funding from the UK and the World Bank, supplemented by program support from Japan, amongst others, Canada, France and the US. Several companies, trade associations and charitable funds, such as Tiffany & Co Foundation, also contribute finances to CASM's work program. CASM funding has leveraged significant additional funding for work in the ASM sector.

In 2008, CASM produced a report on Mineral Certification. This report discussed the opportunity of using certification of origin and certification of ethical quality to stimulate sustainable development in artisanal mining communities.

International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

IPEC, a program of the ILO

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

, includes a sector of activity in "Mining and Quarrying". It notes that child labour "can still be seen in small-scale mines of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even parts of Europe". The IPEC approach focuses particularly on the development of a solid knowledge base and assessment, and working with partners for delivery of programs.

ICMM "Working Together" - How large-scale mining can engage with artisanal and small-scale miners

A significant issue in artisanal and small-scale arises when larger mining companies gain rights to develop deposits that are currently worked by artisanal minings. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has produced a guidance note for companies engaging with the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. As is noted in the introduction to this document "The fact that much of ASM activity occurs outside regulatory frameworks – whether illegal or not – can also present significant challenges for companies and regulators. There can be significant tension between ASM miners and their own governments – with companies caught in the middle."

The guidance document, which is put forward as a pilot was produced in partnership with Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM), the International Finance Corporation’s Oil, Gas, and Mining Sustainable Community Development Fund (IFC CommDev) and ICMM.

Country Specific - Ghana

In Ghana, the regulation of artisanal gold mining is set forth in the Small-Scale Gold Mining Law, 1989 (PNDCL 218). The Precious Minerals Marketing Corporation Law, 1989 (PNDCL 219), set up the Precious Minerals Marketing Corporation (PMMC) to promote the development of small-scale gold and diamond mining in Ghana and to purchase the output of such mining, either directly or through licensed buyers.