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Liberalisation of the Gold Mining Sector in Burkina Faso

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  • Sabine Luning

Abstract

Since the liberalisation of the gold mining sector in the 1990s, the state of Burkina Faso has the task of allotting exploration and exploitation permits to private companies. International junior companies are exploring vast concessions in Burkina, and publish promising prospects on the internet. Scrutinising the presence of (inter)national companies both on the web and on the ground, the article shows how a set of concessions constitutes a ‘field’, defined as a system of social positions structured in terms of power relations. Concessions bring together a wide range of professionals in mining: potential investors, international companies, Burkinabe entrepreneurs and artisanal miners. The article describes how legal distinctions affect the power structure of working arrangements on one particular group of exploration permits in the central part of Burkina, currently held by the Canadian company High River Gold: the Bissa permit Group. It examines what happens on the ground when companies are allotted formal titles, whereas artisanal miners can at best aspire to obtain marginal places for their informal practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabine Luning, 2008. "Liberalisation of the Gold Mining Sector in Burkina Faso," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(117), pages 387-401, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:35:y:2008:i:117:p:387-401
    DOI: 10.1080/03056240802411016
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    Cited by:

    1. Pokorny, Benno & von Lübke, Christian & Dayamba, Sidzabda Djibril & Dickow, Helga, 2019. "All the gold for nothing? Impacts of mining on rural livelihoods in Northern Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 23-39.
    2. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    3. Engels, Bettina, 2016. "Mining conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa: Actors and repertoires of contention," GLOCON Working Paper Series 2, Freie Universität Berlin, Junior Research Group "Global Change – Local Conflicts?" (GLOCON).
    4. Werthmann, Katja, 2017. "The drawbacks of privatization: Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso 1986–2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 418-426.
    5. Alexandre Henry, 2019. "Transmission channels of the resource curse in Africa : A time perspective," Post-Print hal-03488691, HAL.
    6. Luning, Sabine, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants, companies and communities in processes of engagements," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 205-211.
    7. Clifford, Martin J., 2011. "Pork knocking in the land of many waters: Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 354-362.
    8. Zabsonré, Agnès & Agbo, Maxime & Somé, Juste, 2018. "Gold exploitation and socioeconomic outcomes: The case of Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 206-221.
    9. Radley, Ben, 2020. "A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106512, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Drechsel, Franza & Engels, Bettina & Schäfer, Mirka, 2019. ""The mines make us poor": Large-scale mining in Burkina Faso," GLOCON Country Report Series 2, Freie Universität Berlin, Junior Research Group "Global Change – Local Conflicts?" (GLOCON).
    11. Henry, Alexandre, 2019. "Transmission channels of the resource curse in Africa: A time perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 13-20.

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