IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v55y2024i1p123-156.html

Heterogeneity and Labour Agency in Artisanal and Small‐scale Gold Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Geenen
  • Divin‐Luc Bikubanya

Abstract

This article considers the broad question of how to improve the conditions of workers in artisanal and small‐scale gold mining (ASGM), which relies on predominantly informal activities. While acknowledging that formalization can provide ASGM miners with tenure security and protection of labour rights, it is important to highlight that not all workers are likely to benefit from formalization in the same way, and that decent work ambitions should extend to all workers, regardless of whether or not they are formalized. It is therefore crucial to understand the heterogeneity in the ASGM workforce. This article describes working conditions for different categories of workers based on a survey carried out in the Watsa and Shabunda territories in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It analyses labour agency and shows that workers are diversely integrated in the labour process and may use power resources in various ways. The discussion reflects on ways to consider the heterogeneity in ASGM labour and to push the ASGM agenda beyond formalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Geenen & Divin‐Luc Bikubanya, 2024. "Heterogeneity and Labour Agency in Artisanal and Small‐scale Gold Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(1), pages 123-156, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:55:y:2024:i:1:p:123-156
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12818
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12818
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12818?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy & Jønsson, Jesper Bosse, 2010. "Gold Digging Careers in Rural East Africa: Small-Scale Miners' Livelihood Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 379-392, March.
    3. Boris Verbrugge, 2015. "The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(5), pages 1023-1046, September.
    4. Jörg Nowak, 2022. "Do choke points provide workers in logistics with power? A critique of the power resources approach in light of the 2018 truckers’ strike in Brazil," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 1675-1697, September.
    5. World Bank, 2008. "Democratic Republic of Congo : Growth with Governance in the Mining Sector," World Bank Publications - Reports 8072, The World Bank Group.
    6. Gavin Hilson & Clive Potter, 2003. "Why Is Illegal Gold Mining Activity so Ubiquitous in Rural Ghana?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 15(2‐3), pages 237-270.
    7. Geenen, Sara, 2012. "A dangerous bet: The challenges of formalizing artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 322-330.
    8. Eleanor Fisher, 2008. "Artisanal gold mining at the margins of mineral resource governance: a case from Tanzania," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 199-213.
    9. Satoshi Miyamura, 2012. "Emerging Consensus on Labour Market Institutions and Implications for Developing Countries: From the Debates in India," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 97-123, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dunia Kabunga, Philippe & Geenen, Sara & Iragi Mukotanyi, Francine & Bashizi, Anuarite, 2025. "Acteurs associatifs et protection sociale dans l exploitation mini re artisanale et petite chelle: survol de la litt rature sur l est de la RD Congo," IOB Working Papers 2025.06, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    2. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & Maconachie, Roy, 2018. "Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-302.
    3. Arthur-Holmes, Francis & Ofosu, George, 2024. "Rethinking state-led formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM): Towards mining licence categorisation, women empowerment and environmental sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Kilosho Buraye, Janvier & Stoop, Nik & Verpoorten, Marijke, 2017. "Defusing the social minefield of gold sites in Kamituga, South Kivu. From legal pluralism to the re-making of institutions?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 356-368.
    5. Saldarriaga-Isaza, Adrián & Villegas-Palacio, Clara & Arango, Santiago, 2013. "The public good dilemma of a non-renewable common resource: A look at the facts of artisanal gold mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 224-232.
    6. Smith, Nicole M. & Smith, Jessica M. & John, Zira Q. & Teschner, Benjamin A., 2017. "Promises and perceptions in the Guianas: The making of an artisanal and small-scale mining reserve," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 49-56.
    7. Geenen, Sara, 2014. "Dispossession, displacement and resistance: Artisanal miners in a gold concession in South-Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 90-99.
    8. Van Bockstael, Steven, 2019. "Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 904-914.
    9. Fernando Morante-Carballo & Néstor Montalván-Burbano & Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar & Paúl Carrión-Mero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Research on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-29, July.
    10. Abdulai, Abdul-Gafaru & Buur, Lars & Stacey, Paul, 2025. "Party political campaigning and the illegal extraction of gold in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    11. Stoop, Nik & Verpoorten, Marijke & van der Windt, Peter, 2019. "Artisanal or industrial conflict minerals? Evidence from Eastern Congo," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 660-674.
    12. De Jong, Terah U. & Sauerwein, Titus, 2021. "State-owned minerals, village-owned land: How a shared property rights framework helped formalize artisanal diamond miners in Côte d’Ivoire between 1986 and 2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Rodriguez, Luz A. & Velez, María Alejandra & Pfaff, Alexander, 2021. "Leaders’ distributional & efficiency effects in collective responses to policy: Lab-in-field experiments with small-scale gold miners in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    14. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Over-spilling institutions: The political ecology of ‘greening’ the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 438-453.
    15. Goetz, Julian M., 2022. "What do we know about rural and informal non-farming labour? Evidence from a mixed methods study of artisanal and small-scale mining in Northwest Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    16. Francis Xavier Dery Tuokuu & Uwafiokun Idemudia & Eugene B. G Bawelle & John Bosco Baguri Sumani, 2020. "Criminalization of “galamsey” and livelihoods in Ghana: Limits and consequences," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 52-65, February.
    17. Keovilignavong, Oulavanh, 2019. "Mining governance dilemma and impacts: A case of gold mining in Phu-Hae, Lao PDR," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 141-150.
    18. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "The multidimensionality of exclusion in the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana: Institutional reform, landlordism, and mineral uncertainty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Saldarriaga-Isaza, Adrián & Villegas-Palacio, Clara & Arango, Santiago, 2015. "Phasing out mercury through collective action in artisanal gold mining: Evidence from a framed field experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 406-415.
    20. Dominic P. Parker & Jeremy D. Foltz & David Elsea, 2016. "Unintended consequences of economic sanctions for human rights: Conflict minerals and infant mortality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," WIDER Working Paper Series 124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:55:y:2024:i:1:p:123-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.