Working Together: How Large-scale Mining can Engage with Artisanal and Small-scale Miners
1 February 2010
This guidance aims to help large-scale mining (LSM) companies understand the nature of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities being undertaken in their operating regions, and to identify appropriate models for engagement with artisanal and small-scale miners. This will pave the way for better relationships between ASM and LSM and lead to more secure operating environments for both company operations and surrounding ASM.
- ASM activities occupy a spectrum from small, informal subsistence activities through to organized formal small commercial mining activities. This guidance document addresses the spectrum of ASM activities and a variety of LSM enterprise sizes.
- This guidance document is split into two sections:
- Section one provides an overview of ASM and the business case for engagement between ASM and LSM.
- Section two provides tools and approach that LSM can utilise in their engagement with ASM.
- A range of tools are provided – ranging from conflict resolution and resettlement through to technical assistance and support for formalisation policies – reflecting the diversity of relationships between ASM and LSM around the world.
- Many of the tools and approaches defined in this guidance document support collaboration and promotion of ASM. In some cases, however, there are factors that an LSM company cannot manage in isolation, such as organized crime, forced labour or violence, and these must first be addressed by relevant stakeholders before broader engagement can take place.
- The tools and approaches presented in this guidance document are intended to help companies build stronger and more effective engagement with ASM miners. Engagement strategies will work best when they are tailored to specific conditions.