It never ceases to amaze me how little people know about small-scale mining. How is it, after more than 40 years after surfacing in the international development lexicon, that we are still reviewing the most basic of questions? I am talking about questions such as: What is small-scale mining? Why is it such a problem? and How can we formalize the industry’s operators? I find myself shaking my head as these, and similar, questions are being asked in the middle of yet another workshop that is rapidly morphing into a discussion focused on the theme ‘What, exactly, are we dealing with?’.
At this particular event, there are some of the usual suspects – myself included – who eat and breathe small-scale mining, publishing papers on a range of the industry’s many interesting but poorly understood nuances in an attempt, in the short-term, to raise its profile, and in the long-term, to secure it the donor support it rightly deserves. But it seems that, every 2 years or so, a new crop of people from the donor, policymaking and NGO communities, each with a peripheral interest in the sector but who are intrigued nonetheless, emerge on to the scene. And so, we must again revisit the basic questions that were posed at the beginning of this exercise four decades ago: What is small-scale mining? Why is it such a problem? and How do we formalize its operators?
The only logical conclusion I can come up with as to why we constantly press the reboot button and start over again is that no one is interested, apart from the handful of people committed to doing research on the subject, in bringing ASM into core international development policies and programs. This is why, time and time again, we host workshops on ASM which take us back to the Stone Age. This is why, time and time again, we invite disinterested and disconnected African ministers to these workshops, where they proceed to deliver presentations, which always run over the allocated time, and talk about mundane points that they believe they have acquired a sound knowledge of from the confines of their air-conditioned officers. This is why, time and time again, we host workshops on ASM which yield the same unproductive conclusions which, if implemented, would not advance the agenda one iota. The same messages we have relayed over the past 20 years, such as ‘We need more transparency in this sector’ and ‘More miners need to be licensed’, were resonating at this particular event.
It is hard not to have a preconceived idea of what to expect at this events. What gets me through most, however, is the exuberance and naivety of the new crop of peripherals. In response to my criticisms, which I do a poor job of hiding, I am told things like ‘This is a new direction for development, so be patient’ and ‘The World Bank is here, so it must be serious’. One delegate told me, in what seemed like an effort to reassure me that things are improving, that ‘We are even lucky that small-scale mining got on the agenda…this is the 10th year of these meetings and it was only a last minute decision that led to its inclusion’. It was as if I was supposed to be grateful that we are having some dialogue about small-scale mining, despite being one of the most important development issues today. But if not for this enthusiasm, the energy and excitement expressed by people who seem to have discovered something new, I think I would be more cynical than I am which, at this point, seems impossible. One cannot help but get excited when others come on board, presenting new ideas about ‘directions we should go’, ‘what donors must do’ and ‘where we should carry out work’. One delegate even said to me, half-excitedly, that ‘we need to build on this, to do some work on small-scale mining so by the next meeting, we have some valuable experiences to share’.
I only hope that this materializes: that we will be reconnecting with this same seemingly-passionate group next time. Or will we be pressing the reset button yet again, welcoming another curious but intrigued support cast?
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