Paper short abstract:

This paper offers an overview of the changes brought to labour by new mining investors in the Congolese copperbelt over the past two decades. In doing so, it sheds new light on how new mining projects become embedded in local society, and contribute to the production of new inequalities

Paper long abstract:

Based on preliminary research, this paper offers an overview of the changes brought to labour by new mining investors in the Congolese copperbelt over the past two decades. Following the decline of the state-owned Gécamines, the population of this poor urban area started to engage in artisanal mining, allowing for the development of new marketing and processing chains. At the same time, the liberalization of the mining sector, associated with the rise of copper and cobalt prices on global markets, caused an influx of foreign companies, who started new industrial mining projects. Since then, a dozen projects have moved into operation, involving the recruitment of several thousands of workers.

To study the impact of these changes on labour in the mining sector, this paper focuses on three key issues: a) mining companies' recruitment processes, and the structuration of the labour market; b) the manner in which artisanal mining has been affected by the development of new industrial projects; and c) the political frictions that have (re-)emerged as a result of these dynamics. In dealing with these issues, the paper sheds new light on how new mining projects become embedded in local society, and at the same time contribute to the production of new inequalities and conflicts

Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the impact of the opening of an industrial gold mine on "local labor" in a provincial town of Burkina Faso. It focuses on interventions of politicians and civil society actors with regard to notions of "local content".

Paper long abstract:

For many foreign investors, Burkina Faso does not have a longstanding tradition as a part of "usable Africa". It is only since 2008 that the country is witnessing an industrial gold mining boom, which has since then led to the opening of ten industrial gold mines in the country. However, as in many other African countries, expectations in terms of benefits from large-scale resource extraction are high. Furthermore, the ongoing decentralization process and the political regime change due to a popular uprising in 2014, have led to a range of political reforms in the mining sector, and new interests of municipal and civil society actors in mining issues. Based on several months of ethnographic field research in southwestern Burkina Faso, this paper examines the impact of the establishment of a Canadian-led industrial gold mine on "local labor" in the provincial town of Houndé. It is argued that despite of the company's limited need for workforce, different local and national stakeholders are making use of the multinational corporation´s presence to express political claims, and to negotiate labor opportunities and conditions. While the competition around notions of "local content" serves as a key site of articulating political agendas and rivalries, it transforms the mining town as a social space. The paper highlights the different interventions of politicians and civil society actors by referring to the contested process of establishing a "pre-selection" committee for "semi-" and "unskilled" labor and a professional training program for the "local youth".

Paper short abstract:

Small-scale gold mining has boomed at the margins of the law throughout the world. Yet not all is informal. In Burkina Faso 974kg were officially produced in 2014 and declared by 91 gold comptoirs. This paper examines the difference that comptoirs make in labour arrangements in Burkina Faso.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines inequalities in the small-scale mining sector in Burkina Faso across the so-called in/formal cleavage. With the gold rush of the mid-2000s, small-scale mining has boomed at the margins of the law in many places throughout the world. This boom has revived scholarly debate about the persistence of informality, emphasising the role of liberalising reforms that have pushed small-scale miners at the legal, social and economic margins. Yet not all small-scale mining is informal. In Burkina Faso, 230 artisanal mining concessions were registered in 2014, and 972kg of gold were officially produced and registered by 91 gold buying offices (comptoirs). In a context where informality is the norm, this paper turns around the scholarly focus on the causes of informality, and rather interrogates the difference that formalising small-scale mining makes. It argues that what passes as formal small-scale mining actually characterises uneven spaces of mining access and labour arrangements in Burkina Faso. It complicates research and policy assumptions that consider formality as a norm to pursue and rather invites careful mapping out uneven political economic spaces of small-scale gold mining in/formalisation. This case from Burkina especially draws attention to the differences in labour arrangements between so-called formal and informal spaces of artisanal mining that have shaped across the in/formal cleavage.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the changing role of local elites in accessing and controlling mining rents and labour, drawing on empirical research from multiple Congolese mining sites and across different time periods.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the changing role of local elites in accessing and controlling mining rents and labour. Empirical research in different countries has highlighted the crucial role of local elites as mediators, owners or rent-seekers. But attempts to compare across cases or across different time periods have been limited. Nevertheless, such a perspective helps to shed light on disruptions as well as continuities in power relations, which is very important for our understanding of mining sector development, including reforms and investments.

In this contribution we develop a typology of local elites' role in different production modes that have historically occurred in the DRC, like in other African countries. Theoretically we draw on access theory as developed by Ribot and Peluso (2003) and Peluso and Lund (2011), which leads to a focus on two main questions: how do local elites benefit from mining activities, and how/through which mechanisms do they control labour? The analysis is informed by empirical data collected in Congo's South Kivu, Maniema and Katanga provinces during field research both authors have periodically carried out between 2008 and 2015. Data include numerous qualitative interviews and documents such as letters, statements and legal documents. We also rely on historical data, which are mainly collected from secondary sources.

Paper short abstract:

The paper analyzes the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for the liquefied natural gas industry in Mozambique. It argues that TVET programs seeking to address resource curse effects through employment do not simply impart skills; they produce new worker subjectivities.

Paper long abstract:

Mainstream development actors posit that a 'skills gap' impedes opportunities for employment in extractive industries in developing countries, thereby exacerbating 'resource curse' effects such as enclaving. These actors promote technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a remedy, assuming TVET will impart the necessary skills for employment in extractives and related sectors, such as infrastructure construction and services. TVET programs are thus proliferating across sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in oil- and gas-rich regions.

However, efforts to mitigate the resource curse by promoting TVET have not been well studied. Using findings from qualitative research on TVET related to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in northern Mozambique, this paper examines TVET's role in building a labor market for extractives. First, it analyzes how stakeholders conceptualize the importance of skills for employment as a strategy to reduce resource curse effects, and examines debates about which skills are considered most necessary or desirable. Second, through analysis of the expectations that people attach to TVET and LNG, the paper addresses how the controversial LNG project consolidates public support by promising jobs, using TVET as the bridge that will transform unskilled local people into ready employees. Finally, the paper argues that skills programs do not simply train people for jobs, but to adjust to a rhythm of work, hierarchy and discipline that suits a particular mode of production and that produces new worker subjectivities. The conclusions contribute to larger theoretical debates about labor by unsettling taken-for-granted assumptions about skills for wage-work as a development strategy.

Paper short abstract:

The organization of work in artisanal gold mines of Western Burkina Faso combines dependence with individual ownership and self-employment: the ambiguous status of the workforce can serve as a tool for adaptation in a context marked by technological change and conflicting ownership claims.

Paper long abstract:

Working conditions in artisanal gold mining sites are difficult and precarious; yet, although characterized by power differentials and occasionally exploitative relations, the organization of labour in artisanal mines differs quite significantly from the industrial sector. In the extractive phase, production is organized in fluid patterns that usually combine teamwork and relations of dependence between miners and chiefs, on one side, with individual ownership of the extracted ore, on the other. This allows the coexistence of an ethos based on trust, friendship and even mechanisms of social protection with the lure of instant wealth and individual success. The ambiguity is maintained along the processing chain, where transactions occur - both cash and in kind - between actors whose status of self-employed entrepreneurs can be challenged at any moment.

The strategic use of formal legislation, and the role played by private permit holders and official authorities in the hybrid models of governance at work, also contribute to uncertainty and conflicting claims on ownership from the various economic actors operating in small-scale mines. The ambiguous status of the workforce can then become a tool for flexible adaptation, in a context where rapid technological and economic change can generate oscillations between different organizational models and shifting balances of power in the relations of production. I will present some examples of similar processes and reflect on their implications on the nature of labour and the organization of work, drawing from my ethnographic research in several artisanal gold sites in Western Burkina Faso (2012-16).

Paper short abstract:

This paper will look at the social organisation of makorokozas in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe specifically looking at Penhalonga and Odzi areas . I will look at the relationship between the makorokozas and the formal large scale mines in the two areas.

Paper long abstract:

Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) of gold in Zimbabwe is undertaken either through the exploitation of reefs or alluvial placer deposits. Millions of makorokozas (illegal gold miners in local parlance) in Zimbabwe are exploiting ancient and abandoned primitive gold mines. Despite this huge footprint of ASM, no spatial and social understanding exists of its activities from the extraction, processing and brokerage of the gold. This paper will look at the social organisation of makorokozas in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe specifically looking at Penhalonga and Odzi areas which are hotspot zones of 'informal mining'. The most interesting aspect that I seek to bring out in this paper is the uneasy relationship between the extractive activities of the makorokozas and the formal large scale mines in these areas. The makorokozas are constantly labelled as 'illegal'. However, I will argue in this paper that there is nothing illegal about ASM activities. In fact, using archaeological evidence, I will show that ASM has a long history of organisation which dates back to to 11th century AD when the locals discovered and started mining this gold belt. As a result, most of the large scale capitalist mines the so called 'formal mines' were established on known ancient mines. Therefore, there is a long duree in ASM which needs to be understood as having been formal and systematically organised that in itself heralded the setting up of all the subsequent gold mines in the area.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation draws on ethnographic data to explore the formation of an artisanal gold mining site, how it is organised and governed, its labour practices and other circumstances surrounding life at the site. It challenges some popular accounts about life and work at artisanal gold mining sites

Paper long abstract:

The confluence of global capitalism with attempts by African governments to develop their extractives sectors has resulted in measures akin to Marx's primitive accumulation. Through compulsory purchase orders and extra-legal methods, indigenous communities across the continent have been dispossessed off their lands to make way for mining companies mostly owned by multi-national mining corporations. Local populations, often joined by migrants, have resorted to artisanal gold mining in response to the socio-economic hardship, derisory or unpaid compensations, unfulfilled employment promises, limited CSR benefits and other adverse impacts as an outcome of their loss of access to lands for farming, food, water and other livelihood opportunities. This presentation uses data from a 3-month ethnography at one of these sites at Kenyasi in Ghana to contribute to understanding of this widespread and growing phenomenon. The paper uses Marxist, feminist and postcolonial critiques as lenses to explore the socio-political context surrounding the site's formation, how it is organised and governed, recruitment practices, labour conditions and other circumstances surrounding life and gold production in this informal sector. The data presented by the paper troubles the dominant view of artisanal gold mining sites as disorganised lawless dens of criminals and criminality. It suggests that in this specific example, such accounts downplay or fail to understand the relations of power and mode of social organisation at stake.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines an unusual element of the recent scramble for African resources: the entry into Ghana between 2008 & 2013 of approx. 50,000 Chinese irregular migrants to engage in small-scale gold mining, and the impact on the livelihoods of both Chinese & Ghanaian miners and on local markets.

Paper long abstract:

An unusual element of the recent 'scramble for Africa' was the entry into Ghana of approximately 50,000 irregular Chinese migrants between 2008 and 2013 to engage in small-scale gold mining. These migrants were overwhelmingly working-class miners from Shanglin County, Guangxi Province, an area with a tradition of gold mining. In Ghana, they introduced new technologies that dramatically increased gold production, while also causing severe environmental degradation. While the Chinese miners formed mutually beneficial relationships with many local actors and gave a boost to local markets, their presence also caused conflict. Legally, small-scale mining is reserved for Ghanaians, and in some cases the Chinese miners were accused of displacing local small-scale miners, feeding corruption and stealing the country's wealth by smuggling gold. While the government appeared to ignore this phenomenon for some years, eventually media pressure forced President Mahama to act, with a military-style Taskforce established and the deportation of many Chinese miners.

This research revisits this brief but intense episode. It follows-up on the main participants, both Chinese and Ghanaian, and traces the impacts of such mass migration on the livelihoods of those labourers involved, as well as on the local economy. Fieldwork is conducted in Ghana and Shanglin County to trace the differentiated outcomes, providing a critical examination of South-South labour migration and the dynamics of global patterns of marginalisation, precaritisation, inequality and exploitation.

This paper has been developed in collaboration with Nicholas Loubere.