SHADOWANGEL
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 15, 2014
- 528
- 348
Compared with Tanzania’s large-scale mining, the country’s artisanal mining sector is smaller in terms of the value of its output but far larger in labour absorption. According to the World Bank 2011 sponsored census estimated that there was 680,000 artisanal miners in Tanzania .
Definitions of ‘artisanal and small-scale mining' (ASM) vary but terms used to describe the sector include: labour-intensive, low capital investments, low degree of mechanization, basic equipment and high degree of occupational risks.
The artisanal gold mining sector has a three-tiered functional division of labour:
1) Primary mining license (PML) owners at the apex of the artisanal mining hierarchy have the right to exploit an area for seven years. As claim owners they are legally responsible for mining activities conducted on their claim, including hiring and paying labor, organizing the mining, and adherence to safety and environmental regulations.
2) Pit holders - It is a widespread practice among PML owners to informally lease out mining activities to pit holders, who organize procurement and sourcing of necessary inputs and labor and conduct the mining. Capital investments and the risks and costs related to fruitless periods fall upon pit holders who are the primary financial risk-takers. Most begin as diggers, and sometimes sink back down to digging if they experience financial collapse.
3) Diggers – They are far more numerous and can be roughly divided into traditional drillers, waponjaji, who work their way into the rock mainly with hammers and chisels, sometimes power drills and vutafelo, who remove the waste material and goldbearing rocks out of the pit. They are usually provided only with food and medicine in periods of no mineral output. Their payment for labour services comes during production with the division of the gold-bearing rock.
Returns to labour & capital: The division of gold bearing rocks varies but in most places the rule of thumb is: 30% PML, 40% pit holder and 30% divided amongst the diggers. Generally, miners are getting returns that are three to five times higher than the average farmer, which explains the attraction of the sector for many Tanzanians.
In addition to the above listed miners engaged in mineral extraction further along the commodity chain there are tens of thousands of men and women engaged in processing of the artisanally mined gold. Once the excavated ore reaches the surface and is divided between the above three categories, it is processed for onward sale.
Those involved include:
4) Processors – Working close to the mine sites where there is access to water. The mineral bearing ore need to be crushed followed by separation of the gold from the other ore material, usually with the use of mercury.
5) Buyers & Dealers – Trading at the mining site, in the regional towns and in Dar es Salaam. But be careful with dealers most of them who they involved in scam business. According to rough data we collect 10 to 35% dealers in Tanzania they are clean, 65% are scam.
Hazards associated with artisanal mining include occupational accidents such as cave-ins, and environmental and health hazards notably forest clearing, dust pollution, and most worryingly, the use of mercury that enters local water sources and eventually the food chain.
Issues of Intersection between LSM and ASM
Tanzanian mining legislation dictates ‘first come, first served’ procedures regarding license acquisition, i.e. there are equal terms for largescale mining (LSM) companies and artisanal miners. However, in reality ‘first come first served’
access to licenses is constrained by lack of information dissemination to artisanal miners relative to the LSM. Artisanal miners have been pushed to use alternative ways to access mineral rich land as LSM companies obtain most known mineral-rich claims before the artisanal miners get to know of the opportunity.
Conflicts & Complementarity
LSM-ASM conflicts often result from evictions or seemingly insensitive relocations of, and inadequate compensations to, artisanal miners and local populations. Intensity of conflicts typically grows over time
The difference in size between LSM & ASM operations makes real cooperation unlikely, but many deposits now extracted by LSM were initially discovered by artisanal miners. Artisanal miners are in effect prospecting for LSM. They find mineral rich sites and dig to the depths their technology are capable of – typically to a maximum of 50 metres. Thereafter LSM takes over if the deposit is large enough.
Regulated Co-existence of ASM and LSM
In principle, there is room for both sectors, as each focuses on specific kinds of deposits. However, the law and public opinion doesn’t accommodate this position adequately as yet.
Some LSM concerns are interested in supporting ASM, within their Corporate Social Responsibility policies. Typically they see this as possible through the formation of formal artisanal cooperatives. But this is generally opposed by many Tanzanian miners with personal entrepreneurial desires and fears of cooperatives.
SMALL SCALE MINING IN TANZANIA IS THE FUTURE OF OUR ECONOMY
Definitions of ‘artisanal and small-scale mining' (ASM) vary but terms used to describe the sector include: labour-intensive, low capital investments, low degree of mechanization, basic equipment and high degree of occupational risks.
The artisanal gold mining sector has a three-tiered functional division of labour:
1) Primary mining license (PML) owners at the apex of the artisanal mining hierarchy have the right to exploit an area for seven years. As claim owners they are legally responsible for mining activities conducted on their claim, including hiring and paying labor, organizing the mining, and adherence to safety and environmental regulations.
2) Pit holders - It is a widespread practice among PML owners to informally lease out mining activities to pit holders, who organize procurement and sourcing of necessary inputs and labor and conduct the mining. Capital investments and the risks and costs related to fruitless periods fall upon pit holders who are the primary financial risk-takers. Most begin as diggers, and sometimes sink back down to digging if they experience financial collapse.
3) Diggers – They are far more numerous and can be roughly divided into traditional drillers, waponjaji, who work their way into the rock mainly with hammers and chisels, sometimes power drills and vutafelo, who remove the waste material and goldbearing rocks out of the pit. They are usually provided only with food and medicine in periods of no mineral output. Their payment for labour services comes during production with the division of the gold-bearing rock.
Returns to labour & capital: The division of gold bearing rocks varies but in most places the rule of thumb is: 30% PML, 40% pit holder and 30% divided amongst the diggers. Generally, miners are getting returns that are three to five times higher than the average farmer, which explains the attraction of the sector for many Tanzanians.
In addition to the above listed miners engaged in mineral extraction further along the commodity chain there are tens of thousands of men and women engaged in processing of the artisanally mined gold. Once the excavated ore reaches the surface and is divided between the above three categories, it is processed for onward sale.
Those involved include:
4) Processors – Working close to the mine sites where there is access to water. The mineral bearing ore need to be crushed followed by separation of the gold from the other ore material, usually with the use of mercury.
5) Buyers & Dealers – Trading at the mining site, in the regional towns and in Dar es Salaam. But be careful with dealers most of them who they involved in scam business. According to rough data we collect 10 to 35% dealers in Tanzania they are clean, 65% are scam.
Hazards associated with artisanal mining include occupational accidents such as cave-ins, and environmental and health hazards notably forest clearing, dust pollution, and most worryingly, the use of mercury that enters local water sources and eventually the food chain.
Issues of Intersection between LSM and ASM
Tanzanian mining legislation dictates ‘first come, first served’ procedures regarding license acquisition, i.e. there are equal terms for largescale mining (LSM) companies and artisanal miners. However, in reality ‘first come first served’
access to licenses is constrained by lack of information dissemination to artisanal miners relative to the LSM. Artisanal miners have been pushed to use alternative ways to access mineral rich land as LSM companies obtain most known mineral-rich claims before the artisanal miners get to know of the opportunity.
Conflicts & Complementarity
LSM-ASM conflicts often result from evictions or seemingly insensitive relocations of, and inadequate compensations to, artisanal miners and local populations. Intensity of conflicts typically grows over time
The difference in size between LSM & ASM operations makes real cooperation unlikely, but many deposits now extracted by LSM were initially discovered by artisanal miners. Artisanal miners are in effect prospecting for LSM. They find mineral rich sites and dig to the depths their technology are capable of – typically to a maximum of 50 metres. Thereafter LSM takes over if the deposit is large enough.
Regulated Co-existence of ASM and LSM
In principle, there is room for both sectors, as each focuses on specific kinds of deposits. However, the law and public opinion doesn’t accommodate this position adequately as yet.
Some LSM concerns are interested in supporting ASM, within their Corporate Social Responsibility policies. Typically they see this as possible through the formation of formal artisanal cooperatives. But this is generally opposed by many Tanzanian miners with personal entrepreneurial desires and fears of cooperatives.
SMALL SCALE MINING IN TANZANIA IS THE FUTURE OF OUR ECONOMY
