Global Gold Production Touching Ground: Expansion, Informalization, and Technological Innovation

✍ Scribed by Boris Verbrugge (editor), Sara Geenen (editor)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 382
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In recent decades, gold mining has moved into increasingly remote corners of the globe. Aside from the expansion of industrial gold mining, many countries have simultaneously witnessed an expansion of labor-intensive and predominantly informal artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Both trends are usually studied in isolation, which contributes to a dominant image of a dual gold mining economy.

Counteracting this dominant view, this volume adopts a global perspective, and demonstrates that both industrial gold mining and artisanal and small-scale gold mining are functionally integrated into a global gold production system. It couples an analysis of structural trends in global gold production (expansion, informalization, and technological innovation) to twelve country case studies that detail how global gold production becomes embedded in institutional and ecological structures.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Snapshots of Global Gold Mining
1.1 A Dual Gold Mining Economy?
1.2 Diversity and Connectivity
1.3 Organization of the Book
1.3.1 Part 1: Trends in Global Gold Production
1.3.2 Part 2: The Global Gold Production System Touching Ground
References
Part I Trends in Global Gold Production
2 Theorizing the Global Gold Production System
2.1 The Globalization of Production
2.2 Theoretical Entry Points: Systems, Chains, and Networks
2.2.1 World Systems Theory
2.2.2 Global Commodity Chains
2.2.3 Global Value Chains
2.2.4 Global Production Networks
Embeddedness
Labor
Value
Power
2.3 Closing the Gaps: Informality and Mineral Production
2.3.1 Informality
2.3.2 Mineral Production
Embeddedness
Value
Labor
Power
2.4 Theoretical-Analytical Framework: The Global Gold Production System
2.4.1 Terminological Clarifications
2.4.2 Gold Mining Crystallizations
2.4.3 Trends in Global Gold Production
2.4.4 The Institutional Context
2.4.5 The Ecological Context
2.5 Conclusion
References
3 Global Expansion
3.1 South Africa: The Birth of Industrial Gold Mining
3.2 Post-1980s: The Global Gold Boom
3.3 Global Expansion: From Core to Periphery
3.4 Industrial Gold Mining: Opportunities and Threats
3.4.1 Opportunities: Financialization, Liberalization, and Innovation
3.4.2 Threats: Resistance and Costs
3.5 The Unrelenting Expansion of ASGM
3.6 Conclusion
References
4 Informalization
4.1 Informal Realities in Global Gold Production
4.1.1 Informal and Ambiguous Mineral Tenure
4.1.2 Informal and Flexible Mining Labor
4.1.3 Precarious Work and Segmented Labor Markets
4.2 The Logic of Informality in Industrial Gold Mining
4.2.1 The Dominant Narrative: Subcontracting and Outsourcing as a Business Strategy
4.2.2 An Alternative Explanation: Informalization in Industrial Gold Mining
Access to Cheap and Flexible Labor
Labor Control and Local Embeddedness
4.3 The Logic of Informality in ASGM
4.3.1 Three Dominant Narratives
Poverty-Driven
Legal Exclusion
Small Is Beautiful
The Shortcomings of Existing Causal Explanations
4.3.2 An Alternative Explanation: ASGM-Expansion as Informalization
Access to Deposits That Are Unattractive for Industrial Mining
Access to Cheap and Flexible Labor
Local Embeddedness
4.4 Informalization Through Connectivity
4.5 Conclusion
References
5 Technological Innovation and Structural Change
5.1 Exploration
5.1.1 Technological Innovation
5.1.2 Junior Mining Companies
5.1.3 Linking Exploration to ASGM
5.2 Gold Mining
5.2.1 Technological Innovation
5.2.2 Consolidation
5.2.3 Linking Industrial Mining to ASGM
5.3 Processing
5.4 Refining
5.4.1 Technological Innovation and Differentiation
5.4.2 Linking ASGM to Gold Refineries
5.5 Recycling
5.6 Mapping Global Gold Production
5.7 Conclusion
References
Part II Global Gold Production Touching Ground
6 Brazil: Forever Informal
6.1 Introduction
6.2 History of Gold Mining in Brazil
6.2.1 Braving the Amazon
6.2.2 The Serra Pelada Gold Rush
6.2.3 The Politics of Gold Production
6.3 Organized Informality
6.3.1 Garimpagem Is Autonomy
6.3.2 The State
6.3.3 Informalities
6.3.4 Industrial Gold Mining, Junior Companies and the Expansion of Garimpagem
6.4 Critical Characteristics of Contemporary Mining Crystallizations
6.4.1 Territorial Dynamics
6.4.2 Regulatory Dynamics
6.4.3 Technological Innovation
6.5 Conclusion
References
7 Peru: Curtailing Smuggling, Regionalizing Trade
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Smuggling of Gold in the Global Production System
7.2.1 India: At the Other Side of the Production System
7.3 The Regionalization of the Peruvian ASGM Commodity Frontier
7.3.1 The Peruvian ASGM Regularization Attempt
7.3.2 Airports as Bottlenecks for Smugglers
7.3.3 The Regionalization of the Gold Commodity Frontier
7.3.4 Global Refineries and Their Intermediaries
7.4 Discussion and Conclusion
References
8 Colombia: Legal Loopholes Behind Illegal Gold Trade
8.1 Introduction
8.2 ASGM in Colombia
8.3 Untangling the Gold Mining Boom
8.4 Institutional Complexities and Legal Loopholes
8.4.1 Institutional Complexities in Mineral Tenure
8.4.2 Legal Loopholes in Gold Trade
8.4.3 Who Benefits and Who Loses?
8.5 Conclusion
References
9 Ghana: A History of Expansion and Contraction
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Gold Mining in Ghana: A Dynamic (Hi)Story of Expansion and Contraction
9.2.1 West Africa’s Gold Travelling Across the Sahara
9.2.2 European Interests in Ghana’s Gold
9.2.3 The Gold Coast: Colonial Presence and Gold Mining
9.2.4 Post-colonial Industrial Mining
9.2.5 The Last Decade: 2010 Gold Boom, Chinese Actors and the 2017 War on Galamsey
9.3 Expansion, Contraction and Multifaceted Crystallizations
References
10 Ghana: Controversy, Corruption and Chinese Miners
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Expansion of ASGM
10.3 Chinese Participation, Informalisation and Mechanisation
10.4 State Corruption and Collusion
10.5 Backlash and Suspension of ASGM
10.6 Conclusion
References
11 Burkina Faso: Global Gold Expansion and Local Terrains
11.1 Introduction
11.2 The State, Regulation and Gold Mining
11.3 The Mining Cycle and Local Mining Crystallizations
11.4 Political Revolt and Gold Mining
11.5 The Local Terrain and Violent Precarity
11.6 Conclusion
References
12 Uganda: Gold as a (Trans)National Treasure
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Harnessing the Development Potential of Gold
12.2.1 Mining Sector Law and Policy
12.2.2 Formal Gold Mining of Different Scales
12.2.3 Formalising an Informal Sector
12.3 The Dynamics of a “National Treasure” for ASGM
12.3.1 The Politics of Formalisation in Mubende
12.3.2 Civil Society Action in Busia
12.4 Conclusions
References
13 Guinea Conakry and Burkina Faso: Innovations at the Periphery
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Deepening Extraction: The “Burkinabe Pits” in Tonso (Guinea Conakry)
13.3 Turning Residues into the Core Product: Cyanidation in Western Burkina Faso
13.4 A Technological Frontier? Socio-Technical Innovations at the Periphery
References
14 The Democratic Republic of Congo: From Stones in the River to Diving for Dollars
14.1 Eastern DRC: An Opening
14.2 Traces of Gold: A History1
14.3 Gold Mining Crystallizations: Four Snapshots
14.4 Informalization: An Argument
14.5 Eastern DRC in the Global Gold Production System: A Conclusion
References
15 Zimbabwe: A Gold Mining Boom Amid Rapid Agrarian Change
15.1 Introduction
15.2 ASGM in Zimbabwe: A Brief Historical Overview
15.3 Zimbabwe’s New Gold Mining Frontier
15.4 Conceptualising the New Mining Frontier
15.5 The Social Organisation of ASGM
15.6 Conclusions
References
16 Madagascar: Emergence and Persistence on the Hundred-Year Frontier
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Gold on la Grande Île of Madagascar
16.2.1 The Early Days of Gold: Indigenous Workings and Imperial Projects
16.2.2 Gold Through the Colonial Era
16.2.3 From Independence to the Contemporary Gold Economy
16.3 Producing the Goldfields of Betsiaka
16.3.1 Origin Stories and the Gold That Built Paris
16.3.2 (Neo)colonial Ambitions and a Modern ASGM Rush
16.3.3 A Contemporary Crystallization of the Global Gold Production System
16.4 Conclusion
References
17 Indonesia: Adaptation and Differentiation in Informal Gold Mining
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Background
17.3 Pongkor: Three Moments of Transformation
17.3.1 Emergence and First Rush
17.3.2 Policing and Spatial Reorganization
17.3.3 Cyanidation Technology
17.4 Contingency, Adaptability, and Differentiation
References
18 The Philippines: State-Sanctioned Informalization
18.1 Historical Overview: Boom-Bust Cycles in Philippine Gold Mining
18.1.1 Boom to Bust 1: The (Pre)colonial Era
18.1.2 Boom to Bust 2: The Post-colonial Era
18.1.3 The ASGM-Boom
18.2 The Informalization of Gold Mining3
18.2.1 From Industrial Mining to ASGM
18.2.2 Regulatory Interventions and Persistent Informality
18.2.3 ASGM-Crystallizations and Revenue Sharing
18.2.4 Whither the Role of the State?
18.3 The Acupan Contract Mining Scheme: A Mining Crystallization Preying on Informal Labor5
18.4 Conclusion
References
Part III Conclusion
19 Conclusion
19.1 Empirical Lessons
19.1.1 Gold Mining Crystallizations
19.1.2 Institutional Context
19.1.3 Ecological Context
19.2 Theoretical Contribution
19.3 Afterthoughts
19.3.1 Trends in Global Gold Production
19.3.2 Exclusion and Adverse Incorporation
19.3.3 Agency
References
Index