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Influence of land tenure practices on artisanal mining activity in Ghana

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  • Nyame, Frank K.
  • Blocher, Joseph

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of land tenure and how it influences artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activity in Ghana. Over the past few decades, attempts by governments in sub-Saharan Africa to regulate or formalize ASM as a result of the sector's increasing socio-economic and environmental importance have largely been unsuccessful. Even though mining laws have tended to vest all minerals in the state, increasing evidence suggests that mineral-rich lands for artisanal mining continue to be frequently traded between local landowners and miners or interested groups outside the official legal regime. This development, i.e. land trading for artisanal mining, contributes significantly towards proliferation of illegal ASM activity and hence potentially challenges attempts by governments and development partners to formalise the sector.

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  • Nyame, Frank K. & Blocher, Joseph, 2010. "Influence of land tenure practices on artisanal mining activity in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-53, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:47-53
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    Cited by:

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    3. Sarpong Sam, 2012. "A Perspective on Ghana's Mining Sector," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-22, July.
    4. De Jong, Terah U. & Sauerwein, Titus, 2021. "State-owned minerals, village-owned land: How a shared property rights framework helped formalize artisanal diamond miners in Côte d’Ivoire between 1986 and 2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Uche, Chinyere & Khalid, Sharif, 2022. "Corporate reporting on conflict: A struggle over land," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Damonte, Gerardo, 2021. "Limited state governance and institutional hybridization in alluvial ASM in Peru," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Debrah, Akua Asamoah & Mtegha, Hudson & Cawood, Frederick, 2018. "Social licence to operate and the granting of mineral rights in sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring tensions between communities, governments and multi-national mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 95-103.
    8. Van Bockstael, Steven, 2019. "Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 904-914.
    9. Hausermann, Heidi & Ferring, David & Atosona, Bernadette & Mentz, Graciela & Amankwah, Richard & Chang, Augustus & Hartfield, Kyle & Effah, Emmanuel & Asuamah, Grace Yeboah & Mansell, Coryanne & Sastr, 2018. "Land-grabbing, land-use transformation and social differentiation: Deconstructing “small-scale” in Ghana's recent gold rush," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 103-114.
    10. Frederick Armah & Isaac Luginaah & Justice Odoi, 2013. "Artisanal small-scale mining and mercury pollution in Ghana: a critical examination of a messy minerals and gold mining policy," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 3(4), pages 381-390, December.
    11. Youmanli OUOBA, 2018. "Industrial mining land use and poverty in regions of Burkina Faso," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 511-520, July.
    12. Amponsah, Owusu & Blija, Daniel Kwame & Ayambire, Raphael Anammasiya & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Global urban sprawl containment strategies and their implications for rapidly urbanising cities in Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Radley, Ben, 2020. "A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106512, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Over-spilling institutions: The political ecology of ‘greening’ the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 438-453.
    15. Hirons, Mark, 2014. "Shifting sand, shifting livelihoods? Reflections on a coastal gold rush in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-89.
    16. Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, 2017. "Competitive clientelism and the political economy of mining in Ghana," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-078-17, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    17. Lala Safiatou Ouedraogo & Patrick Mundler, 2019. "Local Governance and Labor Organizations on Artisanal Gold Mining Sites in Burkina Faso," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Huntington, Heather & Marple-Cantrell, Kate, 2021. "Customary governance of artisanal and small-scale mining in Guinea: Social and environmental practices and outcomes⋆," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah & Clifford Amoako, 2020. "Planning by (mis)rule of laws: The idiom and dilemma of planning within Ghana’s dual legal land systems," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(1), pages 97-115, February.
    20. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Fluid formalities: Insights on small-scale gold mining dynamics, informal practices, and mining governance in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 324-338.
    21. Kumah, Richard, 2022. "Artisanal and small-scale mining formalization challenges in Ghana: Explaining grassroots perspectives," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    22. Corbett, Tony & O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran & Regan, Anthony, 2017. "‘Designated areas’ and the regulation of artisanal and small-scale mining," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 393-401.
    23. Kwasi Anarfi & Ross A. Hill & Chris Shiel, 2020. "Highlighting the Sustainability Implications of Urbanisation: A Comparative Analysis of Two Urban Areas in Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-24, August.
    24. Fritz, Morgane M.C. & Maxson, Peter A. & Baumgartner, Rupert J., 2016. "The mercury supply chain, stakeholders and their responsibilities in the quest for mercury-free gold," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 177-192.
    25. Deberdt, Raphael, 2022. "Land access rights in minerals’ responsible sourcing. The case of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

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