IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v52y2017icp418-426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The drawbacks of privatization: Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso 1986–2016

Author

Listed:
  • Werthmann, Katja

Abstract

The West African country of Burkina Faso has become a leading African producer of gold in recent years. While this is mainly due to a boom in industrial gold mining since 2008, artisanal gold mining has been practiced throughout the country since the 1980s and continues to be an important source of livelihood for an estimated 1,2 Mio people (of a total population of c. 17 Mio). Private gold buying companies who were well-connected with the Compaoré government (1987–2014) profited from the privatization of the artisanal gold mining sector since the mid-1990s. This led to a situation where some Burkinabè businessmen made their own laws in gold mining areas, smuggled most of the gold out of the country and provoked violent conflicts with gold miners and local populations. This paper gives an overview of the institutional changes that have shaped artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso from the mid-1980s until today.

Suggested Citation

  • Werthmann, Katja, 2017. "The drawbacks of privatization: Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso 1986–2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 418-426.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:52:y:2017:i:c:p:418-426
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.04.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420717300041
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.04.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabine Luning, 2008. "Liberalisation of the Gold Mining Sector in Burkina Faso," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(117), pages 387-401, September.
    2. Jeroen Cuvelier, 2014. "Work and Masculinity in Katanga’s Artisanal Mines," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 49(2), pages 3-26.
    3. Filip De Boeck, 1998. "Domesticating Diamonds and Dollars: Identity, Expenditure and Sharing in Southwestern Zaire (1984–1997)," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 777-810, October.
    4. Werthmann, Katja, 2009. "Working in a boom-town: Female perspectives on gold-mining in Burkina Faso," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 18-23.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bazillier, Remi & Girard, Victoire, 2020. "The gold digger and the machine. Evidence on the distributive effect of the artisanal and industrial gold rushes in Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Grant, J. Andrew & Wilhelm, Cindy, 2022. "A flash in the pan? Agential constructivist perspectives on local content, governance, and the large-scale mining–artisanal and small-scale mining interface in West Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Alexandra Tebkieta Tapsoba & Jean-Louis Combes & Pascale Combes Motel, 2023. "Does youth resentment matter in understanding the surge of extremist violence in Burkina Faso?," Working Papers hal-02895898, HAL.
    5. Pokorny, Benno & von Lübke, Christian & Dayamba, Sidzabda Djibril & Dickow, Helga, 2019. "All the gold for nothing? Impacts of mining on rural livelihoods in Northern Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 23-39.
    6. Odell, Scott D. & Bebbington, Anthony, 2023. "Mine ownership and community relations: Comparing hydrosocial dynamics of public and private companies in Chile," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Drechsel, Franza & Engels, Bettina & Schäfer, Mirka, 2019. ""The mines make us poor": Large-scale mining in Burkina Faso," GLOCON Country Report Series 2, Freie Universität Berlin, Junior Research Group "Global Change – Local Conflicts?" (GLOCON).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pokorny, Benno & von Lübke, Christian & Dayamba, Sidzabda Djibril & Dickow, Helga, 2019. "All the gold for nothing? Impacts of mining on rural livelihoods in Northern Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 23-39.
    2. Zabsonré, Agnès & Agbo, Maxime & Somé, Juste, 2018. "Gold exploitation and socioeconomic outcomes: The case of Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 206-221.
    3. Anni Orola & Anna Härri & Jarkko Levänen & Ville Uusitalo & Stig Irving Olsen, 2022. "Assessing WELBY Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach through Cobalt Mining Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-26, September.
    4. Anja Tolonen, 2019. "Endogenous Gender Roles: Evidence from Africa’s Gold Mining Industry," OxCarre Working Papers 209, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Sauerwein, Titus, 2020. "Gold mining and development in Côte d’Ivoire: Trajectories, opportunities and oversights," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Obodai, Jacob & Bhagwat, Shonil & Mohan, Giles, 2024. "The interface of environment and human wellbeing: Exploring the impacts of gold mining on food security in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Luning, Sabine, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants, companies and communities in processes of engagements," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 205-211.
    8. Sara Geenen & Divin‐Luc Bikubanya, 2024. "Heterogeneity and Labour Agency in Artisanal and Small‐scale Gold Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(1), pages 123-156, January.
    9. Bodenheimer, Miriam, 2014. "Certifying improvement, improving certification: An analysis based on the artisanal and small-scale mining sector," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S9/2014, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    10. Hilson, Gavin & Van Bockstael, Steven & Sauerwein, Titus & Hilson, Abigail & McQuilken, James, 2021. "Artisanal and small-scale mining, and COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa: A preliminary analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Nik Stoop & Marijke Verpoorten, 2020. "Risk, Envy and Magic in the Artisanal Mining Sector of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(5), pages 1199-1224, September.
    12. Arthur-Holmes, Francis & Abrefa Busia, Kwaku, 2020. "Household dynamics and the bargaining power of women in artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa: A Ghanaian case study," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues & Patience Mususa & Karen Büscher & Jeroen Cuvelier, 2021. "Boomtown Urbanization and Rural-Urban Transformation in Mining and Conflict Regions in Angola, the DRC and Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.
    14. Henry, Alexandre, 2019. "Transmission channels of the resource curse in Africa: A time perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 13-20.
    15. Engels, Bettina, 2016. "Mining conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa: Actors and repertoires of contention," GLOCON Working Paper Series 2, Freie Universität Berlin, Junior Research Group "Global Change – Local Conflicts?" (GLOCON).
    16. Clifford, Martin J., 2011. "Pork knocking in the land of many waters: Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 354-362.
    17. 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.
    18. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    19. Hilson, Gavin & Ackah-Baidoo, Abigail, 2011. "Can Microcredit Services Alleviate Hardship in African Small-scale Mining Communities?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1191-1203, July.
    20. Karen Büscher & Gillian Mathys, 2019. "War, Displacement and Rural–Urban Transformation: Kivu’s Boomtowns, Eastern D.R. Congo," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(1), pages 53-71, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:52:y:2017:i:c:p:418-426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.