IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v123y2019ic4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The multidimensionality of exclusion in the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana: Institutional reform, landlordism, and mineral uncertainty

Author

Listed:
  • Hook, Andrew

Abstract

Proponents of formalization argue that bringing artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) into the legal sphere represents the best way of enabling social and economic development. Critics counter that formalization policies can be a source of exclusion for smaller producers, as new properties become difficult and expensive to access, and new regulatory standards prove beyond the technical and financial capacity of smaller operators. Guyana’s long-formalized ASM gold mining sector offers a useful lens through which to examine these arguments. This article finds that Guyana’s relatively established and egalitarian ASM sector has become the site of various complex exclusionary dynamics. On the one hand, the impacts of increasingly restrictive state-led forms appear to support contentions about how formal mining environments tend towards the exclusion of smaller operators. On the other hand, evidence shows that it is not merely state policies that are responsible for exclusion, but further social and ecological factors, such as landlord-tenant relations and the depth and scarcity of mineral deposits. Overall, these findings offer new perspectives on ASM dynamics within formalized institutional environments. They suggest that understanding exclusion can be aided by adopting an analytical lens capable of capturing the complex interactions between a range of social and ecological phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Hook, Andrew, 2019. "The multidimensionality of exclusion in the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana: Institutional reform, landlordism, and mineral uncertainty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:123:y:2019:i:c:4
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19301834
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.030?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. Boris Verbrugge, 2015. "The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(5), pages 1023-1046, September.
    2. Hilson, Gavin, 2019. "Why is there a large-scale mining ‘bias’ in sub-Saharan Africa?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 852-861.
    3. Gavin Bridge, 2002. "Grounding Globalization: The Prospects and Perils of Linking Economic Processes of Globalization to Environmental Outcomes," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 78(3), pages 361-386, July.
    4. repec:idb:brikps:83874 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. 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.
    6. Gavin Hilson & Tim Laing, 2017. "Guyana Gold: A Unique Resource Curse?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 229-248, February.
    7. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & Maconachie, Roy, 2018. "Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-302.
    8. Geenen, Sara, 2012. "A dangerous bet: The challenges of formalizing artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 322-330.
    9. Dan Brockington & Stefano Ponte, 2015. "The Green Economy in the global South: experiences, redistributions and resistance," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(12), pages 2197-2206, December.
    10. 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.
    11. Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, 2018. "Extractive peasants: reframing informal artisanal and small-scale mining debates," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(8), pages 1561-1582, August.
    12. Gavin Hilson & Mark Hirons & Mark Hirons, 2011. "Locking‐In Carbon, Locking‐Out Livelihoods? Artisanal Mining And Redd In Sub‐Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(8), pages 1140-1150, November.
    13. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    14. Roy Maconachie & Gavin Hilson, 2011. "Safeguarding livelihoods or exacerbating poverty? Artisanal mining and formalization in West Africa," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35, pages 293-303, November.
    15. Samuel Spiegel & Susan Keane & Steve Metcalf & Marcello Veiga, 2015. "Implications of the Minamata Convention on Mercury for informal gold mining in Sub-Saharan Africa: from global policy debates to grassroots implementation?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 765-785, August.
    16. Logan Hennessy, 2015. "Where There Is No Company: Indigenous Peoples, Sustainability, and the Challenges of Mid-Stream Mining Reforms in Guyana's Small-Scale Gold Sector," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 126-153, February.
    17. Tschakert, Petra, 2016. "Shifting Discourses of Vilification and the Taming of Unruly Mining Landscapes in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 123-132.
    18. Côte, Muriel & Korf, Benedikt, 2018. "Making Concessions: Extractive Enclaves, Entangled Capitalism and Regulative Pluralism at the Gold Mining Frontier in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 466-476.
    19. Peluso, Nancy Lee, 2018. "Entangled Territories in Small-Scale Gold Mining Frontiers: Labor Practices, Property, and Secrets in Indonesian Gold Country," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 400-416.
    20. Bashwira, Marie-Rose & Cuvelier, Jeroen & Hilhorst, Dorothea & van der Haar, Gemma, 2014. "Not only a man's world: Women's involvement in artisanal mining in eastern DRC," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 109-116.
    21. Siegel, Shefa & Veiga, Marcello M., 2009. "Artisanal and small-scale mining as an extralegal economy: De Soto and the redefinition of "formalization"," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 51-56.
    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. Zhou, Yue, 2024. "Natural resources and green economic growth: A pathway to innovation and digital transformation in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Khemraj, Tarron & Pasha, Sukrishnalall, 2024. "Structural change and sectoral interconnectedness in two resource-abundant economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Juan Sebastián Lara‐Rodríguez & Morgane M. C. Fritz, 2023. "How does eliminating mercury from artisanal and small‐scale gold mining lead to achieving sustainable development goals?," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2), pages 214-228, May.
    4. Ruth Zárate Rueda & Yolima Ivonne Beltrán Villamizar & Luis Eduardo Becerra Ardila, 2023. "Neo-Extractivism and Formalization of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining—The Case of the Santurbán Moorland (Colombia)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, July.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Fernando Morante-Carballo & Néstor Montalván-Burbano & Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar & Paúl Carrión-Mero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Research on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-29, July.
    4. Laing, Timothy, 2019. "Small man goes where the large fears to tread: Mining in Guyana: 1990-2018," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Huggins, Christopher & Kinyondo, Abel, 2019. "Resource nationalism and formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining in Tanzania: Evidence from the tanzanite sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Smith, Nicole M. & Smith, Jessica M. & John, Zira Q. & Teschner, Benjamin A., 2017. "Promises and perceptions in the Guianas: The making of an artisanal and small-scale mining reserve," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 49-56.
    7. Bazillier, Rémi & Gibertini, Beatrice & Jackson, Stephen, 2023. "Gold and diamond artisanal mining in Liberia: Under the umbrella of (in)formality?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    8. Shitima, Christina & Suykens, Bert, 2023. "Formalization of sand mining in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Baffour-Kyei, Vasco & Mensah, Amos & Owusu, Victor & Horlu, Godwin S.A.K., 2021. "Artisanal small-scale mining and livelihood assets in rural southern Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Ruth Zárate Rueda & Yolima Ivonne Beltrán Villamizar & Luis Eduardo Becerra Ardila, 2023. "Neo-Extractivism and Formalization of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining—The Case of the Santurbán Moorland (Colombia)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Rodriguez, Luz A. & Velez, María Alejandra & Pfaff, Alexander, 2021. "Leaders’ distributional & efficiency effects in collective responses to policy: Lab-in-field experiments with small-scale gold miners in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    12. Boris Verbrugge, 2015. "The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(5), pages 1023-1046, September.
    13. Verbrugge, Boris & Besmanos, Beverly, 2016. "Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 134-141.
    14. 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.
    15. Kumah, Richard, 2022. "Artisanal and small-scale mining formalization challenges in Ghana: Explaining grassroots perspectives," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Hilson, Gavin, 2020. "The ‘Zambia Model’: A blueprint for formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Martinez, Gerardo & Smith, Nicole M. & Malone, Aaron, 2021. "Formalization is just the beginning: Analyzing post-formalization successes and challenges in Peru's small-scale gold mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    18. Sauerwein, Titus, 2020. "Gold mining and development in Côte d’Ivoire: Trajectories, opportunities and oversights," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. 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).
    20. 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).

    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:wdevel:v:123:y:2019:i:c:4. 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/worlddev .

    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.