IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i19p12570-d931560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Livelihood of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and Awareness of the Use of 3T Minerals in Rwanda—A Case Study in the Rutsiro District: A Qualitative Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Macháček

    (Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, 710 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic)

  • Martin Schlossarek

    (Department of Development and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc, 771 47 Olomouc, Czech Republic)

  • Philemon Lindagato

    (School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China)

Abstract

This article examines the impact of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) on livelihood in mining communities in Rwanda (Rutsiro) where wolframite and coltan are mined. The paper discusses the development of ASM and other entrepreneur activities, in particular agriculture. With ASM activities, there is environmental degradation on the one hand but also an improvement in the well-being of the local population on the other. The 3T (tin, tungsten, tantalum) minerals extracted by ASM are used in the electronics industry for products such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, which are mainly consumed in the developed world. Based on questionnaires and structured research with miners, it was determined how ASM affects their lives, or whether there is a deterioration or improvement in their well-being. The research builds on previous field research in Rwanda. Because of mining, communities in the mining areas have access to health care, they can pay tuition fees, insurance, etc. On the other hand, the lives of miners are endangered by respiratory diseases, accidents in mines, landslides in mining areas, and other negative environmental impacts. The extraction of these minerals, however, may lead to a worse quality of life for the miners responsible for the extraction in developing countries. This different view is also illustrated by the fact that miners themselves often do not know what 3T minerals are used for. ASM benefits miners from an economic perspective but may worsen their quality of life due to unsuitable working conditions. This study covers a broader understanding of socioeconomic impacts of ASM and tries to point out the lack of awareness about the mining of minerals important for the daily use of modern technologies. This article would like to contribute to the larger debate about the lack of awareness of the origin of 3T minerals.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Macháček & Martin Schlossarek & Philemon Lindagato, 2022. "The Livelihood of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and Awareness of the Use of 3T Minerals in Rwanda—A Case Study in the Rutsiro District: A Qualitative Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12570-:d:931560
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12570/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12570/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saleem H. Ali & Damien Giurco & Nicholas Arndt & Edmund Nickless & Graham Brown & Alecos Demetriades & Ray Durrheim & Maria Amélia Enriquez & Judith Kinnaird & Anna Littleboy & Lawrence D. Meinert & R, 2017. "Mineral supply for sustainable development requires resource governance," Nature, Nature, vol. 543(7645), pages 367-372, March.
    2. 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).
    3. Postma, Hester & Geenen, Sara, 2020. "Flagged and tagged by ITSCI: the potential and risks of non-state supply chain regulation," IOB Analyses & Policy Briefs 40, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    4. Bleischwitz, Raimund & Dittrich, Monika & Pierdicca, Chiara, 2012. "Coltan from Central Africa, international trade and implications for any certification," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 19-29.
    5. 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).
    6. Postma, Hester & Geenen, Sara, 2020. "Flagged and tagged by ITSCI: the potential and risks of non-state supply chain regulation," IOB Working Papers 2020.06, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    7. Yakovleva, Natalia, 2007. "Perspectives on female participation in artisanal and small-scale mining: A case study of Birim North District of Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 29-41.
    8. Lijphart, Arend, 1971. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 682-693, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Saleem H. Ali & Damien Giurco & Nicholas Arndt & Edmund Nickless & Graham Brown & Alecos Demetriades & Ray Durrheim & Maria Amélia Enriquez & Judith Kinnaird & Anna Littleboy & Lawrence D. Meinert & R, 2017. "Correction: Corrigendum: Mineral supply for sustainable development requires resource governance," Nature, Nature, vol. 547(7662), pages 246-246, July.
    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. Izuchukwu Chukwuma Obasi & Chizubem Benson, 2025. "The Impact of Digitalization and Information and Communication Technology on the Nature and Organization of Work and the Emerging Challenges for Occupational Safety and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(3), pages 1-29, February.

    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. Steven B. Young & Shannon Fernandes & Michael O. Wood, 2019. "Jumping the Chain: How Downstream Manufacturers Engage with Deep Suppliers of Conflict Minerals," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, January.
    2. Endl, Andreas & Tost, Michael & Hitch, Michael & Moser, Peter & Feiel, Susanne, 2021. "Europe's mining innovation trends and their contribution to the sustainable development goals: Blind spots and strong points," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Yang Liu & Muhammad Khalid Anser & Khalid Zaman, 2021. "Ecofeminism and Natural Resource Management: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Guzmán, Juan Ignacio & Karpunina, Alina & Araya, Constanza & Faúndez, Patricio & Bocchetto, Marcela & Camacho, Rodolfo & Desormeaux, Daniela & Galaz, Juanita & Garcés, Ingrid & Kracht, Willy & Lagos, , 2023. "Chile: On the road to global sustainable mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Tomer Fishman & Rupert J. Myers & Orlando Rios & T.E. Graedel, 2018. "Implications of Emerging Vehicle Technologies on Rare Earth Supply and Demand in the United States," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Dou Shiquan & Xu Deyi, 2023. "The security of critical mineral supply chains," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 36(3), pages 401-412, September.
    7. Margarita N. Ignatyeva & Vera V. Yurak & Alexey V. Dushin & Irina G. Polyanskaya, 2021. "Assessing challenges and threats for balanced subsoil use," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 17904-17922, December.
    8. Femke J. M. M. Nijsse & Jean-Francois Mercure & Nadia Ameli & Francesca Larosa & Sumit Kothari & Jamie Rickman & Pim Vercoulen & Hector Pollitt, 2023. "The momentum of the solar energy transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Pommeret, Aude & Ricci, Francesco & Schubert, Katheline, 2022. "Critical raw materials for the energy transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Liu, Wenjuan & Agusdinata, Datu B. & Eakin, Hallie & Romero, Hugo, 2022. "Sustainable minerals extraction for electric vehicles: A pilot study of consumers’ perceptions of impacts," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Saleem H. Ali, 2018. "Extracting at the borders: Negotiating political and ecological geographies of movement in mineral frontiers," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 481-490, September.
    12. Jianbo Yang & Xin Li & Zehui Xiong & Minxi Wang & Qunyi Liu, 2020. "Environmental Pollution Effect Analysis of Lead Compounds in China Based on Life Cycle," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-17, March.
    13. Zhang, Lei & Jiang, Peng & Zhang, Yibo & Fan, Yee Van & Geng, Yong, 2024. "Recycling impacts of renewable energy generation-related rare earth resources: A SWOT-based strategical analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    14. Shriram S. Rangarajan & Suvetha Poyyamani Sunddararaj & AVV Sudhakar & Chandan Kumar Shiva & Umashankar Subramaniam & E. Randolph Collins & Tomonobu Senjyu, 2022. "Lithium-Ion Batteries—The Crux of Electric Vehicles with Opportunities and Challenges," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Leopold Peiseler & Vanessa Schenker & Karin Schatzmann & Stephan Pfister & Vanessa Wood & Tobias Schmidt, 2024. "Carbon footprint distributions of lithium-ion batteries and their materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Claire L. McLeod & Mark. P. S. Krekeler, 2017. "Sources of Extraterrestrial Rare Earth Elements: To the Moon and Beyond," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-28, August.
    17. Stefanie Klose & Stefan Pauliuk, 2021. "Quantifying longevity and circularity of copper for different resource efficiency policies at the material and product levels," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 979-993, August.
    18. van der Merwe, Antoinette & Cabernard, Livia & Günther, Isabel, 2023. "Urban mining: The relevance of information, transaction costs and externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    19. Popa, Eugen Octav & Blok, Vincent & Katsoukis, Georgios & Schubert, Cornelius, 2023. "Moral impact of technologies from a pluralist perspective: Artificial photosynthesis as a case in point," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Juan Antonio Duro & Alejandro Perez‐Laborda & Markus Löw & Sarah Matej & Barbara Plank & Fridolin Krausmann & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Helmut Haberl, 2024. "Spatial patterns of built structures co‐determine nations’ level of resource demand," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(2), pages 289-302, April.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12570-:d:931560. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.