Resource politics and the impact of Chinese involvement in small-scale mining in Ghana

Luning and Pijpers (2017) give a valuable analysis of the interplay between politics and geology in forms of cohabitation between international mining companies and small-scale mining operators on large-scale concessions, which reveals much about the ways in which existing power relations are challenged. 'Indepth geopolitics', inclusive of the three-dimensional perspective, is an innovative concept that highlights important components of the dynamics at work from the state to the community level, and shows how these have succeeded in some situations to push back corporate and state dominance in favour of miners from the locality. The case studies of Keegan Resources and Newmont Ghana are very instructive in pointing out the complexities and contextual nature of cohabitation arrangements between large-scale and small-scale mining operators. Factors that influence or even determine the nature of these arrangements include natural, social, political and security concerns. The article draws attention to the role of chiefs, who indeed have almost always played a part in such negotiations, even though this has not been commonly and openly acknowledged. Artisanal miners, both legal and illegal, have also learned to exploit politicians' need for votes in upcoming elections to their advantage, as the article notes. This weakens the resolve of the state to deal with the negative impact of mining, such as environmental destruction, loss of livelihood, and corruption (Crawford and Botchwey 2017).

The cohabitation situation revealed in the work of Luning and Pijpers (2017) is, however, more complicated and perhaps more tenuous than they acknowledge. With reference to the negotiation by Keegan Resources with miners from the locality, one has to bear in mind that cohabitation is being sought at the expense of 'outsiders' from elsewhere within Ghana. The informal agreement, in exchange for Keegan's exclusive access to the gold outcrop that the company is targeting, precludes such 'outsiders' from operating on the Bonte site. However, given that galamsey operators typically move from site to site and seldom settle in any particular location, often travelling hundreds of miles to work in gangs, it is difficult to vouch for claims that galamsey operators are local or 'autochthonous'. In addition, the prohibition of the use of mechanized equipment on the Bonte site may not stand the test of time. Since 2009, with the involvement of Chinese miners in gold mining, which peaked in 2013, small-scale mining in Ghana has become highly mechanized, involving the use of excavators, wash plants and other equipment. These, in comparison to manual 'traditional' methods, have increased small-scale gold production nearly sevenfold. This is common knowledge in the small-scale mining community. Artisanal miners agreeing to use the traditional pickaxe, shovel and bowl at the Bonte site may thus be doing so simply as a strategy to gain access to the site. The deployment of mechanized equipment, in our view, is almost certain to happen; it is only a matter of time.

Regarding Newmont and the ways in which it attempts to gain the consent of the local population for its operations, the article notes the important distinction between formal corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and the 'strategic tolerance' approach of leaving an area to artisanal miners rather than trying to force them off the company's concession, which would risk the collective opposition of miners, landowners and chiefs. This pragmatic approach allows local miners to mine to a depth beyond which it becomes technologically impossible for them to advance since they cannot get past the water table, leaving Newmont to mine at a deeper level. However, one key issue that the article omits is the size of the concessions that international mining companies such as Newmont obtain from the state, only a proportion of which they actually mine, and the dispossession of land that local communities suffer as a direct consequence. While Newmont's pragmatism provides a useful avenue for cohabitation with some local miners, local people's alienation from the land means that farming and other land-use activities are no longer possible, with consequent adverse effects on local livelihoods. Indeed, many local...