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Context 1
... Since gold is a scarce resource and so highly demanded, it is costly. Over time, its value fluctuates, but in the last forty years it has dramatically increased, from around 500 USD/kg in the 1970s, to an astounding 60,000 USD/kg in 2011 (see figure 1). Why did the gold price rise so much and why has the rise lately been so sharp? ...
Context 2
... is high, because people consider gold as one of the safest investments in times of financial crisis. Figure 1 shows that since the start of the credit crisis in 2008, the value of gold has sky- rocketed. When the international bank sector was close to a collapse, the first wave of unrest made people with savings resort to buying gold (Arnold 2011). ...
Context 3
... is an implicit assumption to this that the demand for gold, for example as jewelry or as dental filling, does not diminish (ibid.). The image of gold as stable in value needs some nuance however, since in real terms with inflation factored in -this was not done in figure 1-the price of gold has been going down since the eighties and has only recently im- proved slightly. We could say that the motive for the demand for gold in times of crisis largely has a psychological character. ...
Context 4
... less, the use of mercury among small-scale gold miners in the Tapa- jós remains very high. The project did contribute to the growing awareness amongst researchers that the mercury pollution problem will not be resolved until governments and donor agencies commit to carrying out research aimed at improving understanding of the dy- namics of small-scale gold mining activities (Hilson 2006: 14). ...
Context 6
... prices increased in Volume in kilograms the 1980s, mining became profitable again and production resumed. In the last ten years, Colombia has seen record levels of gold produc- tion, largely due to changes in public policies, an increased security, and of course the higher gold price (see also figure 1). Antioquia con- tinues to be the leading producer, followed by Chocó, which together account for about 80 percent of the national gold production (Wacaster 2010). ...
Context 7
... 1994 and2005, gold production in Peru rose from 20 to 207 tons. Production fell to 150 tons in 2010 (see figure 1). It remains Latin America's most important gold producer and in the last dec- ades Peru has become one of the chief destinations of exploration and mining project investments in Latin America (see table 1). ...
Context 8
... expansion in mining investments and production began in 1993, when the Yanacocha mining company started operations in Figure 1. Peru: gold production in fine metric tons (1994 -2010) Source: Ministry of Energy and Mines 2010. ...
Context 9
... prospecting, the acquisition of inappropriate equipment, and poor management soon meant the end for most mechanized operations (Healy and Heemskerk 2005). Figure 1 shows the dramatic increase in gold production between 1875 and 1908, as well as the subsequent decline. ...
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Citations
... Gold mining is organized by individuals who own the required equipment, open camps, and hire miners, who are paid with a share of the recovered gold. In the absence of the government, these structures have strengthened, and miners understand their activities to be illegal since they are not prosecuted (Springer et al. 2020;Kolen et al. 2018Kolen et al. , 2013. ...
The excellent chemical resistance of gold is an important property of the precious metal, but it becomes a disadvantage when it comes to gold extraction. Many metallurgical processes are based on highly aggressive or toxic reagents. Especially artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities are heavily criticized, as their environmental impact can hardly be controlled. Ecological concerns are forcing society and industry to find a solution for efficient gold recovery by the use of alternative methods to replace the mercury or cyanide process. In the last decades, many alternative leaching reagents have been investigated extensively. Researchers showed promising results in terms of technical and environmental characteristics. Furthermore, different demonstration and pilot-scale application tests were conducted around the world to generate information for a potential industrial application. Nevertheless, to this day there is just one reported industrial-scale application using the cyanide alternative thiosulfate. Besides chlorination or aqua regia in refineries and in recycling of specific waste streams, there is no notable industrial application of cyanide alternatives. Especially gold recycling from secondary resources would have a high ecological impact, as mining activities would be reduced. For example, electronic waste is a resource growing in volume and importance for gold recovery but lacks an efficient decentralized process.
... Gold mining is organized by individuals who own the required equipment, open camps, and hire miners, who are paid with a share of the recovered gold. In the absence of the government, these structures have strengthened, and miners understand their activities to be illegal since they are not prosecuted (Springer et al. 2020;Kolen et al. 2018Kolen et al. , 2013. ...
The exceptional chemical resistance of gold is a significant property of this precious metal, but it can pose challenges when it comes to gold extraction. Many metallurgical processes rely on highly aggressive or toxic reagents, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities, in particular, have faced criticism due to their difficult-to-control environmental impact. With growing ecological concerns, society and industry are compelled to seek efficient gold recovery methods that replace the use of mercury or cyanide. Over the past decades, extensive research has been conducted on alternative leaching reagents, showing promising technical and environmental characteristics. Various demonstration and pilot-scale application tests worldwide have provided valuable insights for potential industrial implementation. However, to date, only one industrial-scale application using the cyanide alternative thiosulfate has been reported. Apart from chlorination or aqua regia in refineries and recycling specific waste streams, there is a lack of notable industrial applications for cyanide alternatives, particularly in gold recycling from secondary resources. This is significant as it could have a substantial ecological impact by reducing the need for mining activities. For instance, electronic waste, which is increasing in volume and importance, represents a resource for gold recovery but lacks an efficient decentralized process. This work discusses the potential of cyanide alternative reagents for industrial application in gold production and recycling, while exploring various factors that contribute to the limited acceptance among gold producers.
... Therefore, the application of "mine-types," developed by the authors of [40] and applied here, should be reviewed and/or adapted to such peculiar activities. The first step would be the collection of the main characteristics of these operations and extensive field surveys, for instance, through related works focusing on the neighboring illegal gold mining system in the Amazon [103][104][105]. ...
Mining can be the source and target of opportunities and threats of different natures exceeding the mine site perimeter, affecting the socio-ecological system and leading to social conflicts and entrepreneurial risks for mining companies. Hence, a mining project is a matter of land planning rather than a simple industrial object. Nevertheless, current mandatory risk and impact assessment methods are often performed on one project at a time, neglecting the coexistence of different mining activities and the socio-ecological vulnerability of the territory where mining takes place. This paper proposes an original risk-based approach to develop and compare different territorial mining scenarios (TMSs) to support land-planning strategies in mining territories, tested on the French Guiana gold mining sector. Five TMSs combining different mine types (e.g., legal artisanal, medium, large-scale mining, illegal mining) were developed for the same total amount of gold production at the watershed level. For each TMS, both accidental and ordinary risk scenarios were assessed through a GIS-based approach considering watershed socio-ecological vulnerability. Risks were finally weighted according to different stakeholders' perception, and the TMSs were compared based on their global risk scores. Despite the multiple challenges highlighted, this paper highlights the feasibility of a methodological framework to support mining planning at the territory level.
... Employment contracts do not exist; everyone is free to leave when they so desire (Cleary 1990). Payment is split between a group of people and equals a specific percentage of the value of the extracted gold (Kolen et al. 2013). Technological changes sometimes lead to changes in working conditions (Massaro and de Theije 2018) and are visible in the usage of retorts and excavators. ...
... Overall, the workers' health can be negatively affected by disease and dangerous occupational threats, e.g., mercury exposure (Hinton et al. 2003a;Priester and Hentschel 1992;Veiga 2013;Wotruba et al. 1998). There is a strong shared identity among gold miners (Kolen et al. 2017), and due to the absence of the state, the rules they have established have strengthened over time (Geenan 2016;Kolen et al. 2013). Therefore, Garimpeiros operate in a more autonomous and self-determined way (Mathis 2012). ...
... Different research methods came into place to collect data. Secondary data were obtained from the literature with text analysis, e.g., Buxton 2013; Kolen et al. 2013;Kolen et al. 2017;Mathis 2003;Sousa and Veiga 2009. Primary data were gathered through ethnography research. ...
Purpose
Gold extraction in the Amazonian rainforest is accompanied by ecological threats and social grievances, but at the same time, the artisanal small-scale gold mining sector (ASGM) provides a livelihood for many people. To address this tradeoff, this paper analyzed the social aspects and their possible relations by conducting a case study based on a Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA). This study seeks to determine whether SLCA is capable of reflecting the sector.
Method
A literature-based guideline was used for collecting primary data during several field trips to the Tapajós Region in Brazil. This research instrument constituted the basis for information-oriented interviews and on-site observations. The SLCA categories used in this study were based on the United Nations Environment Programme and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) guidelines and the categories in the Fairmined Standard. In addition, secondary data obtained from the literature were used to provide insights into the sector. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with both deductive and inductive approaches.
Results and discussion
This study described the social aspects of the ASGM sector in the Tapajós Region, including the absence of the state, the illegality and informality of mining operations, the remote and rural area, and the organizational structure. In addition, the extraction methods, poor working conditions, and difficult living conditions were considered. Certain characteristics of the industry like unstable payments, worker movements, and low education levels were recognized, and thus, the relations among the social categories and rebound effects were identified. Several issues were proven to be key factors: unstable payments, autonomy, and the rebound effects of excavators. Complex relations among social issues but also towards ecological and economic issues do exist. The suitability of using the SLCA to reflect the ASGM sector was tested on this basis.
Conclusion
In some respects, the SLCA had limitations, e.g., due to the nonlinear relation between working hours and the amount of extracted gold. The impacts of technology depend on the underlying definition that is used. The current lack of cause-effect models impedes the assessment of an overall picture that considers the relations among the social aspects and other elements of sustainability. A holistic view must be applied if ecological problems are to be solved.
... There are records that garimpagem sites existed in small numbers since the 1920s (Cleary 1990: 166) but after the discovery of gold deposits in Tapajós in 1958 artisanal mining became more significant. However, the region was difficult to access and the miners could only work the gold that was easy to extract, and after ten years the mines were depleted (Kolen et al. 2013). Around the same time, multinational mining companies became active in Amazonia, such as Meridional, a subsidiary of US Steel, that discovered the Carajás iron deposit in 1967. ...
... On the instalment of the national day of the garimpeiro (July 21) in 2008 a senator called the small-scale miners the contemporary bandeirantes (Kolen et al. 2013). The model of the miner as the individual who conquers and reclaims the land for the benefit of the nation seems as vivid in Brazilian culture today as it was in past centuries. ...
ASGM, or garimpagem in Portuguese, is mostly informal in Brazil. Nevertheless, it is the dominant form of gold mining, with strong historical, cultural and economic roots and permanence, principally in contemporary Amazonia. Informal gold mining in Brazil should not be understood as merely a systemic response to the withdrawal of industrial mining companies or territorial obstacles to expansion. It developed independent from large-scale mining, as an economic, social and cultural embedded model of mineral extraction. It is the oldest and most flexible form of gold mining that was meaningful and workable under different political winds and economic waves from colonial times to the twenty-first century. In this chapter, the historical development of small-scale mining in Brazil that explains why garimpo is a culturally resistant and economically relevant mining is discussed. Then the informality and the ambiguous role of the state and industrial mining concerning the informality of garimpo is examined. Finally, the territorial dynamics, regulations and the importance of technology, as critical factors in today’s mining crystallizations, are assessed.
... Additionally, because of the use of liquid mercury, gold mining is known not only to leave severe impacts in the altered landscapes, but also to be associated with human health impacts [14][15][16][17] and social costs [17,18]. Most of these ASGM activities are reported to be done illegally, although the Peruvian Government has been trying to implement new regulations and punitive campaigns against illegal miners [10,11,19,20]. ...
Over the past decades, the Peruvian Amazon has experienced a rapid change in forest cover due to the expansion of agriculture and extractive activities. This study uses spectral mixture analysis (SMA) in a cloud-computing platform to map forest loss within and outside indigenous territories, protected areas, mining concessions, and reforestation concessions within the Madre de Dios Region in Peru. The study area is focused on key areas of forest loss in the western part of the Tambopata National Reserve and surrounding the Malinowski River. Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus surface reflectance data spanning 2013–2018 were analyzed using cloud-based SMA to identify patterns of forest loss for each year. High-resolution Planet Dove (3m) and RapidEye (5m) imagery were used to validate the forest loss map and to identify the potential drivers of loss. Results show large areas of forest loss, especially within buffer zones of protected areas. Forest loss also appears in the Kotsimba Native Community within a 1 km buffer of the Malinowski River. In addition to gold mining, agriculture and pasture fields also appear to be major drivers of forest loss for our study period. This study also suggests that gold mining activity is potentially not restricted to the legal mining concession areas, with 49% of forest loss occurring outside the mining concessions. Overall accuracy obtained for the forest loss analysis was 96%. These results illustrate the applicability of a cloud-based platform not only for land use land cover change detection but also for accessing and processing large datasets; the importance of monitoring not only forest loss progression in the Madre de Dios, which has been increasing over the years, especially within buffer zones, but also its drivers; and reiterates the use of SMA as a reliable change detection classification approach.
... According to Sousa et al. (2011a, b), 29,888 small-scale miners' permits had been submit- ted from all over Brazil in 2008, but only 106 had been approved by the National Department of Mineral Production. The rest of these applications had accumulated in regional offices ( Kolen et al., 2013). The expectation is that from 2018 the new mining legislation and Nacional Mining Agency (ANM) will remedy the main bureaucratic obstacles for the ASGM sector. ...
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Amazonian countries has undergone important technological improvements in recent decades. Nevertheless, this type of mining is largely associated with the use of rudimentary, low-tech and often manual methods, with inefficient gold recovery. This article aims at investigating how innovations and improvements in the technology used in small-scale gold mines are connected to a broader perception of the miners about the integration of more modern and effective techniques. A technographical approach enabled the understanding of mining practices as embodied cultural knowledge and to fill the information gap between the study of materials and techniques with the study of people and communities. We discuss how the technology of small-scale gold mining in the region of Peixoto de Azevedo (Mato Grosso, Brazil) has changed since the early 1980s, giving particular attention to the recent introduction of two main innovations: the mechanized exploration drill and the cyanidation process. In this region, miners are successfully organized in cooperatives efforts to mutually reinforce the integration of innovative and effective techniques. Finally, we introduce the three notions of foresight (visão), agility (agilidade) and development (desenvolvimento) that emerged during fieldwork and conceptually frame the likeliness of acceptance and promulgation of innovations in this context. Sustainable mining may only succeed if a wider vision of the future of the sector (foresight) joins public policies that facilitate the practical process of innovation during each phase of its realization (agility) in order to achieve an advanced social status of the local community (development).
Este livro segue uma linha de raciocínio lógica, encadeada e marcada pelo debate sobre desenvolvimento regional/local e as dinâmicas sócio-territoriais no Brasil e em países vizinhos, principalmente os fronteiriços. E, pelo caráter interdisciplinar das discussões que se processam no PPGMDR, são debates que enriquecem a análise crítica da realidade.
O artigo tem por escopo analisar a ocupação da fronteira setentrional brasileira, com ênfase no Estado do Amapá, como processos de vivificação e vitalização que envolvem ações institucionalizadas materializadas em sua espacialidade, seja em construções formais ou em informais. As discussões aqui apresentadas integram aos debates construídos no Grupo de Trabalho Fronteiras, Regionalização e Globalização (GT-FRG/Clacso) e no Núcleo de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais da Universidade Federal do Amapá
(Nesur/Unifap).
