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Small-Scale
Mining Definitions
A variety of different definitions have been developed
to describe artisanal and small-scale mining. Some examples of these
from different countries and organizations, are presented below.
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Brazil
- Individual or collective extractive work, using rudimentary tools,
manual devices or simple portable machinery's - for immediate exploitation
of a mineral which, by its nature, dimension, location and economic
use, can be worked, independent of previous exploration work, according
to criteria set by the National Department of Mineral Production.
Separate definition for "garimpagem" (artisanal mining)
as individual work performed by panners with rudimentary forms of
mining using manual or portable equipment, and applied only to alluvial,
colluvial and eluvial deposits.
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Burkina Faso - Artisanal
exploitation refers to activities conducted on ore bodies or deposits
by natural or legal persons using traditional techniques or low mechanization
levels.
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Chile - Mining operations
by a person who works a mine property or process plant by himself
and with or without family support, maximum number of five salaried
workers, or by legal society with no more than six partners. It also
includes operations by mining cooperatives with partners who are actual
artisanal miners.
Small-scale mining is also defined as that mining sector that produces
up to 2,000 tonnes per year of fine copper or equivalent.
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Ethiopia - Small-scale
mining means mining operations to be designated as such by the Minister,
of which the annual run-of-mine ore does not exceed a certain limit,
which differs from one mineral product to another and on the nature
of mineral occurrence.
Artisanal mining refers to non-mechanised mining operations of
gold, platinum, precious minerals, metals, salt, clay and other
similar minerals, by essentially manual methods carried out by Ethiopian
individuals or groups of such persons.
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Ghana - Small-scale
mining refers to operations of individual Ghanaians or organized groups
of Ghanaians (four to eight individuals), or cooperatives of ten or
more individuals, which are entirely financed by Ghanaian resources
at a certain limit, and carried out on a full-time basis using simple
equipment ant tools.
It also refers to prospecting and mining in an area designated
for small-scale mining, which uses specialized technologies and
methods not involving substantial expenditure.
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Guinea - Small-scale
mining is the exploitation of precious minerals such as gold, diamonds
and other gemstones found in primary or alluvial deposits, outcrops
or sub-outcrops.
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Mexico - Small-scale
mines are those whose annual production values do not exceed US$3
million, provided that their daily production capacity is less than
200 tonnes per day, for metal mines, and 300 tonnes per day for non-metal
mines.
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Philippines
- Small-scale mining refers to activities which rely heavily on manual
labour using simple implements and methods, and do not use explosives
or heavy mining equipment.
Also defined as a single unit of operation
involving an annual production of not exceeding 50,000 tonnes of
run-of-mine ore with the following requisites:
- working is artisanal, either open-cast
or shallow underground mining without the use of sophisticated
mining equipment.
- minimal investment on infrastructures
and processing plants (not exceeding 10 million pesos).
- heavy reliance on manual labour
( ratio of labour cost to equipment utilization cost to produce,
process and market one tonne of ore is equivalent to, or exceeding
one).
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Surinam - Small-scale
mining is the exploitation of mineral deposits which, due to their
mode of occurrence and their size, can be mined economically by simple
means and techniques.
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United Nations - 1972
- Small-scale mining is any single unit mining operation having an
annual production of unprocessed materials of 50,000 tonnes, or less
as measured at the entrance of the mine.
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ITDG - Small-scale
miners are "poor people; individuals or small groups who are
dependent upon mining for a living; who use rudimentary tools and
techniques (e.g. picks, chisels, sluices and pans) to exploit their
mineral deposits".
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