Artisanal and small scale mining sector: Challenges and opportunities

Past Event Sierra Lighthouse, Hotel, Aberdeen, Freetown, Sierra Leone Firms

The International Growth Centre (IGC) is hosting a regional event on the challenges and opportunities for the artisanal and small scale mining sector at 8:30am on Tuesday, 24th September 2019 at the Sierra Lighthouse, Hotel, Aberdeen, Freetown, Sierra Leone .

Artisanal and Small-scale mining continues to provide jobs and livelihood support to millions of people in many sub-Sahara African countries. It is therefore considered as one of the most important non-farm activity in the region. However, activities in the sector are largely informal and mineral extraction as well as processing are being undertaken manually and with low technology. The productivity levels tend to be low and incomes barely above the poverty thresholds.

The event discusses the findings of the following studies:

  1. Tracking Concession Activity: A census in Sierra Leone;
  2. Mapping informal financial flows in the artisanal mining sector: the cases of Sierra Leone and Liberia;
  3. The informalisation of Ghana's small-scale gold mining economy: Drivers and policy implications.