COLUMN
Jesper Jonsson is regional environment and social director for RSK Africa, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
We must find ways to de-escalate conflicts and work with artisanal miners Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a primarily informal sector that is increasingly coming into conflict with large-scale mining operations. RSK Africa Regional Environment and Social Director Jesper Jonsson believes that the situation will only get worse unless we explore more empathetic approaches focused on de-
escalation between large and small-scale miners. P redominantly in emerging economies, ASM ranges from a person panning in a river to a mining pit using compressors, generators and electrical drills. It is a sector rarely captured accurately in formal statistics, yet it involves millions of people and provides more than 80% of the world’s gemstones and up to 20% of the world’s gold production.
operators without durable solutions. With ESG a growing topic in the mining sector, especially for companies listed or financed internationally, a new focus on de-escalation and cooperation has a great many advantages. Small and large-scale miners are not necessarily competing for the same deposits. Artisanal miners rarely work below 50–100
metres deep due to the complexity of managing oxygen and the need for dewatering. Mponeng Gold Mine
Conflict between ASM and large- scale industrial mining is not a new phenomenon. It can emerge when long-standing artisanal activity overlaps with newly allocated concessions, or from artisanal and small-scale miners moving into
near Johannesburg, by contrast, now reaches nearly 4 000 metres deep. Where artisanal and small-scale miners are looking for high-value, close-to-surface deposits, large-scale
ASM involves millions of people and provides more than 80% of the world’s gemstones and up to 20% of the world’s gold production.
abandoned mine shafts or even into operational mines. In extreme cases, artisanal miners may be influenced or exploited by criminal elements. Traditional approaches – particularly evictions – have tended to intensify tensions rather than resolve them, exposing concession owners to community backlash, legal
mining companies typically focus on volume for long-term feasibility, including in lower-yield ore bodies. Theoretically, then, the two groups do not need to be in conflict and could instead cooperate and coexist. One cooperative method we’ve seen tested is for
ASM operators to be given mining access to an area on the concession. By providing a legal access area, it is less likely that ASM operators will be exploited by criminal elements, and this also helps build institutional arrangements where the concession owner has some control and influence over who
action, media scrutiny and heightened environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk, with several high-profile cases having gone to court and resulted in costly settlements. These responses focus on symptoms rather than the underlying drivers of informality, leaving artisanal miners vulnerable and
38 MODERN MINING www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | JUNE 2026
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