What is artisanal mining and small scale mining versus large scale mining?

An artisanal miner is in effect a subsistence miner, who often undertakes the activity of mining gold seasonally – for example crops are planted in the rainy season, and mining is pursued in the dry season. They are not officially employed by a mining company, but rather work independently, mining or panning for gold using their own resources.

Small scale miners are often, but not always, legal operators usually working in collectives of about two to 20 or more people. They have greater structure and organisation to their workings than perhaps artisanal miners and often make use of rudimentary processing plants.

Large scale mining is typically very capital intense with substantial investments in plant and infrastructure taking place. Large scale mines typically take several years to build and commission and depending on their size, can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. They are often managed by listed companies, and have structured management systems and procedures regarding employee, safety, health environment and community issues.

See also: Facts Artisanal Mining

How do mining companies go about mining for gold?

There are two main forms of mining practiced by large scale mining companies, these being surface and underground mining. A full explanation is provided here: mining methods 

What legislation exists to regulate the social and environmental impacts of gold mining?

Each country has its own set of legislation governing mining, and issues that are related to mining such as resettlement, water, air, biodiversity and so on. The nature and extent of this legislation has to be assessed on a country-by-country basis. Globally, growing awareness of environmental issues is being translated into increasingly stringent requirements being placed on mining companies.

International law is that which is defined through various multi-party conventions like the Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity, etc. which countries sign-up to and enact through national legislation. There are of course international bodies which, through contractual agreements, encourage and enforce global standards such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards. NGO’s are playing an increasingly active role in defining what can best be described as ‘soft law’.

By developing, promoting and participating in voluntary initiatives, such as Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, the Voluntary Principles on Human Rights, and Global Reporting Initiative, multi-stakeholder approaches are being developed to guide the various role players globally.


Is all gold mining legal?

Large-scale mining operations require mining licences and a raft of permits and government approvals through the various stages of their operations. Thus the process of construction, commissioning and bringing into production of a large scale operation is generally highly regulated and can take several years. There is, however, growing concern that not all gold mining is being done within countries' legal frameworks and these concerns are often centred around the artisanal and small scale mining sector. See also Artisanal and Small Scale Mining

What are some of the by-products of gold mining?

Depending on where gold is being mined there will be different by-products owing to the different mineral compositions of the ore body. These by-products often include copper, silver, and zinc and in certain parts of the world, like South Africa, uranium. Mercury is also present on occasion and in the processing of gold sulphuric acid is generated as a by-product in some operations.

What happens to old mines?

All mines ultimately close. In the past, when environmental requirements were not as stringent as they are now, some mines were abandoned creating legacy issues. Ways of resolving this are being looked into with clean up funds being established in some jurisdictions, alternative uses being found for old mining sites in others and an ongoing dialogue exists between governments, communities and industry on the subject.

With the more stringent closure standards being put in place globally mines are now rehabilitated to an agreed standard as defined by that country’s legislation. Shafts are closed and tailings storage areas re-vegetated. The infrastructure of the mine, such as buildings and offices, is typically either decommissioned or put to alternative use, for example as workshops, or businesses, or other industrial facilities.

Is gold mining getting safer with time?

Safety and health are key priorities for gold mining companies. There have been a great number of initiatives aimed at improving safety – too many too mention here.  These initiatives have focused on 2 primary areas: those of technical / managerial systems, and those aimed at changing unsafe behaviours.  Below are a few examples:

Technical / Managerial Systems Innovation

•       An innovation of geotechnical risk management systems.  In open pit mines, risk assessments can be carried out taking account of a number of elements such as water table management, blasting considerations, pit evacuation methods, high wall monitoring etc. Following the assessment, life of mine plans can be optimised to extract the maximum amount of ore, with the minimum waste possible, at tolerable factors of safety.

•        Some ultra deep level mines in South Africa are at close to 4000m and are seismically active (i.e. they are susceptible to underground earthquakes).  Accordingly extensive seismic monitoring networks have been introduced encompassing some of the most sophisticated technical systems to monitor rock mass behaviour, and to provide data for a seismicity management system.  Such Fall of Ground Management system’s have a number of elements:  Firstly, data from the seismic monitoring system is compared with mining plans, and these plans can be modified to reduce the effect of the seismic activity. 

This can be called prevention.  Secondly, the protection element of the system.  For example, adaptions can be made to the rock support density and type, to protect workers from the damaging effects of seismic activity, or attempt to induce activity when working places are not occupied such as during blasting time (i.e. bring on a mini quake when it is safe to do so).  Lastly, some mines train workers to identify hazards, and the importance of adhering to safe working procedures is supported by a “traffic light” system, where working places are classified on a daily basis as to the risk of seismic activity. 

•        Another innovation employed at some open-pit operations is automated dispatching systems used to manage the heavy equipment fleet.  These satellite linked management systems are implemented to optimise mining productivity, but as productive working methods are conducive to safe working methods, there are major safety benefits.  For example heavy equipment movement is automatically scheduled so that vehicle proximity can be maximised.  Rest breaks can be scheduled at no productivity loss to reduce the incidence of one of the major hazards in open-pit mining – that of operator fatigue.

Changing Unsafe Behaviours

There are a range of very different initiatives which have and continue to be undertaken at various mines such as:

•         The DuPont S.T.O.P. programme (Safety Training and Observation Programme)

•        One mining company introduced a so called “Golden Wives” initiative focused on getting the wives of mineworkers involved in safety management.  Wives were introduced to the way safety should be managed, and even visited their husbands underground.  The programme focused on the importance of working safely, and creating just a little peer pressure in the home environment. 

•        Safety culture surveys with the premise being the need to understand how the workforce perceives safety, so that appropriate interventions could be designed.

What is "dirty" gold?

"Dirty" gold could be a reference to gold which is not produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way.  This might include references made by pressure groups, mainly NGOs (non-governmental organisations) such as Earthworks and Oxfam USA, who aim to promote improvements in the social and environmental aspects of gold mining (often referred to as "Sustainable Development").

World Gold Council member companies take the responsible production of gold, in line with the concepts of sustainable development, very seriously and there are many strict regulations and guidelines covering the mining of gold. Member companies have robust environmental, social and ethical standards and report on these through their annual reports