Small-scale mining

We offer the following expertise based on our knowledge and experience of the small-scale mining sector:

Institutional Development and Capacity Building: building the capacity of local mining institutions and facilitating the organisation and legalisation of artisanal operations. Delivering training to women's groups and small-scale mining associations in safe and environmentally benign prospection, extraction, processing, value-adding and marketing of mineral materials.

Private Sector, Enterprise and Market Development: we have experience of facilitating an improved marketing chain for mined products, for example  we have investigated the potential to create value-added products and to stimulate fair trade in gemstones in Zambia.

Technology and Knowledge Transfer and Development: we use participatory methods and a sustainable livelihoods approach to improve upon traditional knowledge systems and provide technical assistance to develop more efficient mineral extraction and processing plants.

Training: we have substantial experience in the design and implementation of training materials and in the provision of training-of-trainers and guidelines for trainers in this sector.
 

In the course of our work we have assisted small-scale and artisanal miners to acquire and apply appropriate technologies, knowledge and skills in exploiting mineral deposits and ores and establishing viable, safe and environmentally sustainable mining operations using a holistic and integrated combination of the following competencies:

• socio-economic surveying of mining communities and key constraints analysis
• livelihoods analysis and participatory needs assessment (drawing on the sustainable livelihoods framework)
• geological exploration, in particular, ore reserve estimation and mining geology
• mine design and mine planning, including production and marketing
• mineral processing efficiencies
• mine environment and safety, including environmental impact assessment studies and management, mine ventilation and mining closure
• training in gemstone identification and value-adding; marketing of mineral productions; improved exploration, exploitation and processing techniques
• impact assessment
• policy research and strategy formulation - contribution to the development of long-term strategies, taking into consideration the perspectives of small-scale and artisanal miners

Projects

View examples of our work in the small-scale mining sector

• Monitoring and Evaluation systems of Benefit Streams and other impacts in Mineral Resources - Laos
• Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources, Uganda
• Best Practices in Small-scale Gemstone Mining, Sri Lanka
• Mining Sector Diversification, Zambia
• Normalisation of the Small-scale Mining Sector, Madagascar

Information about earlier projects and Practical Action's expertise in small-scale mining has now been archived.