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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Goldmining in Burkina Faso; artisanal miners and (international) goldmining companies connected
| Panel |
62. Copper and Migrants: Towards a social history of industrialisation and social change in central Africa 1890-1990
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| Paper ID | 626 |
| Author(s) |
Luning, Sabine
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Liberalization of the gold mining sector has affected working arrangements of artisanal goldminers on specific mining sites in Burkina Faso. This paper describes how the presence of (international ) goldmining companies works out for different categories of miners. Since the early 1990’s policy reforms imposed by the IMF have led to the privatization of the gold mining sector in Burkina Faso. The state of Burkina Faso has not simply ‘rolled back’ as an economic player, rather it has traded its monopoly on the exploitation and commerce of gold for a central position in the allocation of mining titles. Details about the exploration and exploitation permits allotted to different companies are made public on the webpage of the Mining Office (BUMIGEB). But what happens on the ground? How do companies deal with artisanal miners already working in the area? How do the mining titles of companies relate to existing land rights? How do settlements between companies and miners and between companies and local holders of land title come about? Who mediates in establishing working arrangements between the parties involved? Who represents the companies, who the artisanal miners? The webpage of BUMIGEB shows maps with clear-cut areas allotted to Burkinabe and international companies, but these neat images correspond to a heterogeneous field of mining practices. In most situations international companies depend upon local partners for the creation of working arrangements. Such partners may Burkina companies serving as trait d’union with artisanal miners and/or farmers, or strong personalities who can reinforce working and safety arrangements on the basis of local reputations, or policemen who are hired from the state. The specificities - both of the interplay between different partners and of the working arrangements agreed upon - depend on work practices already in place before the arrival of the company, on geological features of the area, on the targets and strategies of companies (do they want to explore and eventually sell the mining title to a third party or do they envisage the company’s involvement in actual exploitation?), on technological input of the companies, on the stage in the social life of the mining sites etc..
The paper describes case studies illustrating tangible articulations between international and national players in the gold mining sector in Burkina Faso. Particular attention will be given to Canadian companies dominating Burkina’s mining sector. The paper will deal with the reasons and forms of this dominance.
The paper wants to demonstrate how the varieties in positions of miners and their working relations are best understood in connection with international companies and the political and economic agents they rely on as facilitators and mediators.
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