SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL-SCALE GOLD ... - WWF

and social laws. An intricate system of customary laws regulates various aspects of
mining life, including claiming stakes, compensation to communities, and payment
systems. These regulations, however, fail to protect: gold miners from unsafe and
unhealthy working conditions; the natural environment from pollution; and Indigenous
and tribal communities from various adverse mining effects. The lack of government
influence on the mining sector aggravates negative mining impacts on miners, their
families, communities surrounding the mines, and the natural environment.
Another consequence of failing mining regulation is that the government fails to reap
optimal financial benefits from SSGM. The Department of Taxes has no strategic action
plan to collect revenues from small-scale miners. This is unfortunate because foregone
tax payments could be used to equip the GMD, pay for labor inspections, fund awareness
campaigns on workers‟ safety and clean mining technology, provision police and military
presence in the mining zones, and support other projects that facilitate the transition to a
more sustainable SSM industry. It appears that the CBvS has been more successful in its
efforts to obtain royalties from miners. As we will see in the next section, this success is
largely due to the Bank‟s willingness to learn from and adapt to customary practices in
the gold trade.
No single institution has SSGM as its primary focus. There have been proposals for a
Minerals‟ Institute, to function independent of but in collaboration with the government.
This institute would coordinate legislation, law enforcement, security, marketing, labor
conditions, environmental management, and other aspects related to SSM. This institute
was never established. Other proposals have suggested a governmental institute with the
same objectives. The proposed Inter Department Units‟ (IDU) for example, were to
include representatives of the various ministries as well as police and military. As of
today, none of these efforts have materialized, and the responsibility for SSM issues -
including regulation, control, health, and labor- lies with a variety of Ministries and
Departments.
A lack of communication and collaboration between these institutions is hampering SSM
regulation. Moreover, none of the institutions covers capacity building and training for
small-scale miners. We will argue in the last chapter that the government should adopt a
“carrot-and-stick” approach. Without incentives (carrot), there will be little motivation
for miners to follow restrictive rules and undergo control (stick). This is one of the key
basic principles on which reform efforts should be based. The suggestions under the
section on education could do much to rectify this situation.
The government has no vision on how the transition from illegal and informal mining to
legal mining should occur. There also is no national strategy to secure safety in the
mining zones. A plan and regulations, to ensure that part of the resources collected from
SSM is invested back into the sub-sector, is essential.
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