Mining with a human face: How to formalise artisanal and small-scale mining

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a significant part of the global mineral economy. An estimated 45 million people work directly in ASM worldwide, while as many as 315 million people benefit indirectly from the sector.

Yet a critical challenge remains: how to bring small-scale miners into the legal mainstream.

This question was explored during a moving session at Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026. Delegates heard emotional accounts of life in the open-pit mines that typify the sector and debated practical ways to integrate ASM into the formal economy. Central to the discussion was whether formalisation can coexist with large-scale mining, and whether governments and regional bodies are doing enough to enable it.

A Human Reality

Ntokozo Nzimande, deputy director-general of mining and petroleum policy development at South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), offered a deeply personal perspective on artisanal mining.

While South Africa is known for its large-scale, formalised mining industry, she acknowledged that the country has been slow to establish regulations specifically for ASM. However, recent amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, along with the introduction of a new Artisanal Mining Licensing System, now allow miners to acquire permits for small tenements on a month-to-month basis for three years, with the option to renew twice.

Even so, clarity remains a work in progress.

“There is still a need for greater clarity around artisanal mining,” she conceded. “The intention is to regularise these activities and to provide a path for artisanal and small-scale miners to graduate to become junior miners and enter the mining mainstream.”

She emphasised that ASM is not illegal mining, before sharing a story from her childhood.

“I grew up in a village called Blaauwbosch Laagte outside Newcastle,” said Nzimande. “Behind the fence at the back of our school was a large pit where the local gogos (grandmothers) would dig for coal. They would sell that coal in the village from wheelbarrows, for R10 per load. I know these people whom we describe as artisanal miners. ASM is not academic to me. It’s a lived reality.”

For Nzimande, the issue is not abstract policy, it is personal experience, and a commitment to creating space for artisanal miners in the mainstream economy.

Lessons from the DRC

Popol Mabolia Yenga, MD of Mining Cadastre (CAMI) in the DRC, outlined the Congolese experience of ASM formalisation.

He explained that formalising artisanal and small-scale miners became necessary after the collapse of the state-owned body that had previously produced all minerals in the country.

“After the state company collapsed, experienced miners then had no choice but to resort to their own survival-mining activities. Government had to recognise that situation.”

In response, the DRC government created official artisanal mining zones, where many of the country’s millions of artisanal miners now operate. Miners are also able to join cooperatives that market their products internationally and ensure compliance with traceability requirements.

Today, many of these miners can access financial services, purchase life insurance and participate in retirement funds — tangible benefits of formalisation.

Connecting ASM to Global Markets

Norman Mukwakwami, global head of responsible sourcing – metals for Trafigura, shared the private sector perspective. He said there are proven examples of how artisanal and small-scale miners can be empowered and connected to global markets.

He described a responsible sourcing partnership between Trafigura, mining company Chemaf and the COMIAKOL miners collective at the Mutoshi mine in Kolwezi, DRC.

“The partnership has been able to ensure the safe and secure delivery of cobalt to the international market, by working with artisanal miners within the concession,” he said.

There are an estimated 14 million artisanal miners globally, with 10 million in Africa and around two to three million in the DRC alone. Mukwakwami noted that formalising ASM at such scale will require greater clarity around export requirements, as well as strong regional partnerships.

He emphasised that formalising artisanal and small-scale mining is not just about legalisation, but about sustaining economic livelihoods.

A Broader Value Chain

Mohammad Stevens, legal counsel for the African Legal Support Facility, said artisanal mining is best understood as part of a broader value chain.

While the sector needs regulation, defining where miners can operate, what tools they may use and under what conditions governments also require legal capacity to set policy and negotiate agreements internationally.

Environmental, health and safety impacts must be addressed within clear policy guidelines. At the same time, gender equality must be promoted across the ASM value chain, recognising the significant role women play in the sector.

Delegates also raised the issue of security of tenure. Even where ASM is formalised, miners need stable rights and clear pathways to transition from subsistence mining into small-scale and junior mining operations.

Coexistence with Large-Scale Mining

A central question at Mining Indaba was whether formalised ASM can coexist with large-scale mining.

Nzimande pointed to examples where collaboration is possible.

“Where a large mining house finds that a certain concession cannot be developed profitably, it can cede that right to a smaller entity,” she said. “There are also laws to allow ASM miners to graduate to more mechanised methods. There is room for mining operations of all sizes to work alongside each other, and for all of them to earn a living.”

Her message reflected the broader consensus emerging from the session: formalisation is not about choosing between large-scale and artisanal mining. It is about creating a regulatory and economic framework where both can coexist, and where millions who depend on ASM can do so legally, safely and sustainably.