Pork knocking in the land of many waters: Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Guyana

Clifford, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2011.09.004

Cited by 28 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Cartier and Bürge, 2011;Jønsson and Fold, 2009). Furthermore, research in countries as diverse as Tanzania (Fisher, 2007), Guyana (Clifford, 2011) and the Philippines (Verbrugge, 2014) has revealed a central role for external financiers. The injection of outside capital has led to a growing differentiation among ASM operations in terms of their level of capitalization and professionalization, but also between a nascent group of ASM entrepreneurs and a poverty-driven workforce.…”

Section: The Role Of Differentiation and Exploitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines

Verbrugge¹

2015

Development and Change

108

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This article critically evaluates existing causal explanations for the persistence of informality in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). These explanations share a legalistic focus on entry barriers and political impediments that prevent or discourage the formalization of poverty-driven ASM operators: however, they fail to fully explain cases such as that of the Philippines, where ASM is characterized by differentiation between a poverty-driven workforce and a dominant stratum of ASM entrepreneurs. Even where limited formalization frameworks provide ASM with a degree of legal recognition, this recognition is usually restricted to these more powerful ASM interests, while excluding the workforce at large. This article therefore proposes an integrative approach to analysing informality in ASM, which complements the existing legalistic focus on entry barriers with a structuralist concern over the exploitation of informal labour. Seen from this perspective, the massive expansion of ASM in the Philippines can be seen as the product of a transition away from capital-intensive large-scale mining to a flexible regime of accumulation built around the exploitation of informal ASM labour. This observation highlights the need to pay more critical attention to the economic logic and the vested interests underlying the (selective) persistence of informality in the workforce.

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Section: The Role Of Differentiation and Exploitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines

Verbrugge¹

2015

Development and Change

108

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“…In fact, the tropical forests of the Guiana Shield are currently the most affected by gold-mining in South America, with gold-mining accounting for 41% of total forest loss in the region (Alvarez-Berrios and Mitchell Aide 2015, Dezecache et al 2017). Increasing deforestation in the Guiana Shield is not only due to growing pressures from open-cast mining for gold, diamonds, iron and bauxite (Hammond et al 2007, Clifford 2011, Dezecache et al 2017, but also to selective timber logging (Veríssimo et al 2008, Ahmed andEwers 2012), encroaching agricultural activities (Armenteras et al 2009), and new roads and infrastructure developments (Armenteras et al 2013). New pressures may also include oil and gas-related deforestation if onshore oil is discovered, following the discovery of Guyana's major offshore oil-reserves.…”

Section: How Likely Is Deforestation In the Guiana Shield And Replacementioning

confidence: 99%

The Guiana Shield rainforests—overlooked guardians of South American climate

Bovolo

Wagner

Parkin

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Tropical forests are global climate regulators through their interaction with hydrological and biogeochemical cycles. Despite extensive research on deforestation in South America and its global impact, the role of the largely intact Guiana Shield forests, north of the Amazon, has not yet been considered as part of this climate system. We use a regional climate model with a realistic deforestation scenario to test the impact of deforestation in the Guiana Shield on climate throughout South America. We show that replacing ∼28% of the current Guiana Shield rainforest with savannah leads to multi-scale impacts across South America, through vegetation-land-atmosphere interactions that disrupt the initial phase of two major 'atmospheric rivers': the Caribbean low-level Jet and the South American low-level jet (SALLJ). Our climate simulations suggest that following deforestation, locally, precipitation and runoff would more than double in lowland forests, whilst mean annual temperatures would increase by up to 2.2• C in savannahs. Regionally, significant wetting is simulated in northern South America (April−September) and the western Amazon (October-March), while temperatures increase up to 2• C in central and eastern Amazon, causing more dry months in up to 64% of the Amazon basin. Reduction of moisture transfer by the SALLJ of 2.2% of total annual flow causes noticeable and highly diverse spatial changes in simulated monthly rainfall in la plata basin (LPB). These results highlight the potential consequences of land cover change in a sensitive hot-spot with hydro-climatic impacts 1000 km west and 4000 km south. Such multi-scale perturbations can severely impact biodiversity and ecosystem services across South America, including agriculture in LPB. Recognition of the far field effects of localised deforestation in key areas is urgently needed to improve development plans for a sustainable future. Significance statementThe Guiana Shield, at the northern boundary of Amazonia, is located at the start of two atmospheric rivers which carry moisture across South America. We show that deforesting less than a third of the Guiana Shield, in areas currently under threat from mining, logging and agricultural activities, could result in significant changes in the water cycle across the continent. This includes large variations in temperature and precipitation affecting areas 4000 km away, impacting ecosystems and economies, with consequences for society. The study demonstrates how land-use change, even if small in spatial scale, but occurring in particularly sensitive hot-spots, can alter the flow of atmospheric rivers, with large consequences. This pan-continental cascade must be considered when designing trans-national management plans for a sustainable future.

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“…The majority of gold is very fine and is not captured on the sluice bed. This practice has led to small-scale miners and "pork knockers" (43), as artisanal miners are referred to in Guyana, reworking the tailings from abandoned claims. Miners collect the heavy concentrate from the sluice box in large basins and approximately once a week add mercury to amalgamate the gold.…”

Section: Colluvial Mining: Guyanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges Associated with Using Retorts To Limit Mercury Exposure in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining: Case Studies from Mozambique, Ecuador, and Guyana

Kiefer

Drace

Seney

et al. 2015

ACS Symposium Series

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Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is recognized as the number one source of anthropogenic mercury pollution in the world. Miners use mercury to amalgamate gold, then heat the amalgam to evaporate the mercury. This process, referred to by miners as burning, releases large quantities of mercury vapor that affects the health of miners and community members. A retort is a mercury capture device that provides a simple solution to reduce human exposure to mercury vapor during the burning process. In spite of the low cost, ease of use and numerous outreach programs that have introduced miners to this technology, miners have been reluctant to use retorts. This chapter provides a review of ASGM processes involving mercury, discusses the health effects of mercury vapor, and provides case studies on retort use in Mozambique, Ecuador and Guyana. The chapter concludes with a discussion on reasons why retorts have not been widely adopted in these countries, and it provides potential solutions to address miners concerns with the use of retorts.

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Pork knocking in the land of many waters: Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Guyana

Cited by 28 publications

References 26 publications

The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines

The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines

The Guiana Shield rainforests—overlooked guardians of South American climate

Challenges Associated with Using Retorts To Limit Mercury Exposure in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining: Case Studies from Mozambique, Ecuador, and Guyana

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