Local Effects of Artisanal Mining: Empirical Evidence from Ghana
I estimate of local economic and environmental effects of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) in Ghana. For that purpose I use a novel dataset on the geolocation of artisanal gold mines based on machine learning techniques and satellite imagery. ASM is an informal, low-tech, but highly labour-intensive form of resource extraction that is typically associated with environmental and health damages, social problems and poverty. In contrast to common perception, I find that one additional artisanal mine increases nearby household per-capita income by 0.2 percent, which is driven by non agricultural income sources. Other indicators of economic development point in the same direction: In artisanal mining areas more households have access to electricity, more individuals are literate and fewer people work in agriculture. On the other hand, conventional large-scale mining does not show any local economic impacts. From an environmental perspective, both small- and large-scale mining contribute to forest cover loss. In a context where reliable data is scarce, the evidence shown here thus provides a more nuanced view on local effects of artisanal mining.
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Additional Info
- Author(s)
- M Guenther
- Publication Year
- 2018
- Language
- English
- Publishing Institution Webpage
- https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/
- Data Source Classification
- Conference Presentation
- Research Type
- Both
- Research Methodology
- Primary - INTERVIEW, Primary - OBSERVATION, Secondary - PREVIOUS RESEARCH, Primary - ANECDOTAL
- Thematic Tags
- Social, Livelihoods, Environmental, Mercury
- Minerals
- Gold
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Country
- Ghana
- Last Updated
- October 2, 2019