scholarly journals Engagement in Practice Paper: Engineering Students vs. Geological Risk in the Gold Supply Chain: Using Geological Risk in Gold Mining Communities to Overcome Technical Instrumentalism among Engineering Students

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Reddy ◽  
Juan Lucena
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Paper Engineering

scholarly journals Legacies of a nationwide crackdown in Zimbabwe:Operation Chikorokoza Chaperain gold mining communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel J. Spiegel
Keyword(s):  
Gold Mining ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Mining Sector ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Diamond Mining ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
Artisanal Miners ◽  
Mining Regions

ABSTRACTAlthough conflict in Zimbabwe's diamond mining sector has recently received much international scrutiny, very little research has examined conflict in Zimbabwe's gold mining sector. This article analyses how a nationwide crackdown calledOperation Chikorokoza Chapera(‘No More Illegal Mining’) affected – and ‘disciplined’ – livelihoods in profound ways in both licensed and unlicensed gold mining regions. Drawing on interviews conducted between 2006 and 2013 with artisanal miners in the Insiza, Umzingwani and Kadoma areas as well as miners who crossed the border to Mozambique, the study reveals how a highly politicised crackdown led to uneven consequences. The analysis highlights both structural and physical violence, with more than 25,000 miners and traders arrested between 2006 and 2009 and more than 9,000 still imprisoned in 2013. Situating the crackdown within evolving political and economic interests, the study contributes to an understanding of how simplified discourses on ‘eradicating illegal mining’ mislead and mask power dynamics, while policing activities transform patterns of resource control. The study also emphasises that conceptualisations of the crackdown's legacy should carefully consider the agency of artisanal miners' associations, which, in some cases, have been actively seeking to resist coercive policies and rebuild livelihoods in the aftermath ofOperation Chikorokoza Chapera.

scholarly journals Mercury Levels in Human Hair and Farmed Fish near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin, Peru

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey L. Langeland ◽  
Rebecca D. Hardin ◽  
Richard L. Neitzel
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Mercury Level ◽  
Mercury Exposure ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Farmed Fish ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Hair Mercury ◽  
Madre De Dios

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has been an important source of income for communities in the Madre de Dios River Basin in Peru for hundreds of years. However, in recent decades, the scale of ASGM activities in the region has increased dramatically, and exposures to a variety of occupational and environmental hazards related to ASGM, including mercury, are becoming more widespread. The aims of our study were to: (1) examine patterns in the total hair mercury level of human participants in several communities in the region and compare these results to the 2.2 µg/g total hair mercury level equivalent to the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee of Food Additives (JECFA)’s Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI); and (2), to measure the mercury levels of paco (Piaractus brachypomus) fish raised in local aquaculture ponds, in order to compare these levels to the EPA Fish Tissue Residue Criterion of 0.3 µg Hg/g fish (wet weight). We collected hair samples from 80 participants in four communities (one control and three where ASGM activities occurred) in the region, and collected 111 samples from fish raised in 24 local aquaculture farms. We then analyzed the samples for total mercury. Total mercury levels in hair were statistically significantly higher in the mining communities than in the control community, and increased with increasing distance away from the Madre de Dios headwaters (as the crow flies), did not differ by sex, and frequently exceeded the reference level. Regression analyses indicated that higher hair mercury levels were associated with residence in ASGM communities. The analysis of paco fish samples found no samples that exceeded the EPA tissue residue criterion. Collectively, these results align with other recent studies showing that ASGM activities are associated with elevated human mercury exposure. The fish farmed through the relatively new process of aquaculture in ASGM areas appeared to have little potential to contribute to human mercury exposure. More research is needed on human health risks associated with ASGM to discern occupational, residential, and nutritional exposure, especially through tracking temporal changes in mercury levels as fish ponds age, and assessing levels in different farmed fish species. Additionally, research is needed to definitively determine that elevated mercury levels in humans and fish result from the elemental mercury from mining, rather than from a different source, such as the mercury released from soil erosion during deforestation events from mining or other activities.

scholarly journals Industrial Engineering Students' Perceptions of the Logistics and Supply Chain Industry

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Scherrer ◽  
Michael Maloni ◽  
Elizabeth Boyd ◽  
Stacy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Industrial Engineering

scholarly journals Understanding the nature, structure and relationships that make up the gold mining industry in Ghana: A multi-framing, multi-level exploration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Edward Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Theory Of Constraints ◽  
Mining Sector ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Wide Range

<p><b>The gold mining industry in Ghana is characterised by complexity in terms of its extended/sequential operations, its system-wide reach, its multiple stakeholders, and the variety of formal and informal organisations that constitute the industry. Perceptions of the industry differ considerably amongst stakeholders, depending on their stakes and interests, knowledge, understanding, involvement and agency within or without the sector. Studies of the industry to date have overlooked these diverse viewpoints and used limited-scope, single-frame analyses. However, they have highlighted wide-ranging industry issues that impact the diversity of stakeholders, which could benefit from a fuller and more comprehensive analysis.</b></p> <p>This study addresses this need by adopting a multi-framing systems-based approach. Data was examined and analysed through a variety of systems-based lenses and frames, including a stakeholder analysis (SA) frame, a causal loop modelling (CLM) frame, supply chain analysis (SCA) frame and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) Thinking Processes analytical frames lenses. First the Current Reality Tree (CRT) tool of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) was used to synthesise information from the literature examined, providing an initial provisional CRT model. Interview data was collected by sharing and seeking feedback to the CRT model at multiple levels of the industry, giving voice to stakeholders throughout the sector. Subsequent analysis used all the modelling frameworks mentioned above in a multi-framing analysis.</p> <p>In particular, the evaporating cloud (EC) tool from TOC was used to structure and develop potential solutions to conflict highlighted by the literature review, the SA, SCA and CLM. Building on this, a final CRT was developed, and a goal tree (GT) used to design the desired future whilst employing the future reality tree (FRT) to test the plausibility of solutions from the EC to deliver the desired future. The prerequisite tree (PRT) was then used to identify obstacles and intermediate objectives that must be overcome for successful transition to the desired future.</p> <p>Insights from the research shows a desire by multi-national large scale-gold mining companies and government alike to minimise adverse impacts and maximise the sector’s outcomes for key stakeholders, including those at the community level. However, the research has documented many instances of actions taken to address issues and improve outcomes that have instead resulted in unresolved dilemmas and paradoxes, failing to achieve desired outcomes.</p> <p>A number of factors have been identified as being responsible for these situations. Key amongst them is a limited understanding to deliver desired outcome for stakeholders without compromises, a focus on short-term goals, no collective effort, and arms-length/win-lose relationships amongst the Ghanaian stakeholders of the industry.</p> <p>The study’s concluding findings and results allow decision makers to benefit significantly from the study through its recommendations and showcasing of tools that may allow them to make sound decisions and address endogenous and exogenous cause-effect relationships limiting desirable outcomes from actions taken.</p> <p>Theoretical and knowledge-based contributions are made by conceptualising and offering evidence for three key factors or dimensions that can explain a significant number of issues limiting desirable outcomes for stakeholders of the gold mining industry. These include difficulty to transition from theory (espoused aims) to practice, a relative focus on local optima (silo thinking), poor monitoring (lack of evaluation), and a control culture. Methodological contributions are made by demonstrating the application of a multi-framing approach in a more organic and iterative manner as opposed to its use in a designed sequence, working down through layers of various systemic levels of an industry (in this case, the gold mining industry in Ghana). By so doing, the study builds on and extends the practicality of the multi-framing approach and stimulates further research in the field.</p> <p>In terms of its contribution to practice, the study provides Government, political and mining sector policy decision makers, and other interested actors, with a platform for understanding the sector in order to support their decision making about the industry to ultimately improve outcomes for key stakeholders. In particular, the study allows mining sector policy decision makers and other stakeholders to recognise complexity, uncertainty and conflicts that are embedded in the mining system and in their everyday decision-making activities about the industry. It also allows these stakeholders to become more aware that such issues can be addressed and improved by identifying and focusing on one or few underlying causes.</p> <p>This thesis draws on systems-based frameworks drawn both from functional management, for example, the supply chain and value chain frameworks of operations management and the stakeholder framework of strategic management, and from the broad domain of systems thinking (ST) and systems-based methodologies; and then focuses on the intersection of these frameworks in relation to the gold mining sector in Ghana. Due to the wide range of techniques applied, none are over-explored, creating potential for further research. On the other hand, with regard to explanations, depending on background, practitioners, and researchers familiar with some techniques may consider those sections over-explained. The researcher has sought a balance for the purpose of this study. Whilst limiting the scope of this work has been necessary in the context of doctoral study, topics ripe for future research are set out in the conclusion.</p>

Dietary human exposure to mercury in two artisanal small-scale gold mining communities of northwestern Colombia

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Salazar-Camacho ◽  
Manuel Salas-Moreno ◽  
Siday Marrugo-Madrid ◽  
José Marrugo-Negrete ◽  
Sergi Díez
Keyword(s):  
Human Exposure ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mining Communities

scholarly journals CHALLENGES IN COMBATING CHILD LABOUR IN SMALL-SCALE GOLD MINING COMMUNITIES IN SHINYANGA REGION, TANZANIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-25
Author(s):  
Martin K. Malima
Keyword(s):  
Gold Mining ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Child Labour ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
The Government

Combating child labour in Tanzania is a challenging endeavour especially in small-scale gold mining communities. Studies on child labour in Tanzania indicate that the government in partnership with international actors has undertaken several intervention actions to control and eliminate child labour in the country. Yet, child labour continues to be dominant in virtually all economic sectors including small-scale gold mining for reasons not sufficiently known. This research sets out to explore the challenges that face anti-child labour actors in their efforts to control and reduce child labour in Kahama district in Shinyanga region. The study uses a qualitative methodology in order to gain an in-depth insight of the context, cultural realities, community members’ views and experiences relating to child labour in small-scale gold mining communities. A sample size of 38 participants was drawn from among regional and district government officials, non-governmental organization (NGO) workers and community-based organization (CBO) activists responsible for combating child labour, small-scale gold miners, parents and children in Shinyanga region. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and documents review. Findings revealed seven challenges facing anti-child labour actors in their efforts to combat child labour in small-scale gold mining communities all arising from within the household, local community and government contexts. The study recommends that the government, policy makers and other stakeholders should develop policy interventions that effectively address these challenges in order to eradicate child labour in small-scale gold mining communities in the country. Keywords: Child Labour, Small-Scale Gold Mining, Anti-Child Labour Actors, Challenges.

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