The sector, estimated by the United Nations to employ at least 8 million Africans, could create millions more jobs across the continent — many for young people and women — to meet a fast growing need for housing and infrastructure, mining experts say
of Surrey. “But there is potentially serious stream of revenue from artisanal and small scale mining if you regulate it and tax it properly.”
Decades of neglect have led to poorly designed or implemented policies for small-scale mining, and a lack of rights and support for miners, the United Nations says. But rising urbanisation in Africa could spur governments to breathe new life into the development minerals sector.
Half of all Africans will live in cities by 2030, from 36 per cent in 2010, according to the World Bank. To cope with population growth, Africa’s major cities will need more roads, hospitals and power stations.
Around $360 billion in infrastructure investments are needed by 2040 to make the continent competitive and productive, the African Development Bank says. For each billion invested, between 3 and 7 million jobs are created, it estimates.
Plunging commodity prices — which saw economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa slump to a two-decade low last year — could also prove a catalyst for the development minerals sector.
Nigeria, a major oil producer, is looking to diversify its economy away from a reliance on crude production amid its first recession in 25 years, and small scale mining is on the agenda.
“Previously, the government was only interested in tax revenues (from the mining sector),” said Nigerian civil servant and mining official Sam Hart. “Now, productivity comes first.” Constraints In many countries across the continent, informal precious metal and diamond mines are often prey to violence, control and extortion by armed groups, and even the police and military.
“But when you open a granite mine, hundreds of people aren’t going to come to argue, fight, and demand money,” said Bob Andriamifidy of Progranit, a granite mining firm in Madagascar which has a public project for constructing rural roads.
And in a continent with high levels of youth unemployment, the development minerals sector employs many youth and women — estimated to make up over 40 per cent of the workforce. To encourage the sector to grow without exploiting its workforce or polluting the environment, the ACP-EU project is working with governments, small mine operators and communities to provide training and boost regulations on health, safety and the environment.
While mining experts, officials and operators are quick to hail the promise of development minerals, it could take a long time for that potential to be fulfilled, according to Dirk Willem te Velde of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
“Institutional constraints are holding back the sector — there are a huge amount of natural resources in the soil across Africa,” said te Velde, senior research fellow at the ODI, a UKbased thinktank.
“Good governance and regulations are key.”