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Minerals and Africa’s 
Development 
The International Study Group Report on 
Economic Commission for Africa African Union 
Africa’s Mineral Regimes
Minerals and Africa's Development
Minerals and Africa’s 
Development 
The International Study Group Report on 
Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Economic Commission for Africa African Union
Ordering information 
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Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes by the Economic Commission for 
Africa, please contact: 
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© United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
All rights reserved 
First printing November 2011 
Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted. Acknowledgement is 
requested, together with a copy of the publication. 
Designed and printed by Publications and Conference Management Section (PCMS), 
Economic Commission for Africa. 
Cover photo: IC Publications/African Business
iii 
Table of Contents 
Acronyms ix 
Foreword xiii 
Acknowledgements xiii 
Executive Summary 1 
1. Introduction 5 
2. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 9 
Evolution of African mining 11 
Mining on the eve of the colonial period 11 
!e colonial creation of export mining 12 
!e role of the colonial state in African mining 13 
A"er the Second World War 13 
!e early post-colonial decades 14 
A more liberal space for foreign investment 15 
What was needed in the 1990s? 15 
Results of reform—mixed at best 17 
From past results to renewed approaches 19 
3. Global trends 21 
Demand for mineral commodities 21 
Global distribution of demand 21 
Demand conclusions for the future 24 
Supply of mineral commodities 26 
Global distribution of supply 26 
Supply conclusions for the future 29 
Exploration and mine development 30 
Pro!les and control of mining companies 33
iv MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Prices and pro!ts 34 
Leading global policy initiatives 36 
!e China story 36 
Old hands: !e United States, EU and Japan 38 
India 40 
Latin America 42 
Policy implications 43 
4. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 45 
"e environmental and social impacts of mining 46 
!e environmental impacts 46 
!e social impacts 49 
Regulating the environmental and social impacts of mining 50 
Protected areas 50 
Environmental and social impact assessments 52 
Public participation 54 
Access to information 57 
Addressing the minerals and con#icts link 58 
Mining and human rights 59 
Mining and employment 61 
Resource productivity 63 
Policy implications 64 
5. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 67 
De!nition 67 
"e global position 68 
Pro!le in Africa 68 
Challenges in Africa 70 
Policy challenges 70 
Technical capacity and access to appropriate technology 70 
Lack of $nancing 71 
Inadequate access to exploration and mining areas 72 
Di%culties in accessing markets 72 
Con#ict minerals 72 
Women’s and child labour issues 74 
Self-reinforcing nature of challenges 75 
Addressing the challenges: Some country initiatives 75 
Policy implications 79
Table of Contents v 
6. Corporate Social responsibility initiatives 81 
Evolution of CSR as a tenet of sustainable development 82 
Intergovernmental processes and frameworks 82 
Other initiatives and frameworks 84 
Government legislation 85 
Promoting social and community development 85 
CSR and development e#ectiveness 87 
Policy implications 88 
7. Capture, Management and Sharing 
of Mineral Revenue 91 
Capturing revenue 91 
Overview 91 
Mineral revenue and tax instruments 92 
Tax stabilization 95 
Optimizing mineral revenue and linkages through price discovery 95 
Managing revenue 96 
Revenue impacts 96 
Revenue transparency 97 
Sharing revenue among local communities 98 
Policy implications 99 
8. Optimizing Mineral-based Linkages 101 
Conceptualizing and quantifying mineral-based linkages 102 
Types of linkages 102 
Quantifying mineral sector impacts 107 
Changing perspectives on mineral-based linkages in Africa 107 
Constraints to developing linkages continent-wide 108 
Poor resource infrastructure 109 
Constraints to trade 109 
Inhibitors to downstream value addition 110 
Impediments to securing upstream inputs 110 
Human resource de$ciencies 110 
Spatial linkages 111 
Policy implications 112 
9. International Trade and Investment Issues 115 
"e context 116 
Tari#s 116 
Non-tari# barriers 118
vi MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Export taxes 119 
Foreign investment regulation and domestic policy space 121 
Performance requirements 122 
Performance requirements and BITs 123 
Performance requirements in EPAs 125 
Expropriation provisions 126 
Investor–state dispute settlement 126 
Policy implications 127 
10. Mineral Management: "e Power of Institutions 129 
Rethinking the role of institutions to meet development objectives 129 
Institutions promoting mineral-based linkages 130 
Traditional institutional roles in mining 133 
Negotiating contracts 134 
Regulating government discretion in awarding mineral rights 136 
Other governance challenges 137 
Policy implications 138 
11. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in 
Mineral Policy Harmonization 141 
"e integration landscape in Africa 142 
Moves to harmonize sub-regional mineral policies 146 
Southern African Development Community 146 
Economic Community of West African States 146 
West African Economic and Monetary Union 147 
East African Community 148 
Mano River Union 148 
Lessons and policy options 148 
12. Looking ahead: Key Challenges and 
Policy Messages 151 
Africa’s mining legacy and the search for a new development approach 151 
Optimizing mineral linkages needs a conscious policy approach 151 
"e global mining industry: opportunities still exist 152 
Boosting the contribution from artisanal and small-scale mining 152 
Preventing and managing mining impacts 153 
Strengthening corporate social responsibility 153 
Improving governance 153 
Paying attention to implications of international trade and investment regimes 154 
Harnessing the bene!ts of regional cooperation and integration 154 
Final words 154
Table of Contents vii 
References 155 
Appendices 169 
Appendix A: Members of ISG and principal contributors 169 
Appendix B :Summary report on the Big Table meeting, 2007 171 
Appendix C: Terms of reference of the ISG 177 
Appendix D: Extracts from the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic 
Development of Africa (1980 -2000) 182 
Appendix E: Main mineral deposits of Africa 184 
Appendix F: U.S. Mineral Materials Ranked by Net Import Reliance - 2010 186 
Appendix G: State/private control of mining of selected minerals 1975-2006 188 
Appendix H: State/private control of re!ning of selected minerals 1975-2006 189 
Appendix I: Environmental and Social issues in mining regimes in selected 
African countries 191 
Appendix J: Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Canadian Extractive 
Industries in Developing Countries 204 
Appendix K: Extracts from YAOUNDE VISION 206
Minerals and Africa's Development
ix 
Acronyms 
AfDB Africa Development Bank 
AICD Australian Institute of Company Directors 
AMP Africa Mining Partnership 
AMV Africa Mining Vision 
ANZCERTA Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Agreement 
APRM Africa Peer Review Mechanism 
ASM Artisanal and Small-scale Mining 
AUC Africa Union Commission 
BIT Bilateral Investment Treaty 
BMFOM Bureau Minier de la France d’Outre-Mer 
BNP Banque Nationale de Paris 
CARICOM Caribbean Community 
CARIFORUM Caribbean Forum 
CASM Communities and Small-scale Mining 
CDM Clean Development Mechanism 
CIC China Investment Corporation 
CMC Community Mining Code 
CMP Common Mining Policy 
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa 
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 
CRS Corporate Social Responsibility 
CSI Corporate Social Investment 
CSIS Centre for Strategic and International Studies 
CSN Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional 
DDI Diverging Diamond Interchange 
EAC East Africa Community 
EC European Commission 
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States 
ECSC European Coal and Steel Community 
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment 
EMDP ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy 
EPA Economic Partnership Agreement 
FDI Foreign Direct Investment 
FTA Free Trade Area
x MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
GATS General Agreement in Trade in Services 
GATT General Agreement on Tari&s and Trade 
GDP Gross Domestic Product 
GEODESA Geo-science Data Compilation in Eastern and Southern Africa 
HSRC Human Sciences Research Council 
ICEM International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union 
ICGLR International Conference on the Great Lakes Region 
ICMM International Council for Mining and Metals 
IFC International Finance Corporation 
IIED International Institute for Environment and Development 
ILO International Labour Organization 
ISG International Study Group 
IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources 
JNMC Jinchuan Group Ltd 
JOGMEC Japanese Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation 
JP John Pierpont 
KPCS Kimberly Process Certi$cation Scheme 
LDCs Least Developed Countries 
LSM Large-scale Mining 
MDGs Millennium Development Goals 
MIFERMA Societe Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie 
MIP Minimum Integration Programme 
MMSD Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development 
MRU Mano River Union 
NAFTA North America Free Trade Agreement 
NAMA Non-Agricultural Market Access 
NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development 
NGO Non-Governmental Organization 
ODI Overseas Development Institute 
OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 
PANFACT Pan-African Factual Database Management 
PGM Platinum Group Metal 
PMG Parliamentary Monitoring Group 
PTA Preferential Trade Agreement 
R&D Research and Development 
RBS Royal Bank of Scotland 
REACH Regulatory Framework for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals 
REC Regional Economic Community 
RMCs Regional Member Countries 
RRT Resource Rent Tax 
RSDIP Regional SDI programme 
SACU Southern African Customs Union 
SADC Southern African Development Community 
SARW Southern African Resources Watch 
SDI Spatial Development Initiative 
SEAMIC Southern and Eastern Africa Mineral Centre
Acronyms xi 
SIA Social Impact Assessment 
SME Small and Medium Enterprises 
SRSG Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General 
TNC Trans National Companies 
TRIMs Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures 
UN United Nations 
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 
UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme 
UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization 
UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development 
US United States 
USGS U.S. Geological Survey 
WAEMU West African Economic and Monetary Union 
WTO World Trade Organization 
ZCCM Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines
Minerals and Africa's Development
xiii 
Foreword 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF mineral resources can have 
very di&erent implications, and consequences, for com-munities, 
governments, the mine developers themselves 
and even countries and regions in which mining activities 
taking place. A comparative perspective reveals not only 
the large divergence in the interests of various stakehold-ers, 
but the wide range of conditions under which mineral 
exploitation takes place, especially in Africa. 
!e many competing interests, and outcomes, suggest the 
importance of a shared vision to deliberately, and proac-tively, 
create the policy space which secures the interests 
of stakeholders at all levels. In Africa, for far too long, it 
has been taken as given that there are always losers and 
winners in mineral extraction processes. Certainly the 
broader interests of some stakeholders, notably communi-ties 
and perhaps even states, have been far from secure. 
Africa’s high levels of poverty, its severe infrastructural 
de$cits, and its continuing weak voice in negotiating 
mineral development contracts are ample evidence of this. 
!e Africa Mining Vision, adopted by the Heads of State 
and Government in February 2009, seeks to change all 
this. It advocates for “Transparent, equitable and optimal 
exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based 
sustainable growth and socio-economic development”. At 
the centre of the Vision is a developmental state that inte-grates 
the mining sector into broader social and economic 
developmental processes. !is is an attempt not only to 
address the sector’s isolation from mainstream social and 
economic activities, but to create win-win outcomes for 
all stakeholders. 
Among the many lessons to be learnt from the Nordic 
countries is that resource-based industrialization is pos-sible. 
But Africa’s socio-economic environment is very dif-ferent. 
Africa faces numerous entry barriers and a dearth 
of capacity. Yet fundamentally, Africa has to shi" focus 
from simply mineral extraction to much broader devel-opmental 
imperatives in which mineral policy integrates 
with development policy. !is is the central thinking in 
this report - that the continent’s vast mineral resources 
can play a transformative role in Africa’s development only 
if it builds appropriate social and economic development 
linkages that meet national and regional developmental 
objectives. Such linkages are of course diverse - whether 
this is with regard to improving equity and transpar-ency 
in revenue collection and distribution; integrating 
small scale mining into rural economies, thus improv-ing 
people’s livelihoods; or linking mineral extraction 
to infrastructure development and the manufacture of 
products that support societal needs. 
It is in this regard that the Africa Mining Vision is deliber-ately 
ambitious. !is is what is required to change the path 
and destiny of Africa’s industrialization and $ght against 
poverty. !e realization of the Vision hinges on strong 
political will and a commitment to developing strong 
capable mineral management systems and institutions; 
an astute understanding of Africa’s relative advantages in 
the global mineral value chain, maximizing the bene$ts 
of regional integration, and building robust partnerships.
xiv MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!e circumstances for achieving the Vision are auspi-cious 
– minerals are experiencing a sustained surge in 
prices - demand for minerals has soared and this has 
created competition for Africa’s mineral commodities. 
Still purposeful ownership and leadership over policy 
actions remain key, particularly in creating fair and eq-uitable 
$scal and investment regimes that maximize the 
developmental bene$ts of mineral resources exploitation 
in Africa. 
We have no doubt in our minds that the ingredients and 
conditions needed to bring about the required structural 
change in Africa’s mineral sector are well identi$ed in 
this report. !e fundamental role of anyone of us keen 
to see Africa develop is to support the successful imple-mentation 
of the policy recommendations of the report. 
Unfortunately, just before this report went to print, Her 
Excellency Mrs Elisabeth Tankeu, the Commissioner for 
Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission, 
who provided visionary leadership, passion and commit-ment 
to the work of the ISG and would have been proud 
of this report passed away. We therefore wish to dedicate 
it to her memory. 
Abdoulie Janneh 
United Nations 
Under-Secretary-General and 
Executive Secretary of UNECA 
Jean Ping 
Chairperson 
African Union Commission
xv 
Acknowledgements 
THIS REPORT WAS prepared by the International Study 
Group (ISG) under the overall leadership and guidance 
of Mr Abdoulie Janneh, the Under Secretary General of 
the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ECA and 
H E Dr Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union 
Commission (AUC). 
!e work was supervised by the late H E Mrs Elisabeth 
Tankeu, then Commissioner for Trade and Industry at 
the African Union Commission (AUC), Abdalla Hamdok, 
former Director of the Regional Integration, Trade and 
Infrastructure Division (RITD) and current Deputy Ex-ecutive 
Secretary of UNECA, Joseph Atta-Mensah, also 
former Director of RITD and currently Director of the 
O%ce of Strategic Planning and Programme Manage-ment, 
Stephen Karingi, Director of RITD, Antonio Pedro, 
Director of the ECA Sub regional O%ce for East Africa 
(ECA-EA), Ayoup Elrashidi Zaid, Senior Policy O%cer at 
the AUC, and Wilfred C Lombe, Chief of Infrastructure 
and Natural Resources, RITD. !e names of the ISG 
members are indicated in Appendix A. 
Several members of the ISG participated in revising the 
report and deserve special mention. !ese are Fui Tsikata 
of Reindorf Chambers in Ghana, who also was the Chief 
Coordinator for the ISG work, Yao Graham the Coordina-tor 
of !ird World Network - Africa, Professor. Bonnie 
Campbell of the University of Quebec, Canada, Magnus 
Ericsson, Chairman of the Raw Materials Group in Swe-den, 
Lois Hooge Senior Policy Advisor, Natural Resources 
Canada based in South Africa, Paul Jourdan a Consultant 
from South Africa, Ms. Ana Elizabeth Bastida of CEPMLP 
University of Dundee, Nancy Kgengweyane, Regional 
Advisor on Natural Resources Development at ECA, Marit 
Kitaw from the ECA-EA O%ce, Oliver Maponga from 
the ECA-WA O%ce. Tarik Kassa, Aster Gebremariam, 
Mkhululi N’cube, and Saul Kavonic provided support to 
the ISG at various stages of the work and their assistance 
is acknowledged. 
A number of people contributed to the various chapters 
and these are also indicated in Appendix A. !eir inputs 
are gratefully acknowledged. !e report bene$tted from 
two consultative meetings, the $rst held in Accra Ghana, 
25-27 November, 2009; and the second held in Kigali, 
Rwanda from 2-4 December 2009. !e report was fur-ther 
validated at a $nal workshop held in Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia from 20-22 October 2010 at which partcipants 
made many useful suggestions and recommendations 
which enriched the $nal report. Participants at both the 
consultative and validation workshops comprised a broad 
range of stakeholders including regional economic com-munities 
(RECs), government policy makers, civil society, 
the private sector and academia. While the individual 
participants are too numerous to list, their individual and 
collective contributions are no less appreciated. 
!anks are also due to Bruce Ross Larson of Communi-cations 
Development Inc. in Washington and his team, 
who did a wonderful job of professionally editing the $nal
xvi MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
report, Etienne Kabou, Marcel Ngoma-Mouaya and Henok 
Legesse of PCMS for organizing the translation for the 
French version of the report and to Charles Ndung’u and 
his team for the layout and printing the report. 
Finally, the preparation of the report bene$tted from the 
generous grant from the Swedish Government, whose 
$nancial assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
1 
Executive Summary 
THIS REPORT ON Africa’s mineral development regimes 
was prepared by the International Study Group (ISG) 
established in 2007 by the United Nations Economic 
Commission for Africa (UNECA). It analyses African 
mining from a number of complemenary perspectives, 
driven by a search for new directions based on the African 
Mining Vision (AMV) which African leaders adopted in 
2009. !e processes which led to this Report started in 
2007, at the peak of the expansion in global demand and 
rise in the prices of minerals and metals before the onset 
of the global $nancial and economic crisis in 2008. Even 
as the surge in demand and prices fuelled the best period 
of growth in Africa for thirty years, the developments 
also provoked re#ections about the experiences of two 
decades of continuous expansion of mining across Africa. 
!e report is based on the central premise of the African 
Mining vision (AMV) that the structural transformation 
of African economies is “an essential component of any 
long-term strategy to ensure the attainment of the Millen-nium 
Development Goals (MDGs) …, eradicate poverty 
and underpin sustainable growth and development”, and 
that this requires “a strategy … rooted in the utilization 
of Africa’s signi$cant resource assets”. It recognizes that 
a central challenge which must be addressed by any long 
term strategy is how to overcome the historical structural 
de$ciencies of the mining industry. Mining’s contribu-tion 
as a supplier of strategic minerals to industrialized 
countries, the focus of policy on those minerals that play 
that role, the inadequate returns to the continent and the 
enclave nature of mining industries have, since colonial 
times, been and remain central features of the African 
landscape today. Early post colonial attempts to transform 
the colonial bequest of an enclave industry failed for a 
variety of reasons discussed in the Report. 
From the late 1980s, the inauguration of extensive liber-alizing 
reforms of regulatory and legal frameworks, on 
the basis of World Bank prescriptions, drew a line under 
the nationalist reform e&orts. Over the past two decades, 
the favourable environment the reforms created aided the 
revival of foreign investment in Africa’s mining industry. 
While foreign investment has regenerated and expanded 
mineral production and exports, its contribution to social 
and economic development objectives has been far less 
certain and has even been contested in many countries. 
In many mineral-rich African countries a very visible 
civil society movement, protesting about the costs and 
questioning the bene$ts of the revitalized mining sec-tors, 
has emerged. 
!e report examines the costs and bene$ts of Africa’s 
contemporary mining regimes and o&ers proposals about 
how to optimize the continent’s bene$ts from the exploi-tation 
of its mineral resources while reducing the direct 
and indirect costs and negative impacts. !ese issues 
are grouped and discussed in chapters on: the history of 
mining in Africa; current global trends and the oppor-tunities 
and challenges they pose; how best to manage 
the environmental, social and human rights impacts of 
mining; how to better support and integrate artisanal and 
small scale mining; the nature and status of corporate
2 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
social responsibility initiatives; capture, management and 
sharing of mineral revenues; the optimization of mineral-based 
linkages; the implications of international trade and 
investments rules for mineral-based industrialization; the 
important role of institutions and regional strategies for 
mineral policy harmonization. 
A number of chapters discuss a range of issues that have 
a bearing on how African countries approach the chal-lenge 
of moving the mining industry beyond a focus on 
extracting and exporting raw minerals and sharing the 
resultant revenue to it being a strategic part of a process 
of industrialization and structural transformation. A 
number of these issues are highlighted below: 
' !e building of mineral-based linkages is central to 
the transformation of the mining enclave. However as 
the report makes clear there are a number of di%cul-ties 
such as trade and regional market constraints and 
the limited availability of requisite technical skills. 
Other challenges include limited access of domestic 
business sectors to capital, the centralized strate-gies 
of resource extraction multinational $rms and 
the poor state and stock of infrastructure across the 
continent. !e steps that can aid successful linkage 
development are also discussed. !ese include the 
creation of an enabling business environment and 
of capable public sector institutions. Also needed are 
policies that set conditions and provide incentives for 
investors to structure projects in ways that deepen 
the links between mining projects and the rest of 
national and regional economies; 
' !e current international trade and investment re-gime 
constrains the ability of African countries to 
use the full range of instruments that were exploited 
by now industrialized countries as part of their in-dustrialization 
strategies. While pointing out what 
space still exists within the international trade and 
investment regime for policies that promote industri-alization, 
the report draws attention to the capacity 
challenges that African countries face in the negotia-tion 
of international agreements and how these can 
be addressed; 
' Progress with African regional integration and the 
creation of regional and continental economic spaces 
out of the many small economies will remove some 
of the intra-African barriers to mineral-based indus-trialization. 
Regional markets will also facilitate the 
development of linkages based on minerals capable of 
domestic and regional use by enhancing the viability 
of enterprises producing for national and regional 
markets; 
' !e AMV recognizes Spatial Development Initiatives 
(SDIs) through natural resource-based Development 
Corridors (DCs) as representing a particular regional 
approach to mining linkages development with the 
region de$ned by economic potential rather than 
political boundaries. Preliminary studies have identi- 
$ed thirteen possible DCs, such as the Gulf of Guinea 
Coastal, Maghreb Coastal and Bas Congo, which 
could link a number of countries through invest-ment 
focused in integrated economic development 
projects which encourage value added processing and 
optimize the utilization of infrastructure and which 
can also catalyse other sectors; and 
' !e global trends of growing investment in Africa’s 
mining industry and demand for Africa’s minerals 
from Asian and other countries, particularly China 
and India, is seen as an opportunity which could be 
exploited by African countries for more development-oriented 
partnerships in mineral production and 
value added processing, development of infrastruc-ture 
as well as the establishment of related industries. 
Favourable outcomes are however not guaranteed 
and much depends on how clearly African coun-tries 
de$ne their interests and replace competition 
for investments with cooperation in the face of the 
new “scramble for Africa”. !e importance of creat-ing 
a level playing $eld in the sector anchored on a 
development-oriented minerals sector is emphasized 
in the report. 
!e social and environmental impacts of mineral exploi-tation 
have been the focus of protests and the #ashpoint 
for con#icts between mining $rms and communities in 
mining areas. !e report acknowledges that while pro-gress 
has been made in environmental impact assessment,
Executive Summary 3 
major weaknesses and de$ciencies still persist, particularly 
in evaluating and regulating less visible environmental 
impacts while strategic impact assessment is at a rudi-mentary 
phase across the continent. !ere is usually a 
mismatch between the expression of public participation 
rights in formal instruments and its implementation. 
!ere is a need to redress the weight of existing power 
relations, especially for marginalized and vulnerable 
groups, to address deep-seated authoritarian elements 
of local cultures and some public institutions and reduce 
the resource constraints (human and material) of public 
institutions and those a&ected by or actively pursuing 
public participation. 
Revenue transparency is an issue on which all stakeholders 
are agreed in principle. !e portion of revenue obtained 
by African governments from mineral exploitation is 
however a matter of controversy. However, since the be-ginning 
of the current mineral commodity price boom 
the sense that African countries have not been obtaining 
commensurate compensation from the exploitation of 
their mineral resources has intensi$ed and become more 
widespread across the continent. !e Report emphasizes 
that development options should be one of the factors 
that should inform $scal policy in the mining sector. It 
o&ers proposals about how African countries can cap-ture 
more mineral revenue through the use of a variety 
of measures. !ese include: the application of methods 
for price discovery to set a fair market value for mineral 
resources, in appropriate circumstances; the use of vari-ous 
tax instruments including windfall taxes; caution in 
the use of stability clauses; the closing o& channels for the 
abuse of $scal incentives by $rms; and vigilance on issues 
as transfer pricing and the use of tax havens. !e Report 
takes the view that the allocation of mineral revenues to 
communities in mining areas should be designed to ensure 
lasting bene$ts beyond the life of the mine. 
!e quality of minerals sector governance is an issue 
which runs through the Report – the quality and role 
of institutions; the capture, management and sharing of 
mineral revenue; policy coherence within countries and 
coordination among countries are some examples. Others 
are negotiating capacities; the management of and support 
for artisanal and small scale mining and the management 
of impacts. !e importance of the quality of institutions 
and of the requisite governance is underlined by the report 
which highlights an all round need across the African 
continent for capacity enhancement in many areas. It also 
suggests that the promotion of linkages between mining 
and other sectors must be a critical part of national and 
regional institution building. 
!is Report and the African Mining Vision propose that 
Africa face up to the challenge of working for new direc-tions 
founded on not taking the enclave nature of mining 
as an inevitable part of the continent’s destiny but rather 
as a product of a particular phase of history; as something 
which can be overcome. !e Report sets out some of the 
most important issues that have to be addressed and 
suggests they can be approached in striving towards the 
realization of the AMV.
Minerals and Africa's Development
5 
Introduction 1 MORE THAN 30 years ago the Organization of African 
CHAPTER 
Unity, the precursor to the African Union (AU), adopted 
the Lagos Plan of Action for the economic development 
of Africa. !e Plan presented a strategic review of Africa’s 
development challenges and potential paths for economic 
growth and development (appendix D). Its identi$cation 
then, of “the major problems confronting Africa in the 
$eld of natural resource development” rings familiar 
today: 
“Lack of information on natural resource endowment of 
large and unexplored areas …; lack of adequate capac-ity 
(capital, skills and technology) for the development 
of these resources; a considerable dependence on for-eign 
transnational corporations for the development of 
a narrow range of African natural resources selected by 
these corporations to supply raw material needs of the 
developed countries; the inadequate share in the value 
added generated by the exploitation of natural resources 
of member States …; non-integration of the raw materi-als 
exporting industries into the national economies of 
the member States thus impeding backward and forward 
linkages; the extremely low level of development and uti-lization 
of those natural resources of no interest to foreign 
transnational corporations; and the disappointingly low 
general contribution of natural resources endowment to 
socio-economic development”. 
Concerned about these continuing challenges, the “Big Ta-ble” 
met in February 2007 under the auspices of the United 
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and 
the African Development Bank (AfDB). !e theme of 
the Big Table was “Managing Africa’s Natural Resources 
for Growth and Poverty Reduction”. It was attended by 
ministers and senior o%cials from 11 mineral-rich Afri-can 
countries and representatives of the African Union 
Commission, among others. !is directly led to the First 
AU Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Re-sources 
Development in October 2008. At this Conference, 
the ministers adopted the Addis Ababa Declaration on 
the Development and Management of Africa’s Mineral 
Resources, re-a%rming their “commitment to prudent, 
transparent and e%cient development and management 
of Africa’s mineral resources to meet the MDGs, eradicate 
poverty and achieve rapid and broad-based sustainable 
socio-economic development”. To achieve this, the minis-ters 
adopted the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), advocating 
for “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of 
mineral resources” to achieve the envisaged “broad-based 
sustainable growth and socio-economic development”. 
At their meeting held in Addis in February 2009, the AU 
Heads of State and government welcomed the AMV and 
requested the “AU Ministers in charge of Mineral Re-sources 
Development to develop a concrete action plan for 
its realization”, acting in partnership with UNECA, AfDB, 
regional economic communities and other stakeholders. 
!ey further called on the international community and 
Africa’s development partners to support the e&orts of 
member States “towards enhancing the contributions of 
the mineral resources to the achievement of the MDGs,
6 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
the eradication poverty and the promotion of sustainable 
economic growth and development”. 
Against this backdrop of concerns and commitments, 
the International Study Group (ISG) was established by 
UNECA in September2007, pursuant to the recommen-dations 
of the Big Table meeting of the same year. !is 
recommendation was one of 22 proposed to address the 
above challenges to the mineral and other natural re-sources 
sectors in Africa. !us a key objective of the ISG 
was to explore how mineral regimes in Africa might be 
made to contribute to the broad development of the con-tinent. 
(A list of members of the ISG and of the principal 
people who provided research inputs into the ISG work 
is attached as appendix A.) 
!e Big Table acknowledged that “sound governance 
systems, capacity to administer and monitor the sector, 
and better linkages …[with other] sectors of the local 
economy” were pre-requisites for resource exploitation 
to contribute to growth and development. !e pressures 
arising, particularly in the 1990s, from e&orts to attract 
foreign direct investment into the sector and their conse-quences 
for the regimes that were put in place, as well as 
changing global conditions and norms, were signi$cant 
in the context of calling for a fresh set of actions. (A sum-mary 
report on the Big Table is attached as appendix B.) 
At its inception meeting held in Addis on 4–6 October 
2007, the ISG agreed on the terms of reference (appendix 
C). It subsequently decided to separate formulating a 
framework report setting out fundamental perspectives 
from developing detailed tools dealing with particular 
aspects of mineral regimes. !is is that framework report. 
Previous dra"s of the report have been discussed at two 
stakeholder consultative workshops held in Accra and 
Kigali and at a $nal validation workshop held in Addis 
October 2010. !us the report has substantially bene$ted 
from diverse stakeholders. 
!e framework report seeks to contribute to the elabora-tion 
of an updated strategic policy framework for devel-oping 
Africa’s minerals as called for by the Lagos Plan 
of Action, the Big Table and the subsequent meeting of 
African Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources De-velopment, 
as well as the Heads of State and Government. 
It is based on the central premise of the AMV that the 
structural transformation of African economies is “an 
essential component of any long-term strategy to ensure 
the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals 
(MDGs) …, eradicate poverty and underpin sustain-able 
growth and development”, and that this requires “a 
strategy … rooted in the utilization of Africa’s signi$cant 
resource assets”. 
!e report is organized as follows. Chapter 2 sets out cur-rent 
features as well as the historical context of mining 
in Africa and its key drivers. It argues that the colonial 
construct of mining was based on supplying raw materi-als 
especially to Europe, thus creating enclave African 
mineral economies. !rough the post-colonial period, 
dominated by an under-performing state-led mineral 
industry, and subsequent reforms led by the World Bank, 
the African mineral sector continues to be an enclave, 
leading to increased calls for its re-orientation to better 
meet the continent’s development needs. 
Chapter 3 summarizes global demand and supply trends 
and the underlying factors, including the emergence of 
China as a world player. It argues that demand is going 
through a super cycle and agrees with the projection that 
mineral commodity prices will be sustained at least in the 
near term. Together with the current geo-political compe-tition 
for Africa’s mineral resources, this provides a good 
opportunity for re-orienting Africa’s mineral industry to 
play a more developmental role. 
Chapter 4 explores the challenges arising from the en-vironmental, 
human and social impacts of mining. It 
reviews the principal mechanisms for regulating them 
and provides a broad evaluation of their operation in 
Africa. It notes the need to better incorporate the burdens 
mining imposes in economic assessments that focus on 
the bene$ts derived from mining. 
Chapter 5 recognizes the economic and social signi$cance 
of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Africa. It 
not only presents well-known di%culties that the sector 
faces, but also indicates examples of initiatives to address 
them. It recommends or endorses several policy propos-als 
for better supporting ASM and integrating it into 
national economies.
Introduction 7 
Chapter 6 discusses the scope and drivers of corporate 
social responsibility (CSR) in Africa’s mining industry 
and its application. It examines the bene$ts and limits of 
CSR as well as the challenges that the practice of CSR by 
mining companies in Africa faces in state capacity and 
societal expectations of development. 
Chapter 7 looks at mineral revenue issues, noting the 
con#icts between the revenue capture objectives of govern-ments 
and investors. It identi$es the principal tax instru-ments 
deployed in the mining sector and considers some 
of the mechanisms reducing or limiting the taxes paid by 
companies. !e chapter also discusses issues relating to 
public sector management of mineral revenue, the basic 
elements of a regime for revenue transparency (including 
the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) and 
mechanisms for enabling communities a&ected by or 
close to mining operations to obtain a share of revenue 
generated. 
Chapter 8 focuses on the framework for moving from 
mining as an enclave to mining as a promoter of indus-trialization 
and development. It reviews experiences of 
link development in Africa, identi$es constraints to be 
overcome and proposes a strategy for promoting mineral 
resource-based linkages. 
Chapter 9 turns to international trade and investment re-gimes, 
focusing on elements that could impose signi$cant 
constraints on Africa’s capacity to realize its development 
objectives. !ese elements, which could undermine the 
project of using the continent’s mineral resources for its 
industrialization, are particularly noteworthy. 
Chapter 10 considers the implications for institutional 
policy of the proposal to change the focus of mineral 
policy. It seeks to rea%rm the legitimacy and potential 
of public sector institutions, particularly in view of the 
assaults many su&ered in the course of the reforms of 
the 1980s and 1990s. It presents examples of institutional 
arrangements to promote mineral-based linkages and 
suggests some to encourage them in a regional context 
as well as others for enhancing capacity and reviewing 
governance. 
Chapter 11 reviews the e&orts of promoting mineral policy 
harmonization by regional and subregional institutions 
within Africa. 
Chapter 12 seeks to summarize the key challenges and 
policy messages that could transform the African mineral 
sector into a tool for broad socio-economic development, 
as called for by the AMV. 
!e ISG hopes that this framework report contributes to 
the implementation of the AMV. In line with its broad 
aim of assembling a pool of knowledge and experiences, 
the expectation is that it will guide the implementation 
of the AMV through a subsequent phase which develops 
toolkits, templates, guidelines, brie$ng notes and other 
instruments for use in the formulation or revision of 
mineral regimes in Africa. It is also expected that the 
framework report will contribute to the development of 
the Action Plan, by the AUC, the AfDB, and UNECA, as 
called for by the AU Heads of State and Government at 
their Summit in February 2009.
Minerals and Africa's Development
9 
Africa’s minerals: 
history and search for 
direction 2 “Africa’s e"orts to transform 
CHAPTER 
the mining sector away from 
its colonially-created enclave 
features have so far met with 
very limited success. !e Africa 
Mining Vision o"ers a framework 
for integrating the sector more 
coherently and #rmly into the 
continent’s economy and society” 
— !e Africa Mining Vision 
MINERALS OF POTENTIAL value for a range of ap-plications 
are found in most African countries (appendix 
E). More than half the countries on the continent regard 
mining as an important economic activity and are produc-ing 
minerals for an international market outside Africa. 
Africa’s reserves and production of some minerals are 
signi$cant in world terms. Examples include bauxite, 
chromium, cobalt, gold, manganese, phosphate, platinum 
group metals (PGMs) and titanium, as well as diamonds. 
In some instances (chromium, cobalt and PGMs, for ex-ample), 
reserves and production are concentrated in a few 
countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
South Africa and Zambia), but more usually reserves are 
spread among many. 
Some volumes of minerals produced and exported from 
Africa are also signi$cant for world industrial consump-tion, 
such as copper and iron ore, even though these do not 
represent a large proportion of global production.1 Given 
that large tracts of the continent have not been geologically 
surveyed systematically at appropriate scale, it is likely 
that Africa has a much larger mineral base than is known. 
!e paradox of Africa’s mineral (and indeed, natural 
resource) wealth, on the one hand, and the pervasive 
poverty of its people, on the other, remains a deep and 
o"-noted feature of its economic landscape (table 2.1).
10 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Table 2.1 
Percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day (2005 purchasing power parity) 
1990 1999 2005 
Developing Regions 45.5 32.9 26.6 
Northern Africa 4.5 4.4 2.6 
Sub-Saharan Africa 57.4 58.2 50.7 
Latin America and the Caribbean 11.3 10.9 8.2 
Caribbean 28.8 25.4 25.8 
Latin America 10.5 10.2 7.4 
Eastern Asia 60.1 35.6 15.9 
Southern Asia 45.5 42.2 38.6 
Southern Asia excluding India 44.6 35.3 30.7 
South-Eastern Asia 39.2 35.3 18.9 
Western Asia 2.2 4.1 5.8 
Oceania - - - 
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 2.7 7.8 5.3 
CIS, Asia 6.3 22.3 19.2 
CIS, Europe 1.6 3.0 0.3 
Transition countries in South-Eastern Europe 0.1 1.9 0.5 
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 63.3 60.4 53.4 
Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 49.1 50.7 42.8 
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 32.4 27.7 27.5 
1/ High-income economies, as de#ned by the World Bank are excluded. 
2/ Estimates by the World Bank, April 2009. 
Source: MDG Report Statistical Annex 2009 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Data/2009%20Stat%20Annex.pdf 
Dumett (1985) concludes a study of the place of Africa’s 
minerals in the Second World War with the following: 
“A wide range of African metallic and non-metallic 
ores played a vital—and in some cases an indispen-sable— 
role in the Allied victory in 1945. But for 
the African peoples and countries most directly 
involved, the wartime upsurge had an uneven im-pact. 
Wage increases were in no way commensurate 
with the increased workloads nor with the pay 
scales for European miners. Except in the Union 
of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, where 
greater agricultural and industrial diversi$cation 
was already in train, the expansion of the mining 
industries perpetuated enclave development”. 
Mining’s contribution as a supplier of strategic minerals 
to industrialized countries, the focus of policy on those 
minerals that play that role, the inadequate returns to the 
continent and the enclave nature of mining industries 
remain central features of the African landscape today. 
!is chapter sets out the processes by which these features 
became entrenched—a central part of the experience in 
which the colonial state had a strategic role. It describes 
some of the attempts by post-colonial governments to 
respond to the limitations of the mining regimes that they 
inherited as well as the outcomes of the radical changes 
in policy that dominated the second half of the 1980s and 
the 1990s. It is these outcomes that form the immedi-ate 
backdrop to how the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) 
highlighted at the end of the chapter, was formulated and 
adopted in 2009.
Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 11 
Evolution of African mining 
Mining on the eve of the colonial period 
As late as the beginning of the 19th century, despite the 
many years of direct contact with European traders and 
the in#ux of European goods, most African societies still 
produced their own iron and its products or obtained them 
from neighbouring communities through local trade. !e 
quality of iron products was such that, despite competition 
from European imports, local iron production survived 
into the early 20th century in some parts of the continent. 
!is was the case at Yatenga in modern day Burkina 
Faso, where in 1904 there were as many as 1,500 smelting 
furnaces in production.2 !e production process covered 
prospecting, mining, smelting and forging. Di&erent 
types of ore were available all over the continent and were 
extracted by shallow or alluvial mining. A variety of skills 
was required for building furnaces, producing charcoal, 
smelting and forging iron into goods. Iron production 
was generally not an enclave activity but a process that 
ful$lled the totality of socio-economic needs as well as 
$tted the gender division of labour within communities. 
Copper production and use have a longer genealogy than 
iron in some parts of Africa. From ancient Egypt through 
parts of modern Niger, Mauritania and central and south-ern 
Africa, African societies have been mining and using 
copper and its alloys for centuries. Today’s major copper-producing 
areas in Africa, notably the Copper belt, were 
sites of indigenous production for many years before the 
takeover by colonial foreign mining companies. According 
to Zeleza (1993: 183) “there have hardly been any copper 
producing areas in the twentieth century in Africa that 
were not worked before”. In most places, copper was pro-duced 
through open-cast as well as underground mining. 
In addition to utilitarian objects such as wires, rods, vessels 
and other utensils, copper smiths produced jewellery and 
ornaments and cast art pieces such as statues. 
!e patterns of indigenous artisanal and small-scale min-ing 
exhibited in pre-colonial copper mining are not dis-similar 
to that in the gold mining industry—which also 
had a long history—in north-eastern, west and southern 
Africa. In the millennia preceding colonialism, west and 
southern Africa were major exporters of gold to the rest 
of the world. More than 4,000 ancient gold workings 
have been found in southern Africa alone. Production 
by foreign companies during the colonial era in many 
cases initially used generations of indigenous knowledge 
about the location of the precious metal and appropriate 
local mining sites. While prospecting methods varied 
among societies, gold mining involved panning of allu-vial 
deposits, as well as surface or underground mining.3 
Across Africa, modern artisanal gold mining retains 
strong continuities with pre-colonial practices. 
Despite the allure and status of gold, salts were the most 
important commodities in parts of pre-colonial Africa. 
Trade in salts was the most important regional commer-cial 
activity in several areas, including the Sahel and the 
Sahara, especially the Western Sahara, central Sudan (west 
of Lake Chad) and the northern section of the western 
Ri" Valley and its plateau borderlands, and the Great 
Lakes area around the modern border of the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo and Uganda.4 
Salts were extracted from a range of sources with dif-ferent 
processes. !e most important sources in the Sa-hel 
and the Sahara were rock salt deposits, mined from 
pits and saline ponds, on the top or edges of which salt 
crusts accumulated, thanks to high rates of evaporation. 
Several thousand tons of these salts—sodium chloride, 
sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate, potassium chlo-ride, 
calcium carbonate, sodium phosphate, potassium 
sulphate and calcium sulphate, in various combinations 
and concentrations—were each produced and gave rise 
to a far-#ung export trade that served diverse consump-tion 
and industrial purposes. !is trade reached as far as 
present-day Benin, Ghana, the Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and 
parts of Burkina Faso and Mali, and as far south of the 
Congo River basin.
12 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
"e colonial creation of export mining 
!e competition to $nd and control sources of raw ma-terials, 
including minerals, was one of the main drivers 
of European penetration and eventual colonial partition 
of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century. Between 
1870 and the Great Depression of 1929 the pre-colonial 
patterns of production and consumption of minerals, 
where these activities were $rmly located and integrated in 
the local economy, were radically altered and replaced by a 
colonially-induced pattern, in which foreign-owned min-ing 
enclaves dominated most colonial African economies. 
!e British, Belgian and Portuguese colonies were promi-nent 
in the emergence of Africa’s colonial mining industry, 
re#ecting their generous resource endowments and colo-nial 
mining policies— and for Britain, its leading place 
in the global economy. German ambitions were thwarted 
with its defeat in the First World War. !e considerable 
mineral resources of its South-West Africa colony (modern 
Namibia) became available to British and South African 
capital, but German $nanciers were active in the South 
African mining industry. Although French investors were 
important players in southern African mining before 
the First World War, French colonial mining policy and 
activity picked up late, from the 1930s. 
!ese mineral-based opportunities attracted heavy Euro-pean 
migration to the colonies where most policies dis-criminated 
in favour of the new immigrants over Africans, 
both in terms of access to mineral rights and employment 
in the mining industry. Africans were usually relegated to 
low-skilled, low-wage and dangerous work. Initially, the 
development of the colonial mining economy centred on 
high-value minerals such as gold and diamonds. 
!is changed, however, as the processes of industrial 
and technological advancement in the world’s dominant 
economies led to demand for hitherto unused or under-exploited 
minerals and to the discovery of new uses for 
known minerals. Between 1870 and 1939 technological 
advances and industrial development boosted demand for 
copper and worldwide copper production grew 20-fold. 
By the 1930s the Central African copper belt colonies of 
Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo were among 
the top exporters of copper. Cobalt was an important 
associated mineral and the copper belt, mainly the Belgian 
Congo, quickly became its biggest source. 
Manganese was discovered in the Gold Coast (modern 
Ghana) in 1914, and under the pressure of wartime re-quirements 
and the cessation of Russian exports the colony 
rapidly became a major exporter to the United Kingdom 
and its allies, principally the United States. By this time 
European gold mining had $nally taken o& in the colony 
a"er the false starts of the late 19th century. 
From 1909 British $rms took over tin mining in Nigeria’s 
Jos Plateau and that country’s production became crucial 
during the Second World War, a"er the Japanese expul-sion 
of British forces from Malaya. 
From the 1870s Africa, starting with South Africa and 
subsequently the Congo, the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone, 
came to dominate world diamond production, a position 
strengthened from the 1930s by growth in the industrial 
use of diamonds. !is changed the centuries’ old situa-tion 
where only gem diamonds had value, and gave great 
importance to the industrial diamond production in the 
Belgian Congo and the Gold Coast. 
By the turn of the 20th century South Africa had emerged 
as a major producer of diamonds and gold and its consider-able 
and diverse mineral wealth became globally impor-tant. 
By 1910 minerals accounted for more than 80 per cent 
of South Africa’s exports, and more than 40 per cent of 
those from Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Gold 
Coast and the Belgian Congo, and a signi$cant part of 
those from Angola, Sierra Leone and South-West Africa. 
Most of the private foreign capital invested in Africa 
from 1870 to 1935 went into mining and much colonial 
public investment was intended for developing mining. 
South Africa received the bulk of the investment and the 
subsequent re-investment of the considerable pro$ts from 
its diamond and gold mines, fuelling the expansion—and 
transformation—of the wider economy as well as the 
country’s emergence as a racially-segregated country and 
the dominant economy in Southern Africa, with the other 
economies in its orbit.
Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 13 
"e role of the colonial state in African mining 
!e centrality of mining o"en in#uenced the way in which 
the colonial state developed. !at state was active in creat-ing 
the political and legal security for mining investment;5 
providing political and legal support to mining $rms for 
acquiring and controlling the requisite African labour;6 
and developing the necessary transport infrastructure.7 
In all cases, the regimes that colonial governments estab-lished 
around mining ensured the obliteration of African 
enterprise, even where the geological conditions favoured 
small-scale producers and where African tradition and 
experience were considerable, as in the Gold Coast and 
Southern Rhodesian gold industries.8 How to procure, 
retain and keep down the cost of African labour, then 
a scarce commodity, posed challenges in which state 
intervention proved crucial. 
Apart from forcible dispossession of natives of their lands, 
the methods used to compel African males to work for 
(o"en down) the mines, as well as how they were treated 
by mining companies, represent the darkest aspect of the 
history of colonial mining in Africa. !is was especially 
so in the settler colonies where it became the symbol of 
racial segregation, of which apartheid in South Africa 
was at the lowest point. Africans were subjected to a poll 
tax, which was arbitrarily scrapped in times of labour 
abundance, or increased during lean periods of labour, 
simply to force them from their villages to seek work in 
the very poor conditions of the mines. 
More than half the public infrastructure investment in 
sub-Saharan Africa in the decades before the Second 
World War went into transport, especially railways con-nected 
with mining. !e main e&ect of the rail investment 
was to reinforce the mines’ enclave status and facilitate 
their externalize integration. For Northern and Southern 
Rhodesia, the Kariba Dam, which formed the largest 
arti$cial lake in Africa, was constructed to supply power 
to the large copper mines in present-day Democratic 
Republic of the Congo and Zambia. 
A$er the Second World War 
With the war over, Britain and France (as well as Por-tugal 
and Belgium) changed their colonial development 
strategies, adopting policies that gave the state a more 
interventionist economic role to secure resource require-ments 
for reconstruction. Britain established the Colonial 
Development Corporation, which became an important 
vehicle for public/private partnerships in the colonies, of 
which mining formed a signi$cant part.9 
France set up the Fonds d’Investissement et de Dével-oppement 
Economique et Social in 1946, and gave the 
development of colonial mining resources an important 
place in post-war planning. !is was re#ected in a 10-year 
development plan and institutionalized by the creation of 
the Bureau Minier de la France d’Outre-Mer (BMFOM) 
in 1948. BMFOM, which had a 700 million franc capital 
injection, was tasked with promoting prospecting and 
mineral development.10 In 1947 the French Government 
took a majority holding in SOGUINEX, a subsidiary of 
the Consolidated African Selection Trust, engaged in 
diamond mining in Guinea. It was also instrumental in 
creating the MIFERMA consortium in 1952 by European 
steel $rms for the exploitation of Mauritania’s vast iron-ore 
resources. !e process was greatly aided by the readiness of 
the French Government to provide a quarter of the $rm’s 
equity and to guarantee loans for the project. 
!e late colonial period in West Africa also witnessed 
exploration activities that led to the establishment of 
Niger’s uranium mines. Geological surveys initiated by 
the French Commissariat for Atomic Energy in 1955 re-sulted 
in the discovery of uranium concentrations north 
of Agades in 1966. !e Société des Mines de l’Air, a joint 
venture between Niger’s Government, the French Com-missariat 
and French, German and Italian $rms was set 
up in 1968 to exploit the deposit. 
!e immediate post–Second World War decades have 
been characterized as “the hey-day of mining companies 
in Africa. New mines were developed in all corners of the 
continent, and existing ones were expanded”.11 !e last 
days of colonialism witnessed an upsurge in prospecting
14 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
activities and the start of new mining projects in many 
colonies and countries. 
Some of the resulting projects came to de$ne the post-colonial 
economic structure of African mining countries. 
Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Sierra Leone became 
major iron-ore exporters; Gabon, the Niger and South 
Africa started exporting uranium; and Guinea, which 
would soon become a major global source, saw the open-ing 
of its $rst bauxite mine in 1952. 
!e development of iron ore and production of bauxite in 
West Africa were the most important mining trends of the 
late colonial period. On the eve of Ghana’s independence 
in 1957, African production of minerals—not just iron ore 
and bauxite, but also copper, rock phosphates, manganese, 
lead, zinc, uranium, chromites, cobalt and asbestos—had 
hugely expanded from just prior to the Second World 
War. !e most spectacular increases were in manganese, 
phosphates and iron-ore, output of which had doubled; 
copper, which had risen by more than 150 per cent; and 
cobalt production, which had jumped by 350 per cent. 
"e early post-colonial decades 
On independence, the political economy of mining epito-mized 
the limits of the political power and economic 
control gained by newly sovereign African nations. In 
economies dominated by mineral exports, this most im-portant 
sector was an externally-oriented enclave only 
narrowly linked with the rest of the domestic economy 
through the taxes paid to the state by the mining com-panies 
and their small pool of mainly lower level African 
workers. !is disarticulation had several features: 
' Ownership and operation of the mines was in the 
hands of foreign companies; 
' Mining operations had very weak links with the rest 
of the economy, because most of the minerals were 
exported in raw form or a"er only basic processing; 
' Firms imported most of their inputs and repatriated 
all their pro$ts, except what was reinvested in min-ing 
operations; 
' Export trade $gures were dominated by mineral ex-ports, 
but this painted a false picture of how much 
the country was bene$ting from minerals given the 
import dependence of the mines, the free repatriation 
of pro$ts, technical fees charged and the incomes of 
expatriate employees; 
' Mining was a substantial, o"en the biggest, source 
of public revenue; and 
' !e most important skills involved in running the 
mines came from expatriate employees thanks to the 
racist division of labour under colonialism that kept 
Africans in low-skill, low-wage jobs. 
When Zambia attained independence in 1964, copper 
accounted for 40 per cent of GDP, 93 per cent of exports, 
68 per cent of public revenue and 15 per cent of em-ployment. 
For the Belgian Congo (which unlike Zambia 
exported a clutch of minerals), minerals accounted for 
67 per cent of export earnings—copper alone 51 per cent 
of export earnings, 45 per cent of public revenue and 
18 per cent of GDP, but only 2 per cent of employment. 
African governments took policy steps straight a"er inde-pendence 
alongside steep drops in investment by mining 
companies in exploration and development at existing 
mines, and huge increases in dividend repatriation by 
foreign shareholders. For many governments, vesting min-erals 
in the state, setting up state mining enterprises and 
taking substantial shares in existing mining companies 
were the principal instruments for enhancing their share 
of returns from the nation’s mineral resources. 
Yet the performance of the state mining enterprises then 
established has been mixed. !e new management and 
procurement arrangements simply meant that basic con-trol 
of running the business remained unchanged, though 
new avenues for repatriating revenue took on increased 
signi$cance.12 Most state mining companies functioned 
poorly, starved of investment in plant and machinery, and 
denuded of exploration activities. !ey also su&ered from
Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 15 
a general lack of research and development to keep mining 
and processing operations competitive. Especially in base 
metals, unit mining costs soon outstripped metal prices.13 
Another burden was that revenue from mining compa-nies 
became part of the national cake that had to be used 
to $nance other priorities—another factor in the lack 
of investment and ultimate demise of the state mining 
companies. 
Adedeji (1993: 395) notes, in relation to the $rst decade of 
the post-colonial era, that some countries set themselves 
the objective of achieving “fundamental change … in 
the colonial economic structure by developing the do-mestic 
processing of primary products and by pursuing 
an import-substitution industrialization strategy”. !e 
reality, however, was that domestic minerals were seldom 
processed locally and converted into industrial products. 
Local value addition was not the name of the game. 
A more liberal space for foreign investment 
Many African countries in the early 1980s were severely 
indebted, leading the World Bank to become increasingly 
involved in designing reforms that were introduced into 
Africa’s mining industry. In 1992, a"er the impact of 
the early to mid-1980s’ glut of base metals that reduced 
prices and hence state revenue, the World Bank set out in 
its Strategy for African Mining, the $rst systematic pres-entation 
of reforms that it considered necessary to tackle 
Africa’s poor performance in minerals. !e World Bank 
saw that African mining was attracting only 5 per cent 
of global exploration and mining development expendi-ture. 
In view of the continent’s huge mineral potential 
and the signi$cance of mining to some economies, it felt 
that mining could provide “important bene$ts in terms 
of exports, foreign exchange earnings and tax receipts to 
support economic recovery in Africa”.14 
!e study argued that African mining’s poor performance 
was rooted in two factors. First, the industry by the 1990s 
was in rapid decline, as evidenced by its falling share of 
world mineral output for most of those it produced (except 
for bauxite, rutile and uranium). Second, new geological 
information was in serious de$cit, because of very little 
exploration activity. As a result, Africa succeeded less 
well than other regions in attracting new investment to 
exploration, which amounted to only 1 per cent of mineral 
production—compared with 10 per cent in other regions. 
!e World Bank’s study concluded that the African min-ing 
industry could not take advantage of the growing 
demand projections of mineral commodities during the 
1990s to the same extent as Latin America and Asia. Africa 
had simply not adapted well to the needs of the industry 
in the new international context. !e study proposed 
a series of policy, regulatory and institutional reforms. 
What was needed in the 1990s? 
According to the study, the future development of the 
mining industry would “largely depend on attracting new 
high risk capital from foreign mining companies”15 be-cause 
historically, it was “international mining companies 
which provided the management and technical capabilities 
and mobilized the necessary $nancing for mining”.16 To 
adapt to modern conditions of mining, it argued, African 
countries would have to avoid state ownership and attract 
private investors to mining. 
In the study, the World Bank had surveyed 80 mining 
companies, including “juniors” and “majors”. !e results 
revealed that, a"er mineral potential and existing infra-structure 
(that is, key decision criteria), potential investors 
looked for a stable legal and $scal framework, contractual 
stability, a guaranteed $scal regime, assured pro$t repa-triation 
and easy access to foreign exchange. Signi$cantly, 
they also showed that macro-economic performance was 
less important because mining was greatly isolated from 
other sectors of the national economy (apart from features 
such as exchange rates). Investors also looked for a larger 
and a faster return on equity in Africa than in developed 
countries because they required higher risk premiums 
for projects there. !e study also reasoned that investors
16 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 2.1 
A brief account of post-colonial mining activity in Mali 
Shortly after independence from France in 1960 Mali’s government created several state mining enterprises. Many 
regional geo-chemical surveys were conducted in the country between 1960 and 1980. The period between 1965 
and 1975 was decisive for identifying all the indices and other occurrences in Mali of gold and diamonds, ferrous 
and base metals, building materials, phosphate and rare earths. This period saw small gold production at the 
Kalana mine and the establishment of cement factories, ceramic, tiles, brick and crushed phosphate rock. Mali 
developed its first national skills and its initial technical and administrative bodies in mining. Many Malian students 
were then trained with assistance from bilateral and multi-lateral partners, both abroad and in local training centres, 
for the needs of the mining industry and administration at all levels. 
There was relative success in satisfying most of the rather small, local demand for industrial material and a relative 
boom in exploration work by state-owned companies. 
By the mid-1980s Mali’s mining industry was still embryonic, consisting of few construction material plants such 
as cement, marble, brickworks, phosphates, fertilizer and a small and poorly operated underground gold mine. 
The overall economy was under-performing (with hyper-inflation, a very poor balance of payments, a huge public 
internal debt and collapsing public enterprises), thus forcing the government to join sub-Saharan countries that 
implemented structural adjustment programmes favouring short-term fiscal redress and incentives to attract 
potential investors. 
Mali then embarked, with other members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, on a programme of 
privatizing, restructuring or liquidating state-owned enterprises, including those in the mineral sector. It devalued 
its currency by half in 1994, with the aim of reducing the fiscal deficit and attracting foreign direct investment to 
rehabilitate the economy, including mining. The government also developed new legal, regulatory and administra-tive 
frameworks more favourable to private investors. 
These reforms helped to diversify potential sources of foreign funding for mineral surveys. The goal was to encour-age 
export mining through projects of interest to large foreign mining companies with the know-how and financial 
and technical capacity required. Many exploration activities were financed by the United Nations Development 
Programme, the European Commission and Belgian and French cooperation bodies, and led to large-company 
involvement in developing world-class industrial gold mines. 
The inventory and systematic monitoring of all resources by a well-staffed and well-performing geological survey 
department, as well as the development of side-stream and downstream activities, which had prevailed in the 
first decade of independence, are no longer seen. The bulk of geological work, including grass-roots initial data 
acquisition and inventory are now done by junior gold-exploration companies, which hand over their resources 
to the larger gold-producing companies. 
Source: Cheickna Seydi Diawara.
Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 17 
preferred to keep majority ownership should state partici-pation 
be required. Finally, it noted that investors were 
concerned about corruption and political risks. 
In short, “Perceived mineral endowment, infrastructure, 
political stability, investment policies, and institutional 
framework, are all key determinants of exploration and 
investment decisions”.17 Since mineral potential in Africa 
was not in doubt, the study argued that the perception of 
political risk was a major factor in determining investment 
#ows into its mining industry. 
To reduce investment risks to private mining companies, 
the World Bank prescribed recommendations in four 
main areas: the regulatory framework; economic and 
$scal policy; institutional reforms and infrastructure; 
and environmental considerations. 
!e key elements of African mineral policies that emerged 
during this period may be summarized as follows. African 
governments: 
' Reduced or eliminated state participation in mining 
enterprises; 
' Provided a wide range of incentives, causing foreign 
direct investment (FDI) into the industry to surge; 
' Made tax regimes more competitive relative to those in 
other developing regions, particularly Latin America; 
' Liberalized exchange controls and exchange rate 
policy; and 
' Introduced investment-protection assurances, includ-ing 
those on the stability of the $scal regime for a 
speci$ed length of time (the “stabilization period”), 
dividend repatriation and non-expropriation. 
Results of reform—mixed at best 
Although the extensive reforms of regulatory and le-gal 
frameworks introduced during the 1980s and 1990s 
helped to create a more favourable environment for for-eign 
investment in African mining, their contribution to 
social and economic development objectives has been far 
less certain—even contested in many countries. Within 
the past decade a very visible civil society movement, 
protesting about the costs and questioning the bene$ts 
of the revitalized mining sectors, has emerged in many 
mineral-rich African countries. !e example of Mali 
(box 2.1) may show why. 
!e following appraisal of those reforms may be taken as 
illustrative of widespread uncertainty over their bene$ts: 
“Certainly from the corporate perspective, the outcomes 
of the recent reforms in the mining sector in Africa have 
been positive, as re#ected in the signi$cant increases of 
FDI in the sector. From the host country perspective, in 
order to assess the outcome of these reforms, governments 
would need to consider whether the increasing incentives 
provided to foreign investors have been o&set by the de-sired 
outcomes …. Already some observers have described 
the incentive competition as a “winner’s curse” for host 
countries, whereby investment competition among host 
countries can trigger a “a race to the bottom” not only in 
the more static sense of forgone $scal earnings but also in 
terms of giving up policy options necessary to organize 
a more dynamic long term growth path”.18 
In 2007 a “Policy Big Table” organized by the United Na-tions 
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and 
the African Development Bank, which brought together 
o%cials from the two bodies and the African Union (AU), 
African countries and international organizations, noted 
that the scale of the reforms in African mining since the 
1990s “did not have any historical precedent”. It concluded 
that Africa had not traditionally gained the best possible 
bene$ts from the exploitation of its natural resources, a 
situation exacerbated in the 1990s “by African e&orts to 
attract FDI to their natural resources sector, which led 
to the formulation of overly generous investment laws 
and regulations”. 
!e Big Table urged African countries to seize the “win-dow 
of opportunity o&ered by the boom in demand for
18 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 2.2 
!e Africa Mining Vision 
t A knowledge-driven African mining sector that catalyses  contributes to the broad-based growth  develop-ment 
of, and is fully integrated into, a single African market through: 
■ Down-stream linkages into mineral beneficiation and manufacturing; 
■ Up-stream linkages into mining capital goods, consumables  services industries; 
■ Side-stream linkages into infrastructure (power, logistics; communications, water) and skills  technology 
development (HRD and RD); 
■ Mutually beneficial partnerships between the state, the private sector, civil society, local communities 
and other stakeholders; and 
■ A comprehensive knowledge of its mineral endowment. 
t A sustainable and well-governed mining sector that effectively garners and deploys resource rents and that 
is safe, healthy, gender  ethnically inclusive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible and appreciated 
by surrounding communities; 
t A mining sector that has become a key component of a diversified, vibrant and globally competitive indus-trialising 
African economy; 
t A mining sector that has helped establish a competitive African infrastructure platform, through the maximisa-tion 
of its propulsive local  regional economic linkages; 
t A mining sector that optimises and husbands Africa’s finite mineral resource endowments and that is di-versified, 
incorporating both high value metals and lower value industrial minerals at both commercial and 
small-scale levels; 
t A mining sector that harnesses the potential of artisanal and small-scale mining to stimulate local/national 
entrepreneurship, improve livelihoods and advance integrated rural social and economic development; and 
t A mining sector that is a major player in vibrant and competitive national, continental and international capital 
and commodity markets.
Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 19 
minerals and metals and the accompanying price surge to 
extract better terms from natural resources exploitation 
and to catalyse growth and poverty alleviation across the 
continent”. It proposed that existing natural resource laws 
and regulations be reviewed “to better accommodate the 
interests of African countries”. 
From past results to renewed approaches 
!e conclusions of the Big Table were an important cata-lyst 
for Africa’s Heads of State and Government in 2009 
to adopt the AMV (box 2.2). !e Vision seeks to shi 
mineral policy beyond a focus on extracting minerals 
and sharing revenue. It relates such policy to the demand 
for structural transformation of Africa’s economies and, 
premised on the abundance and signi$cance of its miner-als, 
proposes (or re-a%rms) an industrialization strategy 
anchored on minerals and other natural resources as 
critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, 
eradicating poverty and securing sustainable growth and 
development on the continent. 
!e Vision was draed by a technical task force set up 
by the AU and UNECA, which had representatives from 
the African Mining Partnership, the African Develop-ment 
Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and 
Development and the United Nations Industrial Develop-ment 
Organization (UNIDO). It was endorsed by the $rst 
ordinary session of the AU Conference of Ministers Re-sponsible 
for Mineral Resources Development in October 
2008. It is informed by the outcomes of several initiatives 
and eorts made at subregional, continental and global 
levels to formulate policy and regulatory frameworks to 
maximize the development outcomes of the exploitation of 
mineral resources. !e AMV provides an important step 
towards developing a continental mineral strategy tailored 
to the African context and emanating from a focus on its 
interests and situation as the originating source of policy. 
A central premise of the AMV is that mining in Africa 
must be constantly re-evaluated by its contribution to 
broad and long-term development goals. It insists that 
mineral operations need not—and should not—be activi-ties 
of an enclave. 
!e Vision acknowledges the governance challenges that 
must be overcome for Africa’s minerals to contribute 
to sustainable development. However, unlike several 
other proposals for exploiting the mineral resources and 
collecting and managing the revenues of the continent, 
it recognizes governance as only part of the range of 
challenges that have to be addressed in formulating a 
comprehensive framework of policy to nurture a devel-opment- 
oriented sector. 
!e goal of a “vibrant … industrializing African economy” 
emphasizes the role of industrialization and industrial 
policy if the continent’s development possibilities are to 
be realized. In the words of UNIDO, “Industrialization is 
integral to economic development. Scarcely any countries 
have developed without industrializing and rapidly grow-ing 
economies tend to have rapidly growing manufactur-ing 
sectors”.19 It is now no longer fashionable to discount 
the active interventions required of the state to articulate 
industrial policy and promote industrialization.20 
Several references in the AMV implicitly acknowledge the 
limits posed by the size of states and the global context in 
which they have to operate. !e importance of a harmo-nized 
continental approach in creating a development-oriented 
policy framework is implicit in the Vision. 
!e Vision also highlights the desire for well-managed 
engagement of stakeholders, including industry and the 
private sector, international and regional $nancial, govern-ment 
and social institutions, local communities, dierent 
government agencies and non-governmental organiza-tions. 
Engagement and empowerment of marginalized 
stakeholders, including artisanal and small-scale min-ers, 
women and local communities remain underlying 
features that need to be addressed within mineral policy 
development. 
In its reference to gender inclusiveness, the AMV 
seeks to apply to mining principles that are widely ar-ticulated 
in African and international legal and policy 
instruments.21!e context is that mineral operations will 
reproduce or even exacerbate gender disparities if no eort 
is made to address them.
20 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!e implications of the Vision for developing African min-eral 
policy may be summarized in the following objectives: 
' Enhancing retained value by promoting linkages; 
' Obtaining an adequate share of mineral revenue; 
' Improving public participation and accountability; 
' Pursuing an integrated view of rights of various 
stakeholders; 
' Valuing environmental resources; 
' Using mineral revenue e%ciently; 
' Promoting local development; 
' Encouraging regional cooperation and harmoniza-tion; 
and 
' Strengthening institutions: building capacity and 
developing networks. 
!ese themes form the framework for the rest of the book. 
Endnotes 
1 See Taylor et al., 2009; USGS, n.d. 
2 Zeleza, 1993. 
3 Phimister, 1976; Zeleza, 1993; Allen, 1958; Macdon-ald, 
1902. 
4 Good, 1972; Lovejoy, 1978; McDougall, 1990. 
5 Greenhalgh, 1985; Hodder, 1959; Illegbune, 1976; 
Radmann, 1978; Slinn, 1979. 
6 Crisp,1984; Lanning and Mueller,1979; !omas,1973; 
Zeleza, 1993; Derksen, 1983, Greenhalgh,1985. 
7 Lanning and Mueller, 1979,72; Hailey, 1957; Fell 1939. 
8 Silver,1981; Phimister,1976. 
9 Hailey,1957. 
10 Hailey 1957. 
11 Lanning and Mueller, 1979. 
12 See Lanning and Mueller, 1979. 
13 Asante,1979; Libby and Woake, 1980; Greenhalgh, 
1985; Yachir, 1988. 
14 World Bank, 1992: x. 
15 World Bank, 1992: 10. 
16 World Bank, 1992: xi. 
17 World Bank, 1992: 18. 
18 UNCTAD, 2005: 45. 
19 UNIDO, 2009: 4. 
20 See Hausman et al., 2008a, 2008b; Rodrik, 2004; 
Amsden, 2009. 
21 Such as article 13 of the Protocol to the African 
Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights 
of Women in Africa, 2003; article 4 of the African 
Union Constitutive Act; and the Solemn Declaration 
on Gender Equality in Africa, 2004.
21 
Global trends 3 “It is important to learn from the 
CHAPTER 
experiences and best practices 
of other regions. !e current 
global competition in the demand 
for mineral resources, particu-larly 
with increased activity from 
China, India and Brazil, presents 
opportunities for Africa” 
— !e Africa Mining Vision 
!is chapter sets out the global context in which Africa’s 
mining regimes are evaluated. It identi$es global market 
trends as well as activity and thinking in the important 
mineral producing and consuming regions. !e objectives 
are to set the African mining industry into the global 
scene, give policymakers an understanding of long-term 
trends in metal markets and in investment behaviour and 
present a brief overview of recent policy perspectives from 
Europe, the Americas and Asia. 
Demand for mineral commodities 
Global distribution of demand 
Demand for mineral commodities has increased dramati-cally 
since the turn of the century. Although use of most 
metals increased by 1–2 per cent a year in the 1980s and 
1990s, growth rates aer 2000 were much higher. For 
instance, world crude steel production rose by 1 per cent 
a year from 1990 to 2000, but by 6.8 per cent a year from 
2000 to 2007. Most of this rapid growth was due to in-dustrial 
expansion and urbanization in China, where raw 
materials demand surged as that economy accounted for 
an ever-growing share of the world’s manufactured 
products. From 1995 to 2005 China’s contribution to world 
industrial production doubled to 12 per cent. Table 3.1 
shows that from 2000 to 2007, China more than doubled 
its share of global demand for aluminium, copper and 
zinc, tripled that for lead and quadrupled that for nickel. 
During the period, its share of iron-ore imports tripled, 
from about 16 per cent to 48 per cent, accounting for 
32 per cent of total world crude steel demand.
22 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Table 3.1 
Chinese inuence on world demand for re#ned metals demand, 2000–2007 
Re!ned use, 2007 Share of China, 2007 (per cent) Share of China, 2000 (per cent) 
Aluminium (kt) 12,267 32.5 13.0 
Copper (kt) 4,800 26.2 11.8 
Zinc (kt) 3,750 32.1 14.9 
Lead (kt) 2,548 30.6 10.1 
Nickel (kt) 345 24.9 6.0 
Tin (kt) 150 39.9 18.6 
Crude steel (Mt) 437 32.3 16.3 
Iron-ore seaborne imports (Mt) 379 48.2 15.6 
Source: Ericsson (2009) citing Chinese statistics and metal forecasting, Macquarie Commodities Research, Macquarie Capital Securities (2008). 
kt = !ousand tons ; Mt = Million tons. 
India and Brazil also experienced high growth rates in 
metal use, while the United States remained a substan-tial 
consumer of minerals produced both from domestic 
sources and imports. (Appendix F shows the principal 
minerals of which the United States imports more than 
it produces, and the major sources.) 
!e uneven distribution of global metal demand is illus-trated 
in map 3.1. Africa accounts for only a very small part 
of the total. Growth in African metal demand has risen 
quickly, albeit from a low base, during the recent boom 
years. Steel demand, for example, grew by 4.5 per cent 
between 2000 and 2007 in Africa, faster than in Latin 
America (3 per cent) but slower than in Asian countries ex-cept 
China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (7.5 per cent). 
For the period up to 2020 African steel demand is expected 
to increase by 4 per cent a year, once again higher than 
Latin America (2 per cent) and catching up a bit on Asian 
countries except China, Japan and the Republic of Korea 
(6 per cent). 
Map 3.1 
Global metal consumption 
Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
Global Trends 23 
Figure 3.1 
Metal concentrates and ores: EU net imports as share of apparent consumption (per cent) 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 
10 
0 
% 
Antimony 
Cobalt 
Molybdenum 
Niobium 
Platinum 
Rare earth minerals 
Tantalum 
Titanium minerals 
Vanadium 
Manganese ore 
Iron ore 
Bauxite 
Tin 
Zinc 
Chromium ores and 
concentrates 
Copper 
Source: Ericsson (2009), citing European Commission. 
Metal consumption in the European Union (EU) repre-sents 
about 20 per cent of the global total. For more than 
half the metals shown, it imports all of its consumption 
($gure 3.1). 
Demand for metals is strongly linked to general economic 
development. Per capita use of most metals grows slowly 
until a GDP per capita of $5,000–10,000 a year and then 
#attens out above that level ($gure 3.2). Most metals and 
countries exhibit a similar pattern of growth or similar 
changes in the metals intensity of their economies. !e 
absolute level at which per capita use #attens depends 
on the structure of the economy and industry. With a 
larger share of industry, use is normally higher than when 
services dominate. 
Figure 3.2 
Per capita use of copper vs GDP 
India 
China 2009 
China 2004 
Germany 
Japan 
Korea 
Taiwan 
5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 
USD (PPP adjusted) 
Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
24 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!is is the basis for the strong demand of the Chinese 
economy—it is currently passing through that stage of its 
economic development. Demand is further strengthened 
by the sheer size of the economy, its population of more 
than 1 billion and strong, centrally planned oversight 
in which state capital plays a large role in investment 
allocation. 
Some evidence suggests that Chinese demand for met-als 
has three main drivers: 
' Fixed capital formation: Growth in $xed capital for-mation 
(investment in economic infrastructure) has 
increased to around 40 per cent of GDP, a seemingly 
unsustainable rate; 
' Urbanization: Urban migration is a strong driver of 
$xed capital formation. In China 10 million people 
a year are moving from the countryside to the cities, 
and this could increase fourfold if restrictions on the 
movement of labour are relaxed; and 
' Domestic consumption: Use of metal-intensive kitchen 
appliances, housing and vehicles has grown sharply. 
Some estimates suggest that as much as 75 per cent of 
China’s copper demand is for domestic consumption. 
Copper is a major input for such goods. 
Demand conclusions for the future 
China’s insatiable demand for metals has led many market 
observers to believe that metal prices are currently in the 
early phase of a “super cycle” driven by its industrialization 
and urbanization. Heap (2005: 1–2) de$nes a super cycle as 
a “prolonged (decades or more) trend rise in real commod-ity 
prices driven by urbanization and industrialization 
of a major economy”. He contends that there have been 
two super cycles in the last 150 years: from the late 1800s 
driven by the United States, and from 1945 to 1975 driven 
by post-war reconstruction in Europe and subsequently 
by the Japanese economic renaissance. 
Figure 3.3 
Copper super cycles 
nominal price 
2004 real price 
600 
500 
400 
300 
200 
100 
0 
US!/lb 
1885 
1890 
1895 
1900 
USA 
1905 
1910 
1915 
1920 
1925 
1930 
1935 
1940 
1945 
1950 
1955 
1960 
1965 
1970 
1975 
1980 
1985 
1990 
1995 
2000 
Source: USGS; Platts; US Department of Labor (Cited from Heap, 2005) 
Japan , EU 
Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
Global Trends 25 
Other long-term projections of copper prices further 
support the thesis of a prolonged price rise of up to 40 
years from about 1933 to 1975 ($gure 3.4). A super cy-cle, 
or prolonged trend rise in prices, is driven by high, 
materials-intensive economic growth. !is is re#ected in 
a high and rising intensity of use—the amount of metal 
consumed per unit of economic activity, such as GDP. 
A super cycle is thus demand-driven and does not arise 
from supply-side constraints. Although there are business 
cycles within a cycle, prices rise on a trend basis. Declin-ing 
intensity of use brings super cycles to an end as the 
economy evolves from material-intensive infrastructure 
and manufacturing and becomes more service-oriented. 
Cuddington and Jerrett (2008) argue that if super cycles 
are indeed demand-driven, their components in individual 
commodity prices should be positively correlated. !ey 
used an econometric approach to test the co-movement of 
aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc—all crucial 
inputs in residential and other construction activity, trans-port 
and other infrastructure, and heavy manufacturing. 
!ey found that super cycles in the six metal prices were 
highly correlated, providing further evidence that super 
cycles are caused by prolonged demand expansion as major 
economies move through rapid economic development 
processes. !ey, too, argue that commodity prices are 
currently in the early phase of a super cycle. 
China is the main driver of global economic growth at 
present, but many other countries are both populous 
and at a similar stage of development, such as Brazil, 
Russia, Turkey and several South-east Asian countries. 
All these countries are growing fast economically and 
are undoubtedly signi$cant contributors to the current 
high demand for metals. 
Figure 3.4 
Long-term copper prices 
9000 
8000 
7000 
6000 
5000 
a3000 
2000 
1000 
0 
USD/t (2005) 
29 years 
-3.5%pa 
40 years 
2.3%pa 
33 years 
-3.5%pa 
1900 
1903 
1906 
1909 
1912 
1915 
1918 
1921 
1924 
1927 
1930 
1933 
1936 
1939 
1942 
1945 
1948 
1951 
1954 
1957 
1960 
1963 
1966 
1969 
1972 
1975 
1978 
1981 
1984 
1987 
1990 
1993 
1996 
1999 
2002 
2005 
2008 
Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011. 
At current high levels of demand for copper, there is no 
stopping the present super cycle or the demand boom from 
continuing at least for another $ve years, and most likely 
the rest of the decade, unless global economic disaster hits. 
Although history does not repeat itself mechanically, it 
may well provide unforeseen events, such as the recent 
global $nancial and economic crisis that temporarily 
upset the growth pattern of metal demand. !e crisis 
hit the continent’s mineral exporters, especially those in 
southern Africa. !e sharp decline in commodity prices 
saw mines either close or put on maintenance regimes, 
with attendant job losses. About 346,700 jobs were lost in 
2008 in the Southern African Development Community 
region alone.1
26 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Table 3.2 
Metal prices, December 2008–December 2009 
Zinc Lead Copper Aluminium Nickel Tin Platinum Silver Gold 
($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/oz) ($/oz) ($/oz) 
Year-end Price, 
2008 1,121 949 2,902 1,455 10,810 10,355 899 11 865 
Year-end Price, 
2009 2,570 2,395 7,346 2,208 18,480 16,725 1,461 17 1,098 
Per cent Increase 129.4 152.4 153.1 51.8 71.0 61.5 62.5 57.5 27.0 
Source: London Metal Exchange, except for Pt (Johnson Matthey). 
!e swi rebound in prices of many metal commodities 
suggests, however, a super cycle. Table 3.2 shows metal 
prices at end-December 2009, with copper leading the dra-matic 
year-on-year recovery at 153 per cent, the strongest 
since 2000. Both lead and zinc also posted price recoveries 
of more than 100 per cent. 
Some academic economists remain sceptical that we are in 
a super cycle.2 Still, the evidence of a sustainable long-term 
demand upswing, possibly of 10–35 years according to 
super cycle proponents, oers some basis for a carefully-formulated 
strategy to use metals and minerals as levers 
for economic development in Africa. 
An emerging super cycle, or indeed any long-term trend 
rise in commodity prices, has important implications 
for pro$table capacity expansion by both private and 
government mining companies. With an increasing li-quidity 
in the $nancial markets, a key message for African 
mining economies is to position themselves for green$eld 
or brown$eld capacity expansion of mining projects. 
Another implication is the use of resource revenues. Many 
African mineral economies rely heavily on them, either 
from direct equity participation in mining companies or 
tax receipts. A possible super cycle oers African mineral 
economies the opportunity to establish mutually- ben-e 
$cial (government–mining company) long-term tax 
regimes, as well as the opportunity to extract development 
bene$ts from minerals. Unfortunately, most African min-eral 
economies fail to exploit commodity export booms, 
such as the last one to about 2007. To achieve these ben-e 
$ts, they will need to be strategic in how they position 
this crucial sector for investment (see chapters 7 and 8). 
Supply of mineral commodities 
Global distribution of supply 
China does not only have a large demand but it is also 
an important producer of metals and minerals. It is thus 
the most important mining country in the world. It is 
by far the largest producer of coal; it is also the largest 
producer of gold, zinc, lead, tin and manganese. It is the 
second-largest producer of iron ore. Its import depend-ency 
is high for copper and nickel, and growing for iron 
ore and many other metals. China is the sole supplier of 
rare earths and other metals and minerals used in highly-specialized 
technical applications for which there is no 
possibility of substitution. 
Europe was an important mining region in the mid-19th 
century, but mineral production has declined since. !e 
EU now accounts for only some 3 per cent of global metal 
output. It remains self-su%cient in construction minerals 
and is a major producer of dimension stone. Although 
Europe is a large producer of several types of industrial 
minerals, it is a net importer of most of its requirements 
(see $gure 3.1). 
Map 3.2 shows the global distribution of mine production 
for eight important minerals or mineral groups in 2008.
Global Trends 27 
!e proportion by value from dierent regions of the world 
is Africa, 11.5 per cent; Asia, 28.8 per cent; Europe (exclud-ing 
Russia, Belarus, Armenia, the Ukraine and Georgia), 
2.6 per cent; European Commonwealth of Independent 
States, 8.1 per cent; Latin America, 23.7 per cent; North 
America, 11.3 per cent; and Oceania, 14.0 per cent. 
Map 3.2 
Global distribution of mineral production, 2008 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010.
28 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Table 3.3 gives the three largest producers of various 
metallic minerals. 
Table 3.3 
Top three mining regions for selected metallic minerals, 2006 
Metal First % Second % ird % Cum. % 
Rare Earth concentrates China 95 USA 2 India 2 99 
Niobium-Columbium Brazil 90 Canada 9 Australia 1 100 
Antimony China 87 Bolivia 3 South Africa 3 93 
Tungsten China 84 Canada 4 EU 4 92 
Gallium China 83 Japan 17 - 100 
Germanium China 79 USA 14 Russia 7 100 
Rhodium South Africa 79 Russia 11 USA 6 96 
Platinum South Africa 77 Russia 11 Canada 4 92 
Lithium Chile 60 China 15 Australia 10 85 
Indium* China 60 Korea 9 Japan 9 78 
Tantalum** Australia 60 Brazil 18 Mozambique 5 83 
Mercury China 57 Kyrgyzstan 29 Chile 4 90 
Tellurium Peru 52 Japan 31 Canada 17 100 
Selenium* Japan 48 Canada 20 EU 19 87 
Palladium Russia 45 South Africa 39 USA 7 91 
Vanadium South Africa 45 China 38 Russia 12 95 
Titanium Australia 42 South Africa 18 Canada 12 72 
Rhenium** Chile 42 USA 17 Kazakhstan 17 76 
Chromium South Africa 41 Kazakhstan 27 India 8 76 
Bismuth China 41 Mexico 21 Peru 18 80 
Tin China 40 Indonesia 28 Peru 14 82 
Cobalt Congo D.R.C 36 Australia 11 Canada 11 58 
Copper Chile 36 USA 8 Peru 7 51 
Lead China 35 Australia 19 USA 13 67 
Molybdenum USA 34 China 23 Chile 22 79 
Bauxite Australia 34 Brazil 12 China 11 57 
Zinc China 28 Australia 13 Peru 11 52 
Iron ore Brazil 22 Australia 21 China 15 58 
Cadmium China 22 Korea 16 Japan 11 49 
Manganese China 21 Gabon 20 Australia 16 57 
Nickel Russia 19 Canada 16 Australia 13 48 
Silver Peru 17 Mexico 14 China 13 44 
Gold South Africa 12 China 11 Australia 11 34 
Source: Ericsson (2009), citing World Mining Data (2008). 
* = World re#nery production (USGS, 2008). 
** = USGS, 2008).
Global Trends 29 
Table 3.4 
African production and consumption of selected metals in 2009 (per cent of world) 
Aluminium/ 
bauxite Gold Copper Iron ore Nickel Lead Tin Zinc 
Consumption 2.0 1.2 1.1 0.5 3.3 1.0 0.4 1.3 
Production 8.0 19.6 7.9 4.1 5.3 2.5 4.8 2.5 
Source: WBMS, Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Table 3.4 compares Africa’s production and consumption as 
a share of total world $gures for selected minerals. It supports 
the well-known fact that Africa does not consume the min-erals 
it produces owing to its low levels of industrialization. 
Supply conclusions for the future 
!e locus of the world’s mining industry has gradually 
moved. It was once in Europe but with the growth of the 
US economy in the 19th century mining moved across 
the Atlantic. In the latter part of the 20th century most 
mining took place south of the equator, where Africa, with 
Latin America, hosts large amounts of untapped mineral 
riches despite at least one century of resource misuse, 
particularly in Africa. Africa and Siberia are now the two 
largest remaining under-explored frontiers. 
Global mine supply is largely controlled by big, trans-national 
companies. !ey are the ones with the $nancial 
and technical capacity to handle large mining invest-ments, 
and the technology to operate big mines. Oen 
they, along with investment banks, have the power to 
in#uence mineral commodity markets. !e mining in-dustry 
has seen much consolidation ($gures 3.5 and 3.6). 
More is foreseen with easy credit and the strength of large 
mining companies’ strong balance sheets. !is bodes well 
for African mineral producers who need to strategically 
position themselves to attract mining investment. Figure 
3.5 also shows the market capitalization of the top ten 
mining companies in the world. 
Figure 3.5 
!e Top 10 by market capitalization ($billion at 31 December, 2010) 
250 
200 
150 
100 
50 
0 
BHP 
Billiton 
Vale 
Rio 
Tinto 
Shenhua 
China 
Zstrata 
American 
Anglo 
Freeport- 
McMoRan 
Barrick 
Gold 
PotashCorp 
2009 
2010 
Coal 
India 
Source: Capital IQ, cited from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (2011).
30 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Figure 3.6 
Largest companies’ shares of global mining output (per cent) 
1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 
35 
30 
25 
20 
15 
10 
5 
0 
Largest 3 Largest 10 Largest 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Figure 3.7 
Largest companies’ global control of selected metals, 2009 
Lead 
Zinc 
Gold 
Iron ore 
Copper 
Nickl 
Platinum 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 
10 
0 
Largest 
3 Largest 
10 Largest 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Exploration and mine development 
In 2008, total commercial exploration in the world stood 
more than $ve times as high as in 2000, at $13.8 billion 
compared with $2.6 billion. Africa’s share of that expendi-ture 
increased from 12 per cent (more than $300 million) 
to 15 per cent ($2,050 million). !ough declining in 2009, 
primarily because of the global $nancial and economic 
crisis, exploration activities have recovered well, and 
should bounce back to 2008 levels according to the Raw 
Materials Group. 
!e total project pipeline, including all known projects 
for which cost estimates exist and which have at least an 
inferred resource de$ned, was more than $465 billion 
at the end of 2009. Of this, some $350 billion (roughly
Global Trends 31 
75 per cent) was for green$eld projects, but only $50 bil-lion 
represented projects at the construction stage. !e 
majority of projects, with a total investment cost of $175 
billion, were at early and pre-feasibility stages, and those 
at the feasibility stage were estimated at $135 billion. 
Capital expenditure in the mining industry worldwide 
fell sharply in 2009 due to the tight conditions created by 
the crisis ($gure 3.8). Given recent strong metal demand 
in China since these estimates, the 2009 forecast will 
probably be surpassed and investment in 2012 might even 
approach that for 2008. !e quick recovery of exploration 
and mine investment is consistent with the super cycle 
observations that they are not associated with persisting 
supply shortfalls. 
Figure 3.8 
Global mining industry capital expenditure, 1995–2012 
1995 
1996 
1997 
1998 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005 
2006 
2007 
2008 
2009 
2010e 
2011e 
2012e 
140 
120 
100 
80 
60 
40 
20 
0 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
!ree metals account for between half and two-thirds of 
the total value of all mined metals: iron ore, copper and 
gold ($gure 3.8). In 2008 the value of all metals, uranium 
and diamonds at the mine stage was $465 billion.
32 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Figure 3.9 
Value of global mine production, 2009 
Others 
9% 
Platinum 
Silver 2% 
2% 
Diamonds 
3% 
Molybdenum 
4% 
Manganese ore 
4% 
Nickel 
5% 
Zinc 
5% 
Gold 
14% 
Copper 
18% 
Iron ore 
34% 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Gold projects are oen smaller than copper projects, 
averaging just above $200 million versus more than $500 
million in 2009. !is is because it is still possible to $nd 
small but high-grade gold deposits that can be mined 
pro$tably by junior or mid-sized companies, while most 
new copper projects are huge, low-grade, open-pit op-erations, 
typically far away from existing infrastructure. 
Project costs can therefore shoot up if infrastructure costs 
are included in mine development. Further, given the 
structure of the gold sector with many juniors and small 
producers, there is a tendency towards smaller projects, 
which are easier to $nance. !e average iron-ore project 
is even bigger than its copper counterpart, at $750 million 
in 2009. !e share of mining projects in Africa was fairly 
constant over the $rst eight years of the 21st century. 
Australian- and Canadian-based companies are by far the 
biggest spenders on exploration.3 !ey are listed on stock 
exchanges in those countries, which have well-developed 
sources of funds for juniors. !ey are smaller and have 
a bigger appetite for high-risk exploration programmes. 
European-based companies are on the other side of the 
risk pro$le—more conservative, with a preference for 
large projects. Historically, exploration and development 
expenditure exhibits geographical patterns: Canadian 
and US companies tend to do more business with Latin 
America, Australian companies in the Paci$c and Euro-pean 
companies in Africa.4 
!e emergence of China as a source of exploration and 
development $nance in Africa has broadened choices. !e 
China-Africa Development Fund, set up in 2007, symbol-izes 
wider possibilities for $nancing African projects. !e 
China Development Bank provided initial funding of $1 
billion. !e fund aims to support Chinese enterprises 
when investing in Africa, including mineral resource 
development.5
Global Trends 33 
Table 3.5 
Mining project investment by region, 2009 
Investment ($ billion) Share (per cent) 
Africa 68 14.6 
Asia 65 13.9 
Europe 50 10.8 
Latin America 134 28.8 
North America 77 16.6 
Oceania 71 15.3 
Total 465 100 
Source: Ericsson and Larsson, Raw Materials Group Data, 2010. 
Pro!les and control of mining companies 
A 2006 estimate of metal mining companies suggested 
that there were more than 4,000.6 Most of them were 
junior companies engaged in exploration only, not ex-traction, 
selling their discoveries to bigger and better 
resourced companies for development. Junior exploration 
companies are risk takers compared with the larger mine 
developers and operators, and thus usually precede their 
larger counterparts. Indications are that that the decline 
in exploration spending in 2009 was steeper for juniors 
than for the bigger companies. 
State control of global mine output has varied over the 
years and from metal to metal but was, up to the collapse 
of the Soviet Union, generally 40–60 per cent. It has de-clined 
considerably since 1990 to perhaps 25 per cent, but 
is certainly not a thing of the past (table 3.6). 
Table 3.6 
State share of global metal mine output by value, 2008 
Total production, 
2008 (Percentage of 
total value of global 
metal production) 
State control, 2008 
(Percentage of total 
value of global metal 
production) 
State share, 2008 
(per cent) 
State share, 2006 
(per cent) 
Rank, 2006 
China 14.8 14.8 100 100 1 
Chile 7.7 2.0 26 32 2 
India 5.7 1.6 28 39 4 
Iran 0.9 0.9 100 100 5 
Poland 0.8 0.8 100 100 3 
Uzbekistan 0.7 0.7 100 100 6 
Indonesia 2.1 0.6 30 16 7 
Venezuela 0.6 0.5 87 80 8 
Sweden .7 0.5 78 50 9 
Mauritania 0.3 0.2 75 100 na 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Note: !e state share represents the total value of all metal produced at the mining stage. It varies with the produced volumes and with the relative 
value of the metals produced in each country. 
na = not available.
34 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
As seen in the table, by far the most important state mining 
country is China, and the state companies in Chile, India, 
Indonesia and Sweden (for many years run in the same 
manner as their private competitors) form the second most 
important group of state enterprises. State share holdings 
among the top 10 producers vary widely. (appendix G and 
appendix H show the extent of state enterprises in the min-ing 
and re$ning of selected metals between 1975 and 2006.) 
Prices and pro!ts 
!e period between the Second World War and the mid- 
1970s was one of unprecedented growth in mineral pro-duction 
and metal prices. !e rebuilding of Europe and 
Japan and the continued industrialization of the Soviet 
Union created huge demand for mineral commodities. 
But for 30 years from the mid-1970s, the mining industry 
saw nearly continuous decline in demand and prices. 
Metal prices experienced another boom from 2003–2004 
($gure 3.9). As indicated earlier, the super cycle literature 
takes this to be an early stage of a cycle that is expected to 
continue for some years yet, despite the decline in 2008. 
Available evidence suggests a highly successful 2010 
in which aggregate net pro$t for the mining industry 
increased by 156 per cent to $110 billion, total assets 
approached $ 1 trillion and overall revenue grew to $400 
billion, a 32 per cent rise.7 !e composition of revenue 
by mineral commodity, in order of magnitude, was coal, 
copper, iron ore gold and bauxite. 
!e $gure below presents the global distribution of ben-e 
$ts between mining companies and governments. For 
Africa, actual government shares of pro$ts are much lower 
than these as unlike in Australia, for example, African 
mining countries have not imposed super pro$ts taxes on 
mining operations, neither do they participate in min-ing 
operations (with a few exceptions eg diamonds in 
Botswana and Namibia), unlike in Latin America. It can 
safely be concluded, therefore, that the super pro$ts have 
disproportionally accrued to mining companies and that 
pro$t sharing remains a major policy challenge for Africa. 
Figure 3.10 
Average returns by top ten companies, 2005–2010 ($billions) 
8 
7 
6 
5 
4 
3 
2 
1 
0 
2005 
2006 
2007 
2008 
2009 
2010 
Company Government Employees 
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011. 
Iron ore and coking coal are by value two of the most 
important internationally-traded mineral commodities. 
In the last couple of years both commodities have moved 
away from a negotiated benchmark price where prices 
were $xed annually. Instead, prices are set based on spot 
prices, quarterly. !e trend is hence towards much more 
#uctuation in prices, which will create new problems 
for producing countries. !is probably demands new 
strategies and policies to stabilize tax revenue and export 
income.
Global Trends 35 
Figure 3.11 
Mineral commodity prices, nominal and real (#rst quarter 1960–second quarter 2008; 2000=100) 
400.0 
350.0 
300.0 
250.0 
200.0 
150.0 
100.0 
50.0 
0.0 
MNoresMetals real min 
1Q1960 
3Q1961 
1Q1963 
3Q1964 
1Q1966 
3Q1967 
1Q1969 
3Q1970 
1Q1972 
3Q1973 
1Q1975 
3Q1976 
1Q1978 
3Q1979 
1Q1981 
3Q1982 
1Q1984 
3Q1985 
1Q1987 
3Q1988 
1Q1990 
3Q1991 
1Q1993 
3Q1994 
1Q1996 
3Q1997 
1Q1999 
3Q2000 
1Q2002 
3Q2003 
1Q2005 
3Q2006 
1Q2008 
Source: UNCTAD, 2007. 
!e capital cycle typically lags the commodity price cycle ($g-ure 
3.10). !e global capital expenditure required for staying 
in business (the base load) is around $15 billion a year.8!e 
peaks above this base re#ect spending on new projects. !e 
1990s saw excess capital expenditure at a time of a prolonged 
depression in commodity markets from the mid-1990s until 
2004, though a capital cycle has been under way since about 
2004 on the back of improved prices. What is not in doubt 
therefore is that both exploration and development expendi-ture, 
and pro$tability, are on the upswing.9 
Figure 3.12 
Metals and mining capital expenditure and base metal price lag 
50 
45 
40 
35 
30 
25 
20 
15 
10 
5 
0 
250 
200 
150 
100 
50 
0 
1978 
1980 
1982 
1984 
1986 
1988 
1990 
1992 
1994 
1996 
1998 
2000 
2002 
2004 
2006 
Capex (US$bn) 
Base Metals Real Price Index 
Metals  Mining Capex (Real 2004) 
Base Metals Real Price Index (2004=100) 
Source: Heap, 2005.
36 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Leading global policy initiatives 
e China story 
Despite strong growth in domestic production, Chinese 
import dependence has been growing fast, prompting the 
formulation of a “two-way strategy” predicated on ex-panded 
investment in exploration and production capacity 
in China; and on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) 
in mine production and, failing that, long-term supply 
contracts. !e following discussion provides examples 
of Chinese investment abroad. 
In the $rst half of the 1990s a Chinese group invested in 
the Dilokong chrome mines in South Africa, in one of 
the $rst ventures from that country into African mining. 
From the mid-2000s Chinese direct investment abroad has 
increased hugely (see table 3.6). Most investments have 
been in Australia (table 3.7), with very few in operating 
African mines. 
Table 3.7 
Selected Chinese acquisitions in Australian mining 
Chinese partner Australian partner Mineral 
Valin Iron  Steel Fortescue Iron ore 
Citic Paci$c Mineralogy Iron ore 
Ansteel Gindalbie Metals Iron ore 
China Metallurgical Cape Lambert Iron ore 
Baosteel Rio Tinto Iron ore 
Yanzhou Felix Resources Coal 
Citic Resources Macarthur Coal Coal 
Hunan Non-ferrous Compass Resources Base metals 
CST Mining Group Lady Anne Copper 
Guangdong Kagara Copper 
Jinchuan (JNMC) Albidon Nickel 
Jinchuan (JNMC) Allegiance Mining Nickel 
Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Herald Resources Lead/zinc 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
Among minerals worldwide, its focus has been iron ore, 
followed by copper and nickel. !e Belinga project in 
Gabon operated by China National Machinery  Equip-ment 
Import  Export Co. and a bid for the Gara Djebilet 
deposit in Algeria by Bao Steel are two recent examples 
of Chinese investment in Africa. 
Still, Chinese mining investments abroad are small rela-tive 
to those from other countries. Less than 1 per cent of 
total world mine production outside China is controlled 
by Chinese companies. (Despite rapid growth in recent 
years, it was from an almost zero base). It will take years 
before Chinese companies and China become powerful 
global players in international mining. 
Chinese investors are not homogeneous. !ey include 
small $rms earning quick pro$ts in the Congolese copper 
industry to major companies (like Chinalco) cooperat-ing 
with the leading mining multi-nationals such as Rio 
Tinto (table 3.8).
Global Trends 37 
Table 3.8 
Selected Chinese acquisitions abroad 
Buyer Share 
(per cent) 
Target Metal Value 
($ million) 
Chinalco 9.3 Rio Tinto Diversi$ed 14,000 
Yanzhou 100.0 Felix Resources Coal 3,200 
CIC 17.0 Teck Diversi$ed 1,500 
Shandong Iron  Steel 25.0 Tonkolili Iron ore 1,500 
Chinalco 47.0 Simandou project Iron ore 1,350 
China Mineral 100.0 Itaminas Iron ore 1,220 
Valin Iron  Steel 17.0 Fortescue Iron ore 939 
Chinese investors 51.0 Wesizwe Platinum 877 
Chalco 100.0 Peru Copper Base metals 800 
CRCC-Tongguan 97.0 Corriente Copper 595 
Sino Uranium na Somina mine Uranium 300 
CST Mining Group 54.0 Chariot Resources Copper 240 
Jinchuan group (JNMC) 100.0 Tyler Resources Copper 214 
Citic Paci$c 100.0 Mineralogy/Korean Steel Iron ore 200 
Xiamen Zijin Tongguan 100.0 Moterrico Metals Copper 168 
JNMC 100.0 Crow#ight Nickel 150 
Jinduicheng/Northwest 100.0 Yukon Zinc Zinc 113 
Citic Resources 8.4.0 Macarthur Coal Coal 96 
CNMC 80.0 Luanshya Copper 50 
Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. 
na = not available. 
!e strong demand for metals from China—and concomi-tant 
worries in the traditional industrialized countries of 
Europe, North America and Japan over threats to future 
supply—present opportunities to African and other min-eral- 
rich economies from greater demand competition. 
But to take full advantage, these countries must have the 
infrastructure capacity, skills and $nancial resources to 
manage their mineral capital and the rents it generates. 
!e number of investment projects in Africa indicates 
a growing Chinese presence, but progress is oen slow. 
Chinese $rms have yet to acquire the experience of large 
projects that many companies from industrialized coun-tries 
have. 
Informing Chinese policy objectives in Africa is the Forum 
on China-Africa Cooperation, China’s most prominent 
development initiative in this $eld. Since 2000 it has 
organized high-level meetings every three years with 
African governments. At the Forum on China-Africa 
Cooperation at Sharm-el-Shaikh in Egypt in November 
2009, China declared $ve intentions: increasing the China- 
Africa Development Fund, which then stood at $1 billion, 
to $3 billion; establishing an African commodities trade 
centre in China to promote export of African commodi-ties 
to China; making available $10 billion in preferential 
loans for infrastructure and social development in Africa; 
assisting in raising “the value added of the energy and 
resource products of African countries and enhancing 
their capacity for intensive processing”; and progressively 
reducing taris on imports of African goods into China.
38 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Old hands: e United States, EU and Japan 
Base metals—including copper and ferro-alloys such as 
vanadium and ferro-chrome, which are used mainly in 
specialty steels for weapons—were traditionally considered 
strategic. In recent years focus has shied to elements such 
as gallium, indium and rare earths, used in integrated 
circuits, cell phones, semi-conductors, coatings, magnets 
and many other applications. !ey are nothing like as 
widely used globally as copper for example—15 million 
tonnes of copper a year compared with 125,000 tonnes of 
rare earths—but they are necessary for a high-technology 
society to function smoothly. 
In recent years, the term “criticality” has been coined to 
express the dependency of industrialized countries on 
certain metals and minerals, rather than the traditional 
term “strategic”. A 2008 study de$ned the newer term, 
for the United States, as the outcome of two components: 
importance in use and availability (box 3.1). 
!e United States, Japan and other global powers have 
traditionally sought to secure long-term supply of stra-tegic 
resources, including minerals, through long-term 
planned political and economic cooperation with key 
supplier countries, and by strategic stockpiles. 
!e United States started a programme of strategic stock-piling 
shortly aer the Second World War to supply the 
needs of US national defence. !e stockpile contained 
large volumes of major metals such as nickel as well as 
metals of less economic importance but of particular 
signi$cance for producing war material, such as alloying 
metals. During the 1990s, aer the end of the cold war, 
the government decided to dispose of the stockpiles and 
started selling some of the metals. But the Department 
of Defense was recently instructed to review the process 
aer reported shortages of metals such as titanium. !e 
Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act calls 
for research to develop new domestic sources from ores 
found in the United States, and the technology needed to 
process them, and to invest eort in $nding substitutes. 
Like the United States, the Japanese government has main-tained 
a strategic stockpile for many years. !e stockpile 
has seven metals: chromium, cobalt, manganese, mo-lybdenum, 
nickel, tungsten and vanadium. !e stocks 
are intended to cover 60 days of demand by Japanese 
industry. !e stockpile is managed by the Japanese Oil, 
Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), set up 
in 2004. !e aim of the Japanese stockpiling policy is not 
as militarily focused as US policy, but de$nes criticality 
as metals that are essential to industry and subject to 
supply instability. 
Updating the aims and methods of JOGMEC, in early 
2008 the Japanese government published “Guidelines for 
Securing National Resources”. JOGMEC will use both 
Japanese development assistance funds and its own budget 
to support key projects abroad to secure stable future 
supply of mineral resources. 
!e countries in the EU that held strategic stockpiles, such 
as Finland, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have, 
since the 1990s, disposed of them. Some have replaced 
them with systematic monitoring of metal markets, in-cluding 
metal supply issues, allowing them to take action 
if supply is threatened. A number of studies have been 
published but no concerted action has yet been taken. At 
present there is no single EU policy in this area.
Global Trends 39 
Box 3.1 
US critical minerals study 
A study conducted under the auspices of the US National Research Council by its Committee on Critical Mineral Impacts 
on the US Economy was prompted by concerns about the adequacy of government support “both to understand the 
non-fuel minerals that are important to the nation’s economy and functions, and to collect non-fuel mineral data for 
making informed policy decisions that help to avoid restrictions in … supply” (p. x). (Although focusing on the United 
States, the report suggests an approach useful for other countries.) 
Among conclusions from previous studies that the authors found “most compelling” (p. 25) are the following: 
t The United States is a major user and producer of mineral commodities, and the economy could not function 
without minerals and the products made from them; 
t The federal government has a responsibility to conduct and support research and to gather and disseminate 
information on minerals and metals; 
t Market forces alone are insufficient to meet challenges of sustainability, so the federal government should help 
to facilitate activities that sustain mineral supplies, including exploration, development, technology, recycling 
and appropriate environmental protection; and 
t The federal government should maintain core competence in the knowledge of mineral deposits and related 
environmental research, as well as information collection, to respond to future national needs. 
The study report draws a distinction between “strategic” and “critical” minerals. A mineral is strategic if it is required to 
satisfy national security and military needs and the demands of national emergencies. Criticality, on the other hand, 
covers a broader range of circumstances: it seeks to identify minerals that are important in significant uses in the 
US economy and society, and the chances of supply constraints having a substantial adverse impact. Criticality is 
a dynamic concept in that what was critical yesterday may not be critical today, and what is not today can become 
critical tomorrow. 
In determining the importance in use of a mineral, the report proposes, analysis should consider three main factors: the 
demand for products in which it is used; the physical and chemical properties that make it useful for the key products 
in which it is used; and how easy it would be to provide a substitute source or an alternative material in the production 
process for those key products (in performance and cost). On availability and reliability of supply, five main areas need 
to be investigated: geological, technical, environmental and social, political and economic. 
In applying the method proposed to various minerals, the report concludes that, although copper is widely used and 
its substitutes do not perform as well in key products, it cannot be characterized as critical because it is available from 
diverse sources and the risks of supply disruption are low. 
Three of the platinum group metals (platinum, palladium and rhodium), though used in smaller quantities, are high in 
importance. The probability of a supply restriction is also rated as high, partly because production is controlled by a 
few companies in a few countries and partly because the jurisdictions in which they operate do not discourage anti-competitive 
behaviour. “Inventories tend to be low, because of their high value and significant price and other risks. 
North American production would be inadequate to supply critical needs if the supply of platinum and rhodium from 
South Africa was interrupted” (p. 142). The report thus assesses them to be critical to the United States. 
Source: National Academies Press, 2008.
40 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
For several decades towards the end of the 20th century, 
metal supply for Europe held no interest for politicians. 
Metals and minerals were freely available on the world 
market at attractive and falling prices, and industry could 
import all it needed from abroad more cheaply than from 
European mines. But with the boom that started in late 
2003, a paradigm shi occurred arising from its potential 
to undermine European metal supplies. !e boom will 
have a profound impact on African countries, and the 
EU will attempt to gain maximum advantage in securing 
its raw material supply from its former African colonies. 
African governments need to monitor carefully the eects 
on African mineral-rich countries of the actions suggested 
under the EU Raw Materials Initiative (box 3.2). 
One avenue through which they can do this is the series of 
College to College African Union Commission–European 
Commission meetings. !e fourth meeting, in Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2010, issued a declaration to 
“develop a bilateral cooperation in the $eld of raw materi-als 
and work together, taking fully into account the AMV 
of February 2009 and the EU Raw Materials Initiative of 
December 2008, to the elaboration of further progress 
and initiatives, in particular on issues such as governance, 
infrastructure and investment and geological knowledge 
and skills”. EU interest in Africa’s mineral endowment is 
no longer a non-issue. 
India 
!e recent scale of India’s trade and investment #ows 
with Africa is unprecedented:10 India–Africa trade grew 
rapidly from $3.4 billion a year in 2000 to $30 billion a 
year in 2007, for example. India’s historic business inter-ests 
in Africa were largely driven by small and medium 
enterprises and traders, but it is the Indian multi-nationals 
that have shown increasing interest recently in Africa, 
re#ecting India’s increasing outward FDI generally. Most 
of these companies have made large investments in ex-traction. 
A large proportion of Indian FDI has also gone 
into infrastructure. 
Vedanta Resources, for example, a publicly-traded metals 
conglomerate founded in Mumbai in 1976, has invested 
more than $750 million in Zambian copper mines. In Sen-egal 
a joint public–private Indian group has invested $250 
million in exchange for a stake in a colonial-era enterprise, 
Industries Chimiques du Senegal, with rock phosphate 
mines and plants to produce phosphoric acid for agricul-tural 
uses. Indian companies such as Tata Steel invested 
650 million rand in a ferro-chrome project in Richards 
Bay, South Africa in 2006,11 and Taurian Resources has 
recently invested in exploration for manganese in Côte 
d’Ivoire and for Uranium in the Niger.12 
!e sustained increase in commodity prices coupled with 
increasing demand for energy and raw materials in India 
seem to be the major driving forces for these companies. 
Particularly for oil and energy companies, the quest for 
energy security is one of the major factors for investing 
in Africa.13 India is the $h-largest consumer of energy 
in the world, accounting for about 3.8 per cent of global 
consumption. With rapid economic growth and indus-trialization, 
it is expected to double its energy consump-tion 
by 2030, overtaking Japan and Russia to become the 
world’s third-largest consumer (aer the United States 
and China).14 
!e security of Indian Ocean sea lanes is also an area of 
concern for India, which has traditionally seen the Indian 
Ocean as its strategic backyard. !is also drives India’s 
desire to strengthen its presence in Africa.15 
India does not appear to have formulated as strong a policy 
as China to promote and engage strategically with Africa,16 
perhaps because Indian initiatives have until recently 
largely been driven by private companies.17 
Still, the $rst India–Africa summit in New Delhi in April 
2008 indicated a serious push from the government to 
strengthen its ties with Africa.18 !e Export-Import Bank 
of India (Exim Bank) provides lines of credit to Indian 
businesses investing in Africa. It also works with the 
African Development Bank. !e Confederation of Indian 
Industry, with the government and Exim Bank, runs an 
annual Conclave on India–Africa, which provides a plat-form 
for business and government meetings.
Global Trends 41 
Box 3.2 
Extracts from the EU’s Raw Materials Initiative, 2008 
Raw materials are essential for the sustainable functioning of modern societies. Access to and affordability of 
mineral raw materials are crucial for the sound functioning of the EU’s economy. Sectors such as construction, 
chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery and equipment sectors which provide a total value added of 1,324 
billion EUR and employment for some 30 million people all depend on access to raw materials. 
… The EU is highly dependent on imports of strategically important raw materials which are increasingly affected 
by market distortions. In the case of high-tech metals, this dependence can even be considered critical in view of 
their economic value and high supply risks. At the same time, a significant opportunity exists for securing material 
supplies by improving resource efficiency and recycling. 
Securing reliable and undistorted access to raw materials is increasingly becoming an important factor for the 
EU’s competitiveness and, hence to the success of the Lisbon Partnership for growth and jobs… 
… It is proposed that the EU should agree on an integrated raw materials strategy. Such a strategy should be 
based on the following 3 pillars: 
t Ensure access to raw materials from international markets under the same conditions as other industrial 
competitors; 
t Set the right framework conditions within the EU in order to foster sustainable supply of raw materials 
from European sources; and 
t Boost overall resource efficiency and promote recycling to reduce the EU’s consumption of primary raw 
materials and decrease the relative import dependence. 
… The EU should actively pursue raw materials diplomacy with a view to securing access to raw materials… In 
particular: 
t With Africa, by reinforcing its dialogue and actions in the area of access to raw materials and on natural 
resources management as well as transport infrastructure, within the implementation of the Joint Strategy 
and Action Plan 2008–2010; 
t With emerging resource-rich economies such as China and Russia, by reinforcing the dialogue, including 
with the view to remove distortive measures; and 
t With resource-dependent countries such as the US and Japan, by identifying common interests and 
devising joint actions and common positions in international fora, e.g. joint projects with the US Geological 
Survey in areas open to international cooperation. 
Source: Commission of the European Communities, 2008.
42 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Latin America 
From state to markets: !e Chilean and Latin Ameri-can 
model. Economic reform and liberalization in Latin 
America in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially in min-ing, 
triggered a wide transformation of the structure and 
geography of mining investment. State-owned compa-nies— 
leading mining actors in developing countries until 
the late 1980s—were restructured, either by outright sale to 
private buyers or by a range of cooperative arrangements 
between state and private companies. Some mines became 
joint ventures; others were run under private-company 
long-term management contracts. !e industry thus in-creasingly 
operated in a more open economy. 
Such privatization was undertaken against the backdrop 
of low mineral prices in an economic environment where 
countries faced external debt crises. For most of these 
countries—and as advised by international $nancial in-stitutions 
led by the World Bank and the International 
Monetary Fund—attracting foreign investment was the 
only way of increasing exports and earning more foreign 
currency. 
Chile set the basis for reforming its mining industry in 
the early 1980s, far ahead of other developing countries. 
!e general features of its legal and $scal mining regime 
inspired reforms elsewhere in the region, particularly 
Bolivia and Peru and, to some extent, Argentina, 
Ecuador and Mexico. !e overall features of their min-ing 
legislation were commended as “best international 
practice” in the general regime and in the regulation of 
minerals exploration and exploitation in the context of 
global competition to attract private investment. Coun-tries 
such as Bolivia, Chile and Peru were also among 
the $rst to revise their mineral regimes, including tax 
elements, to consider the present boom and to secure a 
larger share of the high mining pro$ts for host countries. 
Rethinking the market-driven model. !e disappointing 
results of policy reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, as well 
as criticisms from international policy debate, led to the 
recognition in the 1990s that the initial reform package 
would have to be supplemented by measures to mitigate 
the adverse eects of reforms. 
Starting in the 2000s, the United Nations Economic Com-mission 
for Latin America and the Caribbean developed 
a vision for strengthening the role of the state and for 
reorienting its goals towards supporting and redesigning 
institutions by, for example, policy actions to ensure access 
for weaker players in the economy. !e Economic Com-mission 
suggests that Latin American countries should 
upgrade their FDI policies and institutions to compete 
more successfully, moving away from a “beauty contest” 
designed to attract all possible FDI, towards a more de-velopment, 
targeted approach that calls for countries to 
de$ne national priorities and to identify and attract the 
kind of FDI that contributes to development goals. 
!e environment stayed low on the agenda of most Latin 
American countries given the political and economic 
crises of the 1980s, but since the 1990s impetus for envi-ronmental 
regulation has come from: 
' Trends and developments in international law, and 
the rati$cation of core international environmental 
instruments; 
' Increasing concerns for the negative impacts of min-ing 
raised by the boom in mining; 
' !e privatization of state mining enterprises; and 
' Practices (and requirements) brought by international 
organizations involved in legal reform. 
Latin American countries embraced the challenge of 
sustainable development, as acknowledged in the 1994 
Summit of the Americas, and as reinforced in the action 
plan approved in the 1996 Declaration of Santa Cruz de la 
Sierra.19 !ese documents recognize the task of creating an 
environmentally-responsible and socially-sensitive miner-als 
and metals industry, bearing in mind the key role of 
mining in the development of the region. !ey also high-light 
the need for policymakers to incorporate sustainable 
development concepts when designing public policies, 
including legislation, and for governments to strengthen 
national enforcement of international and national laws 
and regulations. Regional mining initiatives, such as the
Global Trends 43 
Mines Ministers of the Americas Annual Conference, 
echoed those concerns. !e aim of the association shied 
from investment attraction, the overall aim in the 1996 
Declaration of Santiago, towards promoting sustainable 
development in Latin America in the second conference 
held in Arequipa in 1997. 
!e 2000 Declaration of Vancouver contains a number of 
recommendations for the implementation of sustainable 
development. !ese include: supporting and strengthen-ing 
community participation in the assessment of oppor-tunities 
and challenges in mining projects; ensuring the 
full use of legal mechanisms for public participation; and 
considering mine closure, and a formal plan for closure, 
from the outset of each project, in order to enable mining 
to contribute to sustainable development. Although these 
initiatives are not binding, they re#ect the view that the 
region embraces the challenge of sustainable development 
in the mining sector. Actual implementation is, however, 
somewhat patchy and mainly focused on environmental 
aspects. 
Brazil. Brazil has deep cultural and historical links with 
Africa and with mining. During the 18th century, for 
example, many of the millions of African slaves sent to 
Brazil worked in diamond and gold mines. More recently, 
Brazilian interest in investing in Africa has increased 
dramatically, as has bilateral trade: from 2000 to 2008 
its imports surged from $3 billion to $18.5 billion, and 
its exports from $1 billion to $8 billion.20 
Brazilian companies have invested approximately $10 bil-lion 
in Africa since 2003. !e Brazilian mining company 
Vale, for example, has acquired a 51 per cent stake in BSG 
Resources of Guinea in a $2.5 billion cash deal that gives 
Vale access to iron-ore concession and exploration rights.21 
It is also preparing to begin operations for a coal mine 
near Tete in Mozambique, with an initial investment of 
$1.3 billion, and is working with Odebrecht, a Brazilian 
construction company, to develop the coal reserves, build 
a power station and construct a railway (to pass through 
Malawi) and port infrastructure.22 
Brazilian steelmaker CSN has bought a 16.3 per cent stake 
in Riversdale, an Australian mining company, which is 
also planning a multi-billion dollar investment in Tete, 
Mozambique.23 Brazilian investment has been backed by 
political support, especially during the administration of 
President “Lula” da Silva (2003–2010), who visited Africa 
six times in his $rst $ve years in o%ce, oen accompanied 
by business leaders. 
Brazilian embassies in Africa have been expanded, as Bra-zil 
positions itself to expand its resource and agricultural 
assets. Its interest in Africa re#ects its desire for resource 
and agricultural security, economic growth (by expand-ing 
its developing-country industrial expertise into the 
African market), and a political “South–South” strategy. 
Policy implications 
Following a long period of decline, mineral commodity 
prices and investment experienced a boom that began 
in 2003 and is projected to continue for some years yet. 
Unprecedented demand driven by large developing-coun-try 
industrialization, particularly China, has created an 
anxious global environment over security and reliability 
of mineral supply. !e historic mineral-importing coun-tries 
in Europe, Japan and the United States, alongside 
newcomers China and India, have begun to focus—in 
competition—on ensuring access and security of supply 
for strategic mineral resources. Many governments have 
politically and $nancially backed investment in mineral 
resources globally, including those in Africa. Supported 
by an upswing in liquidity, the capital cycle is showing 
an upward trend, with multi-national mining companies 
making large investments in new and existing capacity. 
Africa’s mining companies and mineral-rich countries 
thus have a unique opportunity to formulate coopera-tive 
solutions. For companies, the circumstances oer 
increased pro$tability, lower investment risks and greater 
access to capital. For governments, the conditions oer 
the opportunity to capitalize on their natural resource 
endowments.
44 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
But strategies are required to introduce remunerative 
licensing and tax structures that take account of increased 
revenue #ows (from royalties and other taxes), as well as 
higher returns (from any equity participation or from 
state-owned companies). Governments have the opportu-nity 
to use their stronger revenue #ows to catalyse wider 
economic development, and may want to consider some 
of the global mining trends—and the implications for 
Africa—outlined in this chapter: 
' Africa has some of the world’s largest mineral reserves 
and is one of the few largely unexplored regions le. 
What are the unique opportunities that arise from 
the current con#uence of increasing demand, rising 
prices and improving liquidity for mineral resource 
projects? 
' Africa is being courted by suitors all looking for reli-ability 
and security of supply of mineral commodi-ties. 
All have a clear and focused strategy on what 
they want from Africa, but Africa has to develop a 
coherent strategy in reply. How can Africa leverage 
the heightened competition for its natural resources 
to extract development bene$ts beyond tax revenue 
and dividend #ows? 
' Large emerging countries such as Brazil, China and 
India are expanding in Africa’s natural resource sec-tor. 
!ese countries have recent experience in oversee-ing 
social and economic development in a developing-country 
context, which provides an opportunity for 
Africa to learn from their knowledge in this area 
and to bene$t from their experience, provided that 
the continent’s mineral strategy facilitates this; and 
' !e pattern of mining reforms and investment in 
Latin America, particularly aer the World Bank–led 
reforms of the 1980s maintains some similarity with 
African history in this area. Latin America is showing 
a new move towards strengthening the role of state 
institutions, focusing on national priorities and eco-nomic 
development objectives. It is also increasingly 
aware of sustainability in development, particularly 
environmental and social issues. Latin America’s 
experience holds some lessons for Africa. 
Endnotes 
1 UNECA, 2009. 
2 For example, Humphreys, 2009. 
3 UNECA, 2009. 
4 UNECA, 2009. 
5 Chinese-African Development Fund, www.cadfund. 
com/en/Column.asp?ColumnId=13. 
6 UNCTAD, 2007. 
7 Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, 2011. 
8 Heap, 2005. 
9 See also UNCTAD, 2007. 
10 Vidyarthee, 2008. 
11 Tata in Africa. “Tata Steel KZN,” www.tataafrica. 
com/businesses/businesses_materials_steel.htm. 
12 Taurian Resources, http://taurianresources.co.in/ 
default/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ 
lang,en/. 
13 Pal, 2008. 
14 Pal, 2008. 
15 CSIS, 2008. 
16 Vidyarthee, 2008. 
17 Pal, 2008. 
18 CSIS, 2008. 
19 Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Develop-ment, 
1996. 
20 Lapper, 2010. 
21 Associated Press, 2010. 
22 Lapper, 2010. 
23 Lapper, 2010.
45 
Mining in Africa: 
managing the impacts 4 “A transparent and inclusive min-ing 
CHAPTER 
sector that is environmentally 
and socially-responsible…which 
provides lasting bene#ts to the 
community and pursues an inte-grated 
view of the rights of various 
stakeholders…is essential for ad-dressing 
the adverse impacts of the 
mining sector and to avoid con$icts 
induced by mineral exploitation. 
Public participation in assessing the 
environmental and social impacts 
and the enforcement of impact as-sessment 
requirements is important 
in tackling these challenges” 
— !e Africa Mining Vision 
THE FAILURE OF decades of mineral exploitation to 
contribute signi$cantly to socio-economic development 
on the continent has been dealt with in earlier chapters. 
!is chapter reviews the impacts and challenges of mining 
operations, with speci$c focus on environmental, human 
and social issues. It discusses the key impacts of mining 
activities and provides possible avenues of addressing them. 
!e chapter emphasizes the need to promote a mineral 
sector that contributes to sustainable socio-economic 
development in Africa by addressing current issues and an-ticipating 
future adverse environmental and social impacts. 
Although negative impacts from mining activities are 
inevitable, it should be noted that most of them can be 
avoided during the mining cycle (during the pre-devel-opment, 
development and post-development stages) if 
prevention and mitigation measures are established. Lower 
adverse impacts and risks oen translate into lower costs 
of doing business—and oer opportunities for building 
relationships with local communities, leading to reduced 
con#ict between the mining industry and those who work 
or live near mines. 
It is also clear that there is a direct link among environ-mental 
impacts, human rights violations and obstacles 
to sustainable development in mining. But lessons from 
Africa, and elsewhere, indicate that strong transparent 
and participatory governance processes, at all levels, can 
assist mineral-rich countries attain sustainable economic 
growth and good environmental practices through apply-ing 
and enforcing human rights, labour and environmental 
norms and standards.
46 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
e environmental and social impacts of mining 
e environmental impacts 
Mining activities accelerate the rate and degree of changes 
in the natural environment, such as the ecosystem. !e 
activities modify landscapes and can have long-term im-pacts 
on communities and natural resources due to their 
physical degrading nature, as well as their use of chemicals 
and other harmful substances. It has been noted that the 
environmental eects of extractive projects are in#uenced 
by the type of minerals extracted, the technology used, 
the scale of extraction activities and the location of the 
projects. !e environmental impacts also depend on the 
geological structures and the techniques of extraction. 
Africa retains the environmental burden of mining, whose 
eects also reduces whatever it receives from the bene$ts 
of its minerals. Kuhndt et al. (2008) note a “signi$cant 
shi in European resource requirements from domes-tic 
sources towards the use of imports from developing 
countries”. !ey observe that this is accompanied by “a 
shi of environmental burden of resource use. … While 
the resource productivity in EU countries is increasing, 
developing countries struggle to cope with the environ-mental 
impacts of rising extraction rates: huge amounts 
of waste, wastewater and dissipative losses”. !e legacy of 
mining in Africa is generally that of large un$lled holes 
and abandoned artisanal mining sites. 
Many of the environmental problems associated with 
mining stem from the contamination of, and competition 
for, surface and groundwater. Water contamination from 
mining activities is caused by the discharge of e*uents, 
which contain toxic chemicals used in the processing of 
mineral ores—such chemicals as cyanide, organic chemi-cals 
and leached heavy metal oxides (including lead and 
zinc oxides). !e e*uents may also have high levels of 
acidity. Mine e*uents can seep into water bodies, posing 
dangers to communities and aquatic life. And chemicals 
in e*uents can potentially contaminate ground water. 
!e quality of, and access to, water is especially critical 
when mining occurs close to agricultural and/or $shing 
communities. Further water pollution occurs from Acid 
Mine (Rock) Drainage, which takes place particularly 
when mine dumps and acidic host rock in mined areas 
come into contact with water, increasing its acidity. 
Mining is also invariably associated with deforestation, 
soil erosion, land degradation, air pollution and ecosystem 
disruption, particularly so for open-cast mines in which 
large areas of vegetation and soil are removed. Tailings 
dumps and other mining waste add to environmental 
problems oen due to a general lack of waste management. 
Such dumps, as well as mining sites, also limits available 
land use options. Extracting and using fossil fuels contain-ing 
hydro-carbons signi$cantly impact climate change. 
Coal production for the generation of electricity, particu-larly 
in southern Africa, causes the signi$cant emission 
of greenhouse gases which are primarily responsible for 
climate change. 
UNEP (2008) documented examples of major environ-mental 
impacts of mining, including: 
' !e extensive land aected by diamond mining in 
Angola, where “the Catoca kimberlite pipe… is the 
world’s fourth largest in terms of surface area, with 
diamond reserves of at least 40 million carats” and 
“for each carat recovered, more than a tonne of mate-rial 
is moved”; 
' !e eect on the ecosystem caused by mining in 
the forest reserves of the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo; 
' !e constraints on alternative uses and users of the 
extensive allocation to large-scale mining of land in 
the Wassa West District in Ghana; 
' !e threats to human health from uranium mining 
in the Niger; 
' !e widespread air, soil and water pollution in the 
Zambian copper belt from “digging, pumping and 
disposal of large volumes of waste water, and smelting 
operations that emit sulphur dioxide”; and
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 47 
' !e problems created by mining in South Africa, in-cluding 
acid mine drainage and the land area covered 
by mining waste. 
!e large artisanal and small-scale mining sector in Africa 
contributes to major environmental challenges, especially 
the impact on the physical environment (river siltation and 
lands not reclaimed) and the health eects from exposure 
to mercury and cyanide (for gold miners). 
Box 4.1 considers the potential threats from bauxite min-ing 
and processing in an ecologically-sensitive area in the 
Republic of Guinea. 
Among the environmental impacts of mining, climate 
change deserves special mention because it is one of the 
major global environmental problems in the 21st century 
that demands urgent attention. As stated earlier, extracting 
and using fossil fuels containing hydro-carbons signi$- 
cantly impact climate change. Mining is one of the most 
intensive users of heavy fuel oil, while coal mining for the 
generation of electricity leads to substantial emissions of 
greenhouse gases. !us aggregately, mining is a major 
contributor to global warming. 
Although African countries as a group contribute fairy 
little to global warming, they are disproportionately af-fected 
by changing climatic conditions. Along with their 
economic weaknesses, their geographical location—and 
high dependence on natural resource–based commodities 
as a source of local livelihoods and national income—ren-der 
them particularly vulnerable to climate change.1 In this 
regard, African developing countries are confronted with 
two major challenges in responding to climate change: 
$nancing and implementing investment in appropriate 
activities, and generating, diusing, and disseminating 
relevant technology. 
!e mining industry operating worldwide could make 
valuable contributions to climate change mitigation in 
Africa. But policy elements to harness industry contribu-tions 
(such as investment and technology) remain largely 
absent from international and national investment poli-cies. 
So, there is a need to synergize these two areas of 
policymaking, with a view to galvanizing low-carbon 
investment for climate change mitigation and enhancing 
adaptation possibilities. Low-carbon policies, including 
measures targeting transnational corporations and for-eign 
investment, such as mining companies, must thus 
Box 4.1 
Mining a hotspot: Sangaredi Mine, Guinea 
The Sangaredi Mine in the Upper Guinea Forest falls within one of the world’s most biologically-rich, yet seriously 
threatened, ecosystems. Recent biological assessments of the area surrounding the bauxite mine and proposed 
alumina processing facility identified 5 reptile species, 17 amphibian species, 140 species of birds, 16 species of 
mammals and 8 primate species, including the endangered West African chimpanzee and western red colobus. 
The Sangaredi Mine is Guinea’s largest and most profitable mine. A proposed alumina refinery, about 25 kilometres 
west of the mine, is expected to bring a $3,000-million capital investment, thousands of jobs, and infrastructure 
development. The consortium, building the refinery, is working with Conservation International to incorporate eco-logical 
considerations into the plans. A biological assessment of the area was conducted as a part of the process. 
Bauxite mines and alumina refineries typically create serious ecological problems. Bauxite ore is mined in open 
pits, requiring the removal of vegetation and topsoil. The Sangaredi Mine is a vast open pit approximately 20 
kilometres from one end to the other. Alumina refining produces highly caustic “red mud” that negatively affects 
surface and groundwater quality. In addition to direct environmental impacts, the increased population and infra-structure 
development associated with the mine will likely put immense pressure on this environmental “hotspot.” 
Source: UNEP, 2008.
48 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
be incorporated into national economies and sustainable 
development strategies. !ese companies are in a prime 
position to diuse cleaner technologies and processes in 
their own operations overseas, as well as through their 
value chains. Beyond improving their own processes, 
large-scale mining companies can potentially provide 
the know-how for emission mitigation in the small and 
medium mining sectors. 
Box 4.2 includes information on the Clean Development 
Mechanism and the opportunities that it could oer min-ing 
companies operating in Africa to enter into the emerg-ing 
carbon market, and overall contribute to mitigation 
initiatives towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 
the energy intensive mining industry. 
Box 4.2 
!e Clean Development Mechanism and the mining industry 
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), established under the Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol allows Annex 
I parties (industrialized countries) to obtain emissions credits for projects that reduce emissions in developing 
countries (non–annex I countries). The main idea is that the project implemented will generate environmental 
benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon dioxide through transferable financial 
assets (certified emission reductions). The project should reduce emissions more than would have occurred 
without it, ensuring real, measurable and long-term benefits for climate change mitigation. So, such projects must 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase the removal of carbon dioxide—and can involve the replacement 
of fossil fuels with renewable ones, rationalization of energy use, afforestation and reforestation activities and 
more efficient urban services, among others. Projects must involve one or more of the gases listed in annex A of 
the Kyoto Protocol related to various sectors/sources of activities. And the projects should help the developing 
countries achieve their sustainable development goals. To date, more than 2,250 projects in 68 countries have 
been registered, and more than 420 million credits have been issued. East Asia and the Pacific and Latin America 
and the Caribbean account for most projects. 
Under the CDM the mining industry is presented with new opportunities, including developing new technologies 
and products and accessing the new emerging carbon market. Many developed countries have initiated CDM 
projects in developing countries, ranging from such sectors as renewable energy industries, manufacturing 
industries, chemical industries, afforestation and reforestation, agriculture and transport. The CDM offers pos-sibilities 
for mining transnational corporations to enter the emerging carbon market. But realizing the potential of 
the CDM projects in the extractive sector will require large-scale CDM projects, particularly in the mining sector, 
which typically involves large projects. 
The Beatrix methane-capture project in South Africa offers an example. Gold Fields Mining Company, owner of 
Beatrix Gold Mine, is implementing a carbon credit project to capture and destroy the mine’s methane emissions. 
The Beatrix methane-capture project, one of the first involving mining firms to be approved by the Designated 
National Authority for the Clean Development Mechanism in South Africa, aims at mitigating the environmental 
impact of mining activity at the mine with regard to greenhouse gas emissions to generate carbon credits and 
then to use methane for power generation. The project includes a scheme to capture and extract methane gas 
from underground at the south section of the mine, as well as to capture and flare methane gas from identified 
surface boreholes. Flaring of the gas was scheduled to take place by the end of 2009. 
Source: Yupari, 2010a, 2010b; Gold Fields, 2010.
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 49 
e social impacts 
Mining operations also generate social impacts that can 
lead to tension and con#ict in mining areas. For example, 
during the exploration and mine development phases, land 
tenure and access, road construction, river diversion and 
the large in#ux of people from outside the mining area, 
such as foreign workers, can all contribute to disrupting 
the lifestyles of local communities and being a source 
of resentment. !ese issues are particularly intense in 
small-scale mining communities where the lack of well-de 
$ned concession boundaries and in#ux of people from 
other communities responding to lucrative mineral $nds 
usually results in tension.2 
Several adverse social impacts of mining can be identi$ed, 
which will include: 
' Displacement of populations and resulting disruption 
of livelihoods; 
' Increased poverty—for example, through a degraded 
environment on which community subsistence may 
depend; 
' Increased internal economic inequalities—for exam-ple, 
between men and women, between those with jobs 
at the mine and those without and between commu-nities 
receiving royalty payments and other bene$ts 
and resource rents and those who do not; and 
' Economic dependency as local economic activity is 
reorganized to meet the needs of the mine, leaving 
the community vulnerable to a typical “boom and 
bust” economy, especially when the mine closes down 
or experiences reduced pro$tability as a result of low 
commodity prices. 
Increased poverty and economic inequalities and depend-encies 
can destabilize internal community power rela-tions— 
and disrupt traditional social structures, resulting 
in increased gender inequality due to unequal access to 
jobs in the mine, the loss of male support for household 
work and women expending more energy accessing safe 
water and food because of degraded environments. At the 
national level, countries can get locked in an inequality 
trap, unable to diversify the economy in ways that reduce 
inequalities. 
Increased poverty and economic inequalities and depend-encies 
can also exacerbate social issues, such as increased 
alcohol and drug use, prostitution, gambling and loss of 
internal cultural cohesion. A large in#ux of outsiders or 
immigrant miners, not integrated into the local com-munity 
or subject to its social constraints, compounds 
the problem. Such outsiders, for example, can potentially 
get into con#ict with native residents due to dierent 
socio-cultural values as well as competition over limited 
local resources. 
Poverty and economic deprivation can lead to a general 
loss of development choices and options, eroding power 
over community decision-making, and a loss of control 
over the future of the community and its assets. !is 
challenge is best illustrated by the violence experienced 
in the Niger Delta, where youth violence and the existence 
of militias are partly attributed to feelings of loss of com-munity 
assets and perceptions of exclusion from natural 
resources development. !e United Nations Development 
Programme’s 2006 Human Development Report on the 
Niger Delta points out that the Niger Delta is the most 
volatile region in Nigeria. Although rich in oil resources, 
the Niger Delta was rated very low in the human develop-ment 
and human poverty indexes, re#ecting the under-developed 
nature of the communities in the area. 
Displacement and forced eviction or re-location are com-mon 
features of mining operations. Mining activities, 
including waste disposal sites, compete for space with 
other land uses such as farming, which can easily become a 
source of tension among the mine, farmers and local com-munities. 
Resolving this requires that compensation be 
given to those whose interests give way or are constrained 
by mining. Compensation may be in monetary payment, 
resettlement, the provision of job opportunities, training 
or alternative livelihood schemes. !e adequacy of the 
compensation requires careful consideration through 
agreed-upon valuation methods. Disrupting livelihoods 
through forced resettlement to make way for mining
50 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
operations has potential to create long-lasting tension 
between communities and mining companies. 
Other social impacts of mining can result from militariz-ing 
mining areas to protect a mine’s assets, potentially 
in response to local protests against mining operations, 
existing con#icts with local militant groups or scavenging 
by poor communities. Militarization can generally lead to 
human rights abuses, especially those brought about by 
increased sexual violence and forced relocation. 
In addition to con#ict between a mine and community, 
mining can be the primary driver of severe con#ict, with 
armed groups $ghting for control over mineral spoils. !e 
potential monetary gains can lure foreign rebel groups 
and mercenaries into the $ghting and broaden existing 
con#icts. Methods used by armed groups to exploit miner-als 
include extorting or “taxing” mining companies and 
intermediaries, directly operating mineral extraction sites 
and selling “future” concessions of mineral rights in an-ticipation 
of gaining control upon successful campaigns. 
Oen serious human rights violations are involved such 
as using forced labour, targeting civilians. 
Complex intermediary trade networks and inadequate 
documentation make tracking sources of con#ict minerals 
di%cult. !ose minerals which are di%cult to regulate 
and trace, easily extracted, valuable and easy to transport, 
are most susceptible to exploitation in con#ict situations. 
Common minerals involved include gold, tin, diamonds 
and coltan. Con#ict situations not only can pose addi-tional 
risks and costs for the mining industry, but also 
can encourage mining $rms with higher risk tolerance 
and lower reputation concerns to be involved. Such $rms 
are much more likely to have poor industry practice in 
environmental, human rights and $scal performance. 
Well-known instances in Africa of wars in which minerals 
are at the core have occurred in Angola, the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. 
Regulating the environmental and social impacts of mining 
!e environmental impacts of mining now receive much 
greater emphasis in policy prescriptions than they did two 
decades ago. Developing a framework that adequately 
incorporates environmental issues into the evaluation 
of the costs and bene$ts of a mining project has evolved 
signi$cantly in the last 20 years. But applying standard 
instruments for assessing and regulating impacts has 
not developed much in many African countries. !is 
is complicated further because applying environmental 
management tools requires skills, technology and $nancial 
inputs not necessarily available or catered to by govern-ments. 
!ese limits are even more pronounced in relation 
to monitoring capacities and the evaluation of social costs, 
particularly those borne by mining communities close to 
mining operations. 
Many domestic legal systems and international law instru-ments 
contain provisions: protecting designated nature 
and cultural sites and limiting or prohibiting mining 
operations therein; requiring impact assessments before 
permitting certain activities; setting standards such as 
those relating to air and water quality or prescribing limits 
on discharges into water or emissions into the atmosphere; 
imposing requirements for mine closure and imposing 
compensation requirements for disrupting other forms 
of livelihoods, including dislocation from land. 
Protected areas 
!e classi$cation of protected areas by the International 
Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Re-sources 
(IUCN) is one of the most prominent systems for 
designating such areas (box 4.3). 
In October 2000 a resolution was adopted at the World 
Conservation Congress in Amman, Jordan, recommend-ing 
that member States “prohibit by law, all exploration 
and extraction of mineral resources in protected areas 
corresponding to IUCN protected area management cat-egories 
I–IV”.3
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 51 
Box 4.3 
International Union for Conservation of Nature protected area categories 
Category Ia: Strict nature reserve 
These are protected areas set aside principally to protect biodiversity and where human visitation, use and impacts 
are strictly controlled and limited. 
Category Ib: Wilderness area 
These are usually large unmodified or slightly modified areas, retaining their natural character and influence, with-out 
permanent or significant human habitation. They are protected and managed so as to preserve their natural 
condition. 
Category II: National park 
Category II areas are large natural or near natural areas set aside to protect large-scale ecological processes, along 
with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, which also provide a foundation for 
environmentally and culturally-compatible spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities. 
Category III: Natural monument or feature 
Category III protected areas are set aside to protect a specific natural monument, such as a landform, sea mount, 
submarine cavern, geological feature or even a living feature such as an ancient grove. They are generally small 
protected areas and often have high visitor value. 
Category IV: Habitat/species management area 
Category IV protected areas aim to protect particular species or habitats. 
Category V: Protected landscape/seascape 
A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct charac-ter 
with significant ecological, biological, cultural and scenic value, and where safeguarding the integrity of this 
interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated nature conservation and other values. 
Category VI: Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources 
Category VI protected areas conserve ecosystems and habitats, together with associated cultural values and 
traditional natural resource management systems. They are generally large, with most of the area in a natural 
condition, where a part is under sustainable natural resource management and where low-level non-industrial use 
of natural resources compatible with nature conservation is one of the main aims of the area. 
Source: Dudley, 2008.
52 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Mineral operations in protected areas have been con-troversial 
in Africa, particularly for forests. Elements 
of the controversy relate to forest area in which it is, or 
should be, classi$ed as a strict reserve or one in which 
certain forms of productive activity are permitted—and, 
if so, what forms of mineral operations (if any) should 
be allowed. !at immediate $nancial needs or desires of 
governmental authorities and the power of mining com-panies 
may override legitimate environmental concerns 
with long-term implications sometimes creates a charged 
context for decision-making. 
Environmental and social impact assessments 
Internationally-accepted impact assessment tools have 
enabled mining companies to adequately factor in en-vironmental 
and social considerations in investment 
decisions. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and 
Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) have become integral 
parts of investment assessment methodologies, previ-ously 
focused largely on $nancial criteria. !e recom-mendations 
of the UN Conference on Environment and 
Development in 1992 re-emphasized the use of impact 
assessment instruments and reinforced the aspirations 
of the Berlin Guidelines of 1991 on environmental stew-ardship. 
Increasingly, the impacts of assessments cover 
the eects on #ora and fauna and on human health, as 
well as broad socio-economic impacts of mining both 
directly and indirectly. International $nance institutions 
have developed methods to ensure that mineral industry 
investors adequately account for these environmental and 
social impacts in the project evaluation framework. (A 
summary of the provisions incorporating environmental 
considerations into the mining regimes of several African 
countries is shown in appendix I.) 
Applying instruments for impact assessment of speci$c 
projects in the legal systems of many countries has pro-gressed. 
As noted earlier, requirements for EIAs and SIAs 
and the use of environmental bonds are now standard 
in most mining regimes. !e challenge is the capacity of 
government to enforce these requirements. Methods for 
evaluating less visible impacts, such as on groundwater 
systems, are not as well elaborated or incorporated as 
those for more obvious impacts, such as relating to surface 
land or emissions into the atmosphere. Strategic impact 
assessment, which involves the eect of proposed policy 
measures on a cluster of projects (actual or potential) as 
opposed to individual identi$ed projects, is also in rather 
rudimentary state in Africa. Even in relation to assessing 
individual projects, much remains to be done to formulate 
a framework and tools for an integrated evaluation of the 
various elements to be considered. !is is particularly the 
case with making an evaluation of potential impacts on 
human health an eective part of the impact assessment 
system, as acknowledged by African ministers for health 
and the environment in the Libreville Declaration of 29 
August 2008 (box 4.4). 
Developing discharge and emission standards, mine clo-sure 
obligations to be applied to mining and mineral 
processing in Africa and a cadre of professionals with the 
needed skills to conduct impact assessments still presents 
challenges. !e $nancial and human resource constraints 
in most African countries limit the capacity of institutions 
tasked with enforcing these requirements. 
Post-closure issues, oen ignored in mine closure plan-ning, 
especially at the pre-mine planning stage, are 
generally categorized as monitoring, maintenance and 
remediation. Monitoring and maintenance issues in-clude 
long-term water quality sampling, geo-technical 
inspections of tailings dams and waste rock facilities, 
and repair regarding dams, the slopes of waste dumps 
and re-vegetation, especially where primary seedling or 
planting has failed. Mining plans should include plans for 
post-closure monitoring, maintenance and remediation 
of all mine facilities, including surface and underground 
mine workings, tailings and waste disposal facilities. And 
they should include a funding mechanism for all these 
elements. 
Other challenges in impact assessment relate to the ade-quacy 
of compensation packages for disrupting livelihoods 
and destroying property in the case of resettlement. As 
noted in Akabzaa (2009), unmet expectations for com-pensation 
can be a permanent source of tension between 
mining communities and project developers.
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 53 
Box 4.4 
Libreville Declaration on health and environment in Africa, 29 August 2008 
“Concerned that: 
We, African ministers responsible for health and the environment, meeting from 28 to 29 August 2008 in Libreville, 
Gabon; 
Reaf!rming our commitment to implement all conventions and declarations that bear on health and environment 
linkages, 
Concerned that: 
Over 23 per cent of deaths in Africa, estimated at more than 2.4 million each year, are attributable to avoidable 
environmental risk factors, with particular impacts on the poorest and the most vulnerable groups (children, women, 
rural poor, people with disabilities, displaced populations and the elderly); 
60 per cent of the vital ecosystem services of the planet are being degraded, or are being subjected to excessive 
pressures, and that it is these services that maintain the quality of air, land and water resources; 
Recognizing that: 
… 
There are constraints on accelerated implementation of the necessary integrated strategies to protect populations 
against risks resulting from environmental degradation, including risk factors such as poor access to safe drink-ing 
water, poor sanitation and air quality, vector-borne diseases, chemicals, poor waste management, new toxic 
substances, desertification, industrial and household-related risks, and natural disasters; 
The emergence of new environmental risks (climate change, industrial expansion, and new technologies) presents 
new threats to public health; 
Africa is, of all the world’s geographic regions, the most vulnerable in the face of these challenges; 
Well-managed health and environmental risks impact positively on national economies…; 
….. 
Therefore declare that we, African countries, commit ourselves to: 
stablishing a health-and-environment strategic alliance, as the basis for plans of joint action (para. 1 of the Libreville 
Declaration); 
Developing or updating our national, subregional and regional frameworks in order to address more effectively 
the issue of environmental impacts on health, through integration of these links in policies, strategies, regulations 
and national development plans (para 2 of the Libreville Declaration); 
……… 
Instituting the practice of systematic assessment of health and environment risks, in particular through the devel-opment 
of procedures to assess impacts on health and to produce national environment outlook reports” (para 
9 of the Libreville Declaration).
54 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Public participation 
Public participation, an important part of regulating 
the environmental and social impacts of mining pro-jects, 
has potential to ensure that the overall management 
of exploiting mineral resources is sustainable. Two key 
bene$ts can arise from public participation in the deci-sion 
as to whether a project with potentially signi$cant 
environmental and social impacts should proceed. First, 
local knowledge of the impacts oen provides valuable 
information potentially missed by outside experts. Second, 
it legitimizes a project, thus reducing the costs emanating 
from the social tensions that can result from an externally-imposed 
project. 
But the decision-making process could be lengthy and 
result in added expenses if it involves extensive public 
consultation. And the opportunity exists for vocal groups 
to dominate the process and shape decisions in ways not 
su%ciently representative of the participating public. 
!at unfavourable publicity may occur has potential to 
prompt project sponsors or government o%cials to dilute 
the content and scope of the consultative process. An 
uneasy relationship between project developers and min-ing 
communities could emerge from this short-circuited 
process. 
It is now standard for laws requiring environmental and 
social impact assessments to include a public participa-tion 
component. Regulations in many African countries 
require that a project sponsor publish in local and o%cial 
languages, through media accessible in the locale of the 
proposed project, an indication of where a copy of its en-vironmental 
impact study may be inspected, as well as to 
whom and within what period representations about the 
project may be made. Some regulations, such as Uganda’s, 
require that the developer “take all necessary measures to 
seek the views of the people in the communities, which 
may be aected by the project during the process of con-ducting 
the study”, as well as aer its completion. !e 
developer must publicize the project and its anticipated 
eects and bene$ts for a prescribed period in the mass 
media and in a language understood by the aected com-munities. 
And the developer must hold meetings aer 
that with those communities regarding the project at such 
times and in such venues as are agreed with leaders of lo-cal 
government bodies. Aer the study’s completion, the 
general public must again be invited to comment on the 
study through notices in prescribed form and the media. 
A designated o%cial is empowered to decide whether a 
public hearing should be held on the study. 
So, provisions need to be made for public involvement 
in the course of preparing of the EIA and SIA studies 
as well as for a further possibility at the stage when it is 
being reviewed by government agencies. !e eective-ness 
of public participation provisions depends on the 
imagination and #exibility in choosing consultation and 
discussion mechanisms and techniques. 
!e more fully set out the criteria are for determining 
whether to hold a public hearing in the course of review-ing 
an environmental and social impact study, the better 
the outcome. 
!e right to a clean environment is imbedded in most 
African constitutions. In fact, certain provisions in the 
constitutions of various African countries not only impose 
obligations on state organizations with respect to the en-vironment 
but also give citizens rights to enforce them. 
!e right to a clean environment expressed in Uganda’s 
Constitution, for instance, has been held to give standing 
to a non-governmental organization in an action against 
the government and its environmental authorities. Such 
provisions can found claims of a right in members of the 
public to be heard before decisions are made on projects 
that could have signi$cant adverse impacts on them. 
Lenders to mining projects increasingly require that pro-ject 
sponsors commit to and implement public participa-tion 
processes. For example, World Bank Group safeguard 
policies relating to the environment, involuntary resettle-ment, 
indigenous people and information disclosure have 
a bearing on evaluating loan applications as well as on 
the covenants imposed on borrowers in loan agreements. 
Indeed, the strengthening of a borrower’s capacity to meet 
environmental, public participation and social obligations 
required by these safeguard policies is now frequently a 
signi$cant aspect of lending decisions.
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 55 
!e International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) policies 
require that a Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan be 
submitted for a project with potentially signi$cant envi-ronmental 
and social impacts. Such a plan must include 
an inventory of key stakeholders, methods to be used, a 
schedule of consultation activities and how they $t into 
the overall project schedule, a budget and an indication 
of sta and management resources to be devoted to its 
implementation. It must also include a review of previ-ous 
consultation processes as well as criteria by which its 
eectiveness is to be assessed. 
!e $h of the nine Equator Principles to which major 
commercial banks have subscribed requires that its ad-herents 
fund projects with potentially signi$cant impacts 
only if “satis$ed that the borrower or third party expert 
has consulted, in a structured and culturally appropriate 
way, with project aected groups, including indigenous 
peoples and local NGOs”, that the assessment report 
“or a summary thereof, has been made available to the 
public for a reasonable minimum period in a local lan-guage 
and in a culturally-appropriate manner” and that 
the project environmental management plan “will take 
account of such consultations”. !ose “likely to have 
signi$cant adverse impacts that are sensitive, diverse or 
unprecedented” (category A projects) must be subject to 
independent expert review.4 
Due to various constraints and challenges, there is usually 
a mismatch between the expression of public participa-tion 
rights in formal instruments and its implementation. 
Redressing the weight of existing power relations, espe-cially 
for marginalized and vulnerable groups, addressing 
deep-seated authoritarian elements of local cultures and 
reducing the resource constraints (human and material) 
of public institutions and those aected by or actively 
concerned about projects with environmental implica-tions 
are some of the major challenges faced in pursuing 
public participation. !e Peruvian regulations incorpo-rate 
mechanisms for $nancing public participation so 
that the mineral rights holder in coordination with the 
competent authority could propose the constitution of a 
private voluntary fund to facilitate the participation of 
people located in the direct area of the project’s in#uence 
(see box 4.5). !e fund could be complemented with other 
parties’ contributions. 
Valuable work has been done to assist in planning and 
implementing eective public participation processes. 
!e IFC’s manual, Doing Better Business through Ef-fective 
Public Consultation and Disclosure, is a valuable 
example. It contains, among others, guidance notes for 
identifying consultation possibilities at dierent stages of 
a project, a checklist of objectives and actions for improv-ing 
consultation and another checklist of “Techniques for 
Public Consultation and Information Disclosure”.5 !ey 
provide a range of tools from which a selection can be 
made for application to speci$c situations. !e Interna-tional 
Council for Mining and Metals has, in collabora-tion 
with the World Bank, sponsored studies that focus 
on making participation eective for mining projects. 
!ese studies seek to relate participation processes to 
the activities involved in dierent phases of a project, the 
standards required by law or other applicable norms; the 
broad strategic objectives of the sponsoring organizations, 
the characteristics of the participating stakeholders, the 
communication strategy judged to be appropriate and 
the resources available. 
Developing procedures for public participation in policy 
formulation poses distinct challenges because project 
activities tend to have more localized impacts than policy 
activities. !e aected public is thus likely to be much 
broader in the latter instance than in the former. Policy 
and plan formulation oen involves more general and 
abstract statements of intention than project approval 
decision-making. Even for those directly responsible, 
the implications of the expressions they have agreed to in 
policy documents are not always obvious when measured 
against actions they wish to take in speci$c situations. 
Initiating and adopting policies or plans are central re-sponsibilities 
of the government. Strengthening proce-dures 
for public input into policy formulation, enhancing 
the role and quality of their chosen representatives in the 
government and $nding appropriate roles for civil society 
organizations are critical to improving participation. 
Where the executive is very strong, the danger exists that 
participation processes can be little more than rituals that 
do not aect policy outcomes.6 
One of the most elaborate eorts at meaningful engage-ment 
of the broad public occurred in the development of
56 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 4.5 
Public participation in the mining industry: Peru’s regime 
The principal legal instruments in Peru’s regime are the Supreme Decree N° 028-2008-EM (May 2008): Regulation of the 
public participation process in the mining industry; and the Ministerial Resolution N° 304-2008-MEM/DM (June 2008): 
Specific rules of the public participation process in the mining industry. They set out broad principles such as the right 
of members of the public to participate; the right of access to information; the right of members of the public to moni-tor, 
verify and enforce the fulfilment of a project sponsor’s obligations, but that the consultation/participation process 
does not give the local population a right of veto; that stakeholders ought to maintain constant communication in order 
to promote and maintain an adequate social relation (“relacionamiento social”) and that one principal objective of the 
participation process is to end up with agreements between the project sponsors and the local indigenous peoples 
(including Peruvian peasant and native communities) to safeguard the rights and traditional customs of the people and 
to establish the benefits and compensatory measures to be accorded to them. 
The precise methods for participation in each specific case are to be determined by a governmental authority following 
proposals by the project sponsor. The methods required for a project involving large-scale mining or mineral processing 
are more detailed than those for exploration or artisanal and small-scale mining. For large-scale mining and processing: 
' There must be at least two participation workshops before the start and during the conduct of impact assessment 
studies; 
' The study report must contain an executive summary describing in simple language the project’s implications and 
impacts, among others; 
' The project sponsor must distribute copies of the report and an executive summary to the different governmental 
and indigenous peoples’ authorities. The report is to be advertised through press, radio and posters to allow inter-ested 
parties to formulate observations or comments to be answered by the project sponsor; 
' At least one public forum (audiencia pública) must be held with the participation of the mining, regional and local 
authorities; 
' The authority may order that the public participation process is carried out in the language mainly used in the area 
or with translators; 
' The project sponsor, in coordination with the authority, may constitute a trust to help the population review and 
formulate observations; 
' The authority may also order that a trust be constituted to fund public participation in the monitoring and enforce-ment 
of the sponsor’s obligations; and 
' The costs of the process are to be borne by the sponsor. 
' 
Consultative workshops must precede the completion of impact studies for exploration. Upon completion, it must be 
advertised through the webpage of the designated authority, press and radio. Members of the public can formulate 
comments or questions to be answered by the sponsor. For artisanal and small-scale mining, public participation is 
carried out through publishing the environmental instrument on the webpage of the corresponding regional government, 
to be reviewed and commented upon by any interested party. 
Summarized by Gebriel Bailetti, 2008
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 57 
South Africa’s post-apartheid mineral policy. !e process 
was entirely consultative from the identi$cation of issues 
(from global and domestic sources) and engagement of 
stakeholders, the processes of consultation (public meet-ings, 
workshops, parliamentary hearings, publication of 
dras for comments) and the eorts at exploring areas of 
consensus while acknowledging areas of divergence.7 De-spite 
the astronomical costs of such processes in the short 
to medium term, the bene$ts of consultation far outweigh 
these costs. A stable and predictable policy environment 
is created, crucial for mining projects with long lives. 
!e experience from Canada’s Roundtable process for 
formulating a corporate social responsibility framework 
for its extractive companies operating abroad shows the 
elaborate nature of the consultative process (appendix J). 
Access to information 
!e relationship between access to information and par-ticipation 
in decision-making is expressed in Principle 10 
of the Rio Declaration, which states that “each individual 
shall have appropriate access to information concerning 
the environment that is held by public authorities, includ-ing 
information on hazardous materials and activities 
in their communities and the opportunity to participate 
in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and 
encourage public awareness and participation by making 
information widely available”. It is also expressed in the 
UN Economic Commission for Europe “Convention on 
Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision- 
Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters” 
(the Aarhus Convention), widely regarded as a model of 
a public participation regime.8 
South Africa’s legislative framework exempli$es an incipi-ent 
trend in Africa of enacting freedom of information 
legislation with potential to pressure a bureaucratic cul-ture 
of secrecy regarding even the most routine matters. 
Its constitution guarantees the right of every person to 
receive or impart information or ideas—and to have ac-cess 
to information held by the state as well as to “any 
information that is required for the exercise or protec-tion 
of any rights”. Given the formulation of the right to 
a healthy environment, the right of access would cover 
information in private hands required for its exercise or 
protection. !ese rights are expressed to be subject to 
such limitation as may be provided in laws “of general 
application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable 
and justi$able in an open and democratic society based 
on human dignity, equality and freedom taking into ac-count 
all relevant factors”. 
Further to these provisions in the South Africans’ case, 
the Promotion of Access to Information Act (2000) and 
its regulations establish a scheme to facilitate access to 
information held by public and private institutions. !e 
scheme involves mechanisms for publicizing the categories 
of material held by dierent institutions, obligations to 
designate o%cials to handle access obligations, procedures 
for obtaining access to information protected from dis-closure, 
time limits for disclosure, a prescription of the 
grounds justifying non-disclosure and avenues for redress 
in the decisions of the responsible o%cials and the institu-tions. 
!e South African Human Rights Commission is 
assigned responsibility for monitoring and enhancing the 
implementation of the Act. Most African countries are 
still at the development stages in the legislative framework 
for access to information.
58 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Addressing the minerals and conicts link 
As discussed earlier, con#icts may arise from distrib-uting 
mining revenues and lack of direct participation 
of communities in mining projects. Compensation for 
land and other rights can also be a source of long-term 
tension. Many legal systems provide that no one should 
be deprived of an interest in land or other property with-out 
arrangements for the prompt and eective payment 
of compensation. !e challenge oen is to protect the 
relatively vulnerable or not so powerful sections of so-ciety. 
With regard to resettlement, the IFC Performance 
Standards set out important objectives that oer criteria 
for developing and implementing plans: 
' To avoid or at least minimize involuntary resettlement 
wherever feasible by exploring alternative project 
designs; 
' To mitigate adverse social and economic impacts 
from land acquisition or restrictions on aected per-sons’ 
use of land by compensating for loss of assets 
at replacement cost and ensuring that resettlement 
activities are implemented with appropriate disclo-sure 
of information, consultation and the informed 
participation of those aected; 
' To improve or at least restore the livelihoods and 
standards of living of displaced persons; and 
' To improve living conditions among displaced per-sons 
through provision of adequate housing with 
security of tenure at resettlement sites. 
!e IFC Performance Standard 5: Land Acquisition  
Involuntary Resettlement provides a detailed discussion 
of these issues and outlines a framework. 
Addressing con#ict minerals situations such as those 
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has involved 
initiatives that focus on strengthening governance capac-ity, 
transparency, certi$cation processes, security reform 
and regulation of multi-national companies. Numerous 
international instruments and initiatives already exist 
including UN Security Council Resolutions 1856 and 
1857 (2008), the United Nations Organization Mission 
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo activities and 
the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region 
“Regional Initiative against the Illegal Exploitation of 
Natural Resources”. 
!e Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme (KPCS) is 
an example of a system established to track the produc-tion 
and marketing of diamonds in order to disrupt trade 
of those coming out of con#ict zones. Trade in illicit 
diamonds has fuelled decades of devastating con#icts in 
several African countries. !e KPCS, launched in 2002, 
is a joint control initiative by governments, industries and 
civil society to ensure that con#ict and stolen diamonds 
do not enter the legitimate diamond value chain. !e 
main KPCS monitoring tool is reviewing expert missions 
to participant countries, especially problematic ones. !e 
KPCS imposes extensive requirements on its members 
to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds 
as “con#ict free”. !e KPCS is backed by various UN 
General Assembly resolutions, which provide participant 
states with the legal basis for trade restrictions that can 
be challenged based on World Trade Organization rules. 
!is raises the question whether a certi$cation scheme 
should be backed by UN resolutions to increase its inter-national 
legitimacy. 
Inspired by the KPCS, the International Conference on 
the Great Lakes Region has adopted the “Protocol on 
the Fight against the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Re-sources”. 
!e protocol legally binds 11 member States to 
jointly tackle the illegal exploitation of natural resources 
through a tracking and certi$cation system, which applies 
subregionally. And the system has borrowed heavily from 
the KPCS. Among the important borrowed principles 
is that a certi$cation system must address problems of 
governance, development and ethical mining practices, 
prevent mineral commodities from non-certi$ed mining 
areas entering controlled production streams, include 
independent third party audits and provide credible sanc-tions 
for non-compliance. In eect, the tracking system 
consists of discreet national tracking systems with national 
data submitted to a regional database. !is African-led 
initiative has been endorsed internationally—for example, 
by the G8 Summit in 2009. !e International Conference
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 59 
on the Great Lakes Region tracking system is probably a 
model that needs to be explored for adaptation in other 
African regions. (More information on the system is 
given in chapter 6.) 
Mining and human rights 
!e exploitation of minerals has been associated with 
the violation of human rights, and it is one of the most 
prominent issues raised by mining-aected communities 
and civil society organizations working on mining issues. 
Indeed, most of the social impacts of mining are covered 
by human rights. Alleged human rights abuses within the 
extractive industry include the disappearance of people, 
violation of the right to a clean environment, arbitrary 
detention and torture, loss of land and livelihoods without 
negotiation and without adequate compensation, forced 
resettlement, the destruction of ritually or culturally 
signi$cant sites without compensation or compensation 
and labour rights violations. 
!ere have also been issues for the rights of indigenous 
people. An example is the Chad-Cameroon pipeline pro-ject 
and the Bagyeli people. !ese communities depend 
on the forest and its products for their subsistence. Less 
than 5 per cent of the aected Bagyeli are employed in the 
pipeline project, but the project’s impact on their social 
welfare has been considerable. Increased logging, the loss 
of water resources, noise and river pollution have damaged 
their hunting and $shing areas, while the destruction of 
surrounding forest and medicinal plants have caused 
cultural and health problems. In most parts of Africa 
the protection of indigenous rights has raised challenges, 
mainly because some African countries, for example Bot-swana, 
do not o%cially recognize any groups of people as 
being indigenous vis-à-vis the rest of the citizenry, despite 
historical evidence that the San groups of Botswana are 
in fact indigenous to that country. 
A review of corporate human rights abuses presented 
by John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN 
Secretary-General (SRSG) on human rights and trans-national 
corporations and other business enterprises, in 
2006 showed that of the 65 cases worldwide covering 27 
countries, the oil, gas and mining sector accounted for 
two-thirds of the abuse cases. 
Mining and petroleum development usually occur in 
fairly under-developed areas with agrarian or pastoral 
populations. !e large “footprint” of a mine can be ex-tremely 
impactful, both positively and negatively. !e 
SRSG has noted that “there is clearly a negative symbiosis 
between the worst corporate human rights related abuses 
and host countries that are characterized by a combina-tion 
of relatively low national income, current or recent 
con#ict exposure, and weak or corrupt governance”. In 
this light, it is not surprising that human rights protec-tion 
has become important for the law and international 
frameworks seeking to regulate the conduct of business 
by mining companies. 
Mining countries need to protect their citizens against 
human rights abuses and many African national con-stitutions 
contain extensive provisions on human rights 
that are binding on all natural and legal persons operat-ing 
within their jurisdiction. South Africa’s constitution 
ties environmental rights to human rights, extending 
to protection against unacceptable behaviour by busi-ness 
entities. !e human rights provisions in Ghana’s 
constitution explicitly include the right of workers to 
form and join unions and do not merely leave that to be 
deduced from the right to free expression or association. 
!e African Charter on Human Rights, rati$ed by 53 
member countries, also sets out a framework of bind-ing 
norms, relevant for human rights protection in the 
mining sector. Article 21.1 states that the right of people 
to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources 
shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of people, and 
in no cases should they be deprived of it. Furthermore, 
the Charter makes provisions regarding the spoliation of 
wealth and natural resources and advocates for the right 
to adequate compensation. 
Respect for human rights by companies is an important 
part of their social licence to operate, but the scope of the 
obligations imposed on them by international human 
rights law is limited and contentious, even as it is widely
60 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
recognized that with the growth of global power and 
reach of corporations, domestic regulation is inadequate 
to protect human rights from corporate infractions. !e 
development and adoption of the UN Protect, Respect and 
Remedy Framework in 2008 seeks to provide principles to 
guide states and businesses in protecting and respecting 
human rights. Developed by the SRSG, aer extensive 
consultation with a broad range of stakeholder groups, 
the UN Framework establishes three pillars: the state’s 
duty to protect against human rights abuses by third par-ties, 
the corporate responsibility to respect human rights 
and greater access by victims of human rights abuses to 
eective judicial and non-judicial remedies. According 
to Ruggie (2010), the Framework is intended to work 
dynamically and no one pillar can carry the burden of 
resolving the governance gaps that exist. While it is a 
general framework that can be applied to any type of busi-ness, 
it seems to be particularly germane to the extractive 
industries’ sectors considering the statistics cited above 
on human rights abuses in the sector. 
!e UN Framework invites governments to see the protec-tion 
of human rights against abuses by business entities as 
a comprehensive responsibility going beyond environmen-tal 
impact assessment, approval and monitoring projects. 
!e Framework proposes a number of ways that states 
can reinforce legal obligations aimed at strengthening 
protection of human rights on businesses, such as foster-ing 
a culture of respect for human rights among public 
institutions as well as businesses. For the latter, measures 
could include reporting requirements on companies—for 
example, in the Companies Code—to show how they are 
operationalizing their respect for human rights. Many 
times incoherence in the policies and practices of the state 
and its institutions has undermined the protection of and 
respect for human rights. !e most dramatic instances 
of policy incoherence and lack of coordination have been 
in the negative impact of state action to increase foreign 
trade or to attract investment, such as signing investment 
or trade treaties and investment contracts with stabiliza-tion 
clauses—on its ability to ful$l its duty to protect 
human rights. 
An investor dispute between El Salvador and a foreign 
mining $rm illustrates the potential constraining impact 
of trade agreements on the state’s ability to ful$l its duty 
to protect human rights. Basing itself on the Dominican 
Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, Pac 
Rim Cayman LLC, a US subsidiary of a Canadian mining 
company, sued the government of El Salvador for impos-ing 
a moratorium on mining permits, which aected its 
gold mine project. El Salvador in 2009 has the highest 
population density in the Americas and is also grappling 
with a serious water shortage.9 
A study by the IFC and the SRSG has established that 
certain types of stabilization clauses in contracts between 
investors and host states could constrain the state’s ability 
to protect human rights. !e study concluded that devel-oping 
countries were more likely to “include social and 
environmental laws—even laws of general application on 
issues such as minimum wage, labour, health, safety, and 
the like—in a stabilization clause.10 From a geographic per-spective, 
agreements from sub-Saharan Africa contained 
the highest percentage of the most constraining clauses. 
And the study found that extractive sector agreements 
contained the most constraining clauses. !ere are debates 
about the legality and enforceability of freezing clauses but 
their presence in contracts gives bene$ciary companies 
the leverage to pressure governments to at least limit the 
application of new laws. !eir potentially constraining 
eects on the state for human rights protection under-line 
the need to incorporate the management of human 
rights into the contracting processes between states and 
investors. Fostering a culture of respect for human rights 
in public institutions could aid improvements in policy 
coherence for human rights protection. 
In May 2011 the 17th Session of the UN Human Rights 
Council considered a proposal from the SRSG for 10 prin-ciples 
for integrating human rights risks into state-investor 
contract negotiations.11 !e principles cover such issues 
as ensuring that stabilization clauses do not compromise 
protection of and respect for human rights, planning 
adequately for addressing human rights implications of 
projects during negotiations protection, engaging the 
community eectively and creating grievance mechanisms 
for non-contractual harms to third parties and transpar-ency 
of contract terms. Together, the terms cover the three 
pillars of the UN Framework and crucially reduce the 
possibilities for incoherence in the policies and actions 
of the state. !e SRSG’s study of stabilization clauses
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 61 
oers examples of cases where investment contracts were 
re-negotiated to remove constraints on the human rights 
responsibilities of both states and companies. 
Mining $rms are quick to proclaim their respect for hu-man 
rights. Compliance with the laws of a country is an 
obvious way for a business to show its respect for human 
rights. In many situations in Africa where enforcement 
institutions and the culture of human rights protection are 
weak the institutional commitment of powerful mining 
$rms to respect human rights is crucial. !e UN Frame-work 
oers many ways through which $rms can ful$l 
their responsibilities to respect human rights. !ey include 
identifying and responding to the particular human rights 
challenges that they face in their speci$c context, uphold-ing 
core international human rights and International 
Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and monitoring 
their performance for human rights compliance. !ey 
also oer criteria by which to evaluate how mining $rms 
respect human rights. 
Victims of human rights abuses in African countries, not 
only those attributed to mining $rms, face many obstacles 
in obtaining remedies. In general most citizens do not $nd 
judicial bodies accessible for various reasons, such as costs, 
physical distance, long delays due to heavy workloads and 
tortuous procedures. Non-judicial processes such as hu-man 
rights institutions and alternative dispute resolution 
mechanisms oer better prospects for speedy remedies for 
victims of abuses. In Ghana the Commission for Human 
Rights and Administrative Justice, a constitutional body, 
has a history of dealing with cases of allegations of rights 
violations in mining areas. Following years of dealing 
with individual cases, it carried out a comprehensive 
nationwide investigation into rights abuses in Ghana’s 
mining areas over 2006–2007. 
Mining and employment 
Large-scale mining played a pioneering role in creating 
the industrial labour force in mineral exporting African 
countries such as Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia. And 
it was an important employment sector in many countries 
until the sector suered decline as part of the economic 
reforms of the 1980s. !e current phase of Africa’s mining 
industry has involved the restructuring of employment 
and labour regimes away from “the cradle to grave” secu-rity 
that most mine workers enjoyed in the state-owned 
mining $rms most of which have since been privatized. 
Across Africa the reforms enabling the creation of the 
current mining regimes involved the laying o of tens of 
thousands of mining workers as loss-making state-owned 
mining $rms were dismantled or unbundled and sold o 
to foreign investors. For example, nearly 40,000 workers 
lost their jobs as the parastatal Zambian Consolidated 
Copper Mines was broken up and privatized.12 
!e upsurge in mining since the liberalization of the 
sector and resulting substantial in#ow of foreign direct 
investment has created new direct and supporting jobs 
in old as well as new mining African countries. In many 
cases the mining $rms oer valuable skills training for 
employees, and the jobs are well paid relative to wages in 
the wider national economy. According to an International 
Council for Mining and Metals study (2008), Tanzania’s 
large-scale mining sector had created about 8,000 direct 
jobs and 45,000 additional ones. In 2009 large-scale min-ing 
directly employed more than 17,000 people in Ghana. 
A study of the socio-economic impact of Newmont Ghana 
Gold Ltd., directly employing less than 1,800 workers, has 
claimed that its operations have created more than 46,000 
additional jobs through its suppliers and wider economic 
eect.13 In Africa’s mineral dependent economies the most 
signi$cant job losses occasioned by the global $nancial 
and economic crisis of 2008 were experienced in the 
mining sector with the Southern African Development 
Community region being the worst hit.14 
But the job-creating impact of the new mines has been 
limited because capital-intensive “large-scale min-eral 
extraction generally oers limited employment 
opportunities”.15According to the United Nations Eco-nomic 
Commission for Africa, data from foreign a%liates 
of US $rms in Africa show that manufacturing foreign 
investment is 17.5 times more labour-intensive than min-ing 
foreign investment.16 !is comparison tempers the 
signi$cance of the Newmont and International Council
62 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
for Mining and Metals studies, about the indirect em-ployment— 
creating impact of mining in Ghana and the 
United Republic of Tanzania, respectively—even as they 
draw attention to the need to consider the jobs created by 
the local linkages and socio-economic impact of mining 
operations for a fuller picture of the employment eects. 
But other studies show that in some cases conclusions 
about the job creating value of new large-scale mines have 
to consider the rural jobs and livelihoods—such as those 
of farmers, artisanal miners and other rural economic 
actors—destroyed or severely disrupted by the establish-ment 
of the large mine and whose value in rural economy 
cannot be replaced by the highly-mechanized mine.17 
!e jobs and employment relations created by the large-scale 
mining sector have been constructed in the context 
of the labour market deregulation and growth of “#exible 
employment”, key aspects of global economic liberaliza-tion. 
Employing casual and contract labour is a pervasive 
practice in the global large-scale mining industry.18 South 
Africa, the continent’s largest mining economy, has seen 
the progressive expansion of casualization and contract 
labour since the early 1990s when the gold mines, faced 
with stagnating gold price, declining reserves and esca-lating 
costs, looked for ways of reducing their sizeable 
labour costs.19 By 2005, according to the South African 
Department of Minerals and Energy, contract workers 
made up 28 per cent of the total South African mining 
labour force. Casualization has been described as one of 
the “salient results” of privatization on the Zambian Cop-perbelt 
with traditional “permanent” positions reportedly 
accounting for only half of all mining jobs in the $ve major 
copper mining companies in 2008. In 2006 nearly half 
of the workforce at Anglogold Ashanti’s Geita mine in 
the United Republic of Tanzania was made up of casual 
employees with only 3 per cent of the permanent labour 
force unionized. 
According to the Business Council of Australia, greater 
employment #exibility in the Australian mining industry 
has “delivered signi$cant bene$ts”, and “[it] has supported 
innovation; greater accountability for performance; high 
levels of productivity as well as sustained, strong pro-ductivity 
growth; high levels of wages; and outstanding 
returns to shareholders”.20 For mining unions, however, 
“nothing is more likely to undermine the ILO’s ‘Decent 
Work’ philosophy than the expanding use of contract 
labour” because “almost universally, contractors—and 
their subcontractors—get away with providing few ben-e 
$ts such as pensions, medical insurance, death or injury 
bene$ts, sick pay, paid leave, maternity bene$ts, etc.”21 
Studies of mining employment in a number of African 
countries corroborate the International Federation of 
Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions 
(ICEM) view.22 
From its pioneering days in the colonial period, Africa’s 
mining industry provoked concerns about working condi-tions— 
use of forced labour, denial of trade union and col-lective 
bargaining rights—as well as breaches of health and 
safety standards. In most mineral rich countries, mining 
remains a hazardous occupation in terms of the number of 
people exposed to risk, death, injury and disease. Workers’ 
health and safety are among the major concerns in the 
extractive industries. !e occupational safety and health 
implications vary signi$cantly between dierent mining 
activities and countries. In the working environment of a 
surface mine, for example, airborne contaminants such as 
rock dust and fumes, excessive noise, vibration and heat 
stress can create health problems for miner workers, who 
are subjected to frequent and prolonged exposure to them. 
!e ILO has been dealing with labour and social problems 
of mining since its early days. ILO eorts include adopting 
the Hours of Work (Coal Mines) Convention (No. 31) in 
1931 and the Safety and Health in Mines Convention (No. 
176) in 1995. For more than 50 years, tripartite meetings 
on mining have addressed a range of issues from employ-ment, 
working conditions and training to occupational 
safety and health and to industrial relations in coal and 
non-coal mining. As a result more than 140 conclusions 
and resolutions have been agreed on, including the Mining 
Convention. Some of these agreements and resolutions 
have been implemented nationally, while the ILO has 
assisted others, such as with training programmes and 
the development of codes of safety practice. !e ILO’s 
objectives are to ensure decent and safe work for all mine 
workers and that the industry contributes to sustainable 
development. According to the ILO, “Decent work involves 
opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair 
income, security in the workplace and social protection
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 63 
for families, better prospects for personal development 
and social integration, freedom for people to express their 
concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that 
aect their lives and equality of opportunity and treat-ment 
for all women and men”.23 
It is the responsibility of mining companies to observe 
the requirements of local labour laws and practices. !ey 
should also adhere to fundamental labour standards as set 
out in ILO Conventions and re-emphasized by the ILO 
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at 
Work of 1998. !e ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles 
concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy 
calls on transnational corporations to respect, promote 
and uphold the principles concerning fundamental rights, 
irrespective of whether a country has rati$ed or imple-mented 
the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles 
and Rights at Work. 
It has been noted that the most common obstacle to im-plementing 
international standards and norms is a lack of 
domestic capacity in some countries as well as states being 
excessively cautious about potential con#ict with large 
foreign mining companies over their labour practices. 
Trade unions see a recourse to their global might as one 
way of supporting eorts by local and national unions 
to secure the best working conditions for workers. !e 
ICEM, like other global trade union organizations, has 
adopted the approach of signing global framework agree-ments 
with transnational $rms on the “promotion and 
implementation of good human and industrial relations” 
as one element of this international support. 
In 2009 ICEM and Anglogold Ashanti signed a global 
framework agreement, committing both parties to a set 
of principles and values, including respect for human 
rights and fundamental freedoms, right of free association 
and elimination of forced and compulsory labour. !e 
agreement applies to all operations over which Anglogold 
Ashanti has “direct managerial control”. And in the case 
of subsidiaries or where it does not have direct control, “it 
will exercise its best eort to secure compliance with the 
standards and principles” in the agreement. It does not 
override national legislation, principles or terms of local 
collective bargaining agreements, meaning that in cases 
where the national industrial relations climate and culture 
constrain workers’ rights this could be a limitation. But a 
global commitment to good industrial relations practice 
and respect for human rights puts the onus on Anglogold 
Ashanti or any transnational corporation to respect the 
spirit of the agreement in all circumstances. 
Resource productivity 
!e increasing scarcity of minerals that are relatively 
easy to extract, the recent period of high mineral prices, 
and the need to prudently manage the environment have 
prompted a high-level interest in the analysis of global 
mineral resource #ows. !ere are initiatives targeted at 
addressing resource e%ciency globally, regionally and 
nationally, and in both the public and private sectors. !is 
has been discussed at G8 Summits for the past $ve years. 
Adopting recommendations, by the Organization for Eco-nomic 
Cooperation and Development (OECD) Council, 
on resource productivity in 2004 and 2008 demonstrates 
the importance attached to this issue. !e OECD has also 
published a policymaker’s guide on measuring material 
#ows and resource productivity. Similarly, the European 
Union adopted thematic strategies on the sustainable use 
of natural resources as well as on waste prevention and 
recycling in 2005. Most OECD countries have launched 
initiatives to promote waste prevention, sustainable ma-terials 
management, integrated product policies and the 
“3R” (reduce, reuse and recycle) Initiative. China has 
recently adopted a law on the “circular economy”.24 
!e Wuppertal Institute has proposed measures to im-prove 
resource productivity in the global value chain for 
ore extraction locations, at policy and industry levels.25 
At policy level, governments could: 
' Link initiatives on social issues in extraction to op-erational 
and resource e%ciency improvements;
64 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
' Promote the exchange of knowledge, technologies 
and best experience on how to increase resource pro-ductivity 
in the extraction phase; and 
' Set up internationally-harmonized labelling and 
information systems on the (embodied) resource 
consumption of raw materials and commodities. 
' 240. At the operational level, industry could: 
' Introduce resource e%ciency standards in the glob-al 
extraction activity to capitalize on cost savings 
through resource e%ciency; 
' Raise resource productivity in partnerships with ac-tors 
in artisanal or small-scale mining; and 
' Engage in partnerships with raw material suppliers 
to enhance resource productivity standards. 
In 2007 the United Nations Environment Programme set 
up an International Panel on Sustainable Resource Man-agement. 
Its work is framed around issues of resource ef- 
$ciency and sustainable consumption and production. !e 
premise of sustainable consumption and production is that 
there is (or may be) a critical minimum stock of “natural 
capital” required for providing ecosystem services, and 
that it is essential to incorporate its protection into pro-duction 
and consumption decisions and regulations. !e 
objectives of the resource panel are expressed as being to 
“provide independent, coherent and authoritative scienti$c 
assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of 
natural resources and in particular their environmental 
impacts over the full life cycle” and “contribute to a better 
understanding of how to decouple economic growth from 
environmental degradation”. It situates its work in relation 
to other initiatives such as the Marrakech process, the 
3R Initiative, the circular economy approach, the Global 
Environment Outlook and the Millennium Ecosystem 
Assessment. !e metals and minerals sector is one of 
the areas in which it is concentrating its work. Its Global 
Metal Flows Working Group has published in 2010 its 
$rst of six reports focusing on metals, which will address 
the recycling of metals, environmental impact of metals, 
information available on the virgin reserves and resources 
of metals, future demand scenarios for metals and critical 
metals and metal policy options, among others.26 
ISO 2600 Standard on Social Responsibility, launched 
by the International Organization for Standardization in 
Geneva in 2010, provides guidance on social responsibil-ity, 
which could be useful in advancing the Africa Mining 
Vision and helping countries strengthen their frameworks 
on social responsibility and the environment. 
Since transnational corporations are major players in 
Africa, their home countries (OECD or newly industri-alized 
countries) and their shareholders ought to have 
some in#uence on their social responsibility, especially 
where they are operating in African countries with weaker 
governance systems and where countries lack negotia-tion 
capacities. It is imperative for African governments, 
the private sector and civil society to continue creating 
and facilitating an open dialogue with the governments 
and actors from the home countries of the transnational 
companies. 
Policy implications 
For mining to induce sustainable social and economic 
bene$ts to communities, the bene$ts have to be deliber-ately 
considered and pursued. As social risks are ultimately 
borne by communities and by workers, the implementa-tion 
of mining practices, rooted in human rights and 
basic core labour standards, must take place with the full 
participation of all aected parties. 
Environmental, economic, social, labour and developmen-tal 
rights inherently require that democratic governance 
processes, institutions and systems are in place. Stable 
democratic institutions can help prevent central/local 
disputes from becoming violent, while new democracies 
are oen unstable and face high risks of con#ict. To avoid 
violent con#ict in the extractive regions, governments,
Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 65 
$rms, and local communities should promote transpar-ency, 
establish multi-stakeholder dialogues before project 
commencement and take special care to protect human 
rights and security. 
Addressing the adverse environmental and social impacts 
of mining requires a multi-pronged approach, which 
can include designating protected areas, enforcing im-pact 
assessment requirements for all projects, enforcing 
regulatory standards, enforcing public consultation and 
public participation, before project implementation and 
enhancing transparent access to information. !ere are 
numerous international instruments and templates that 
address these key developmental changes and even at the 
local level, legislation exists in most countries. 
!e UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework oers 
a useful and comprehensive set of principles which can 
be applied to the duties of states and the responsibilities 
of mining $rms in respect of a large range of the impacts 
covered by the chapter. In addition to its use, however, 
African states need to strengthen their legislative frame-works 
and the capacity of enforcement institutions. 
Minerals have been sources of con#ict in some countries 
on the continent, and mechanisms to address these con- 
#icts have included strengthening governance capacity, 
transparency in revenue collection and sharing, transpar-ency 
in the allocation of mining licences, certi$cation 
processes for minerals, security reform and regulation of 
multi-national companies. !e strategic implementation 
of these initiatives tailored to speci$c regional contexts 
would be required. Despite oen causing con#icts over 
mineral resources, mineral exploitation presents opportu-nities 
to facilitate peace and regional security and enhance 
regional integration through corridor development. 
!e African mineral policy architecture has to be holistic 
and consider the bene$ts (revenues, taxes, export earn-ings, 
jobs and so on) and costs (environmental and social 
costs). A creative approach is required in tackling envi-ronmental 
and social challenges to entrench the sector’s 
developmental role. !e framework has to be supported 
by adequate institutional, human and legal capacity. 
Endnotes 
1 UNCTAD, 2010. 
2 Akabzaa, 2009. 
3 Dudley, 2008, 13. 
4 Equator Principles, www.equator-principles.com. 
5 IFC, 1998. 
6 Akabzaa, 2009. 
7 Dale, 1997; Mtegha et al., 2006. 
8 UNECE, 1998. 
9 van Harten,2010; de Gramont,2010 
10 IFC-UN, 2008. 
11 UN,2011. 
12 Fraser and Lungu, 2006. 
13 Kapstein and Kim, 2011. 
14 Matenga, 2010; SARW, 2009. 
15 UNCTAD, 2007. 
16 UNECA, 2005. 
17 Akabzaa, 2009 Curtis and Lissu, 2008. 
18 UNCTAD, 2010. 
19 Crush et. al., 2001. 
20 Peetz, 2005. http://www.qieu.asn.au/Paper9-D_1_. 
Peetz.pdf 
21 ICEM, 2004. 
22 Bezuidenhout, 2008; Lee, 2008; Dymond, 2007; Curtis 
and Lissu, 2008; African Labour Research Network, 
2007; Matenga, 2010. 
23 International Labour Organization (ILO), “Decent 
Work,” www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang- 
-en/index.htm. 
24 Padoan, 2008. 
25 Kuhndt et al., 2008. 
26 !e International Resource Panel has recently (2011) 
published a report titled “Decoupling natural re-source 
use  environmental impacts from economic 
growth”. (http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/decou-pling/ 
$les/pdf/Decoupling_Report_English.pdf)
Minerals and Africa's Development
67 
Artisanal and Small- 
Scale Mining in Africa 5 “Harnessing the potential of ASM 
CHAPTER 
to improve rural livelihoods, to 
stimulate entrepreneurship in 
a socially-responsible manner, 
to promote local and integrated 
national development as well as 
regional cooperation” 
— !e Africa Mining Vision 
ARTISANAL AND SMALL%SCALE mining (ASM) is 
widespread in Africa and goes beyond the borders of 
countries endowed with high-value minerals. ASM miners 
also mine and process industrial minerals, such as lime 
for agriculture. 
Few would dispute that ASM makes a positive contribu-tion 
to African economies and, more particularly, to 
sustaining rural livelihoods. Yet it faces many challenges 
that prevent it from attaining its full potential as a potent 
force in socio-economic development. !is chapter out-lines 
policy responses to address the challenges of ASM 
in light of the AMV. 
De!nition 
!ere is no consensus on what constitutes a small-scale 
mining operation; neither is the boundary between ASM 
operations clearly de$ned. !is is partly because de$ni-tions 
vary by country. Analysts use a combination of crite-ria 
to arrive at a working de$nition of ASM. In production 
terms, the United Nations places an “upper boundary” on 
ASM of 50,000 tons a year for underground mines and 
100,000 tons a year for open-pit mines.1 Most small-scale 
mining operations have a limit on project $nance of $5 
million, while such operations are not expected to have 
more than 50 workers. !ese parameters are much lower 
for artisanal operations, which are more labour intensive 
and employ hand tools and very basic processing tech-niques. 
!ese artisanal methods are wasteful and result in 
poor mineral recovery. !e mechanized form of ASM has 
higher throughput and better recovery, but in turn is more 
labour intensive than medium to large-scale operations. 
Despite dierences in de$nition, common attributes stand 
out: most miners are seriously under-capitalized, rarely 
operate as proper business enterprises and lack appropriate 
and modern technology.
68 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
e global position 
ASM is integral to the economies of many mining coun-tries 
in the developing world. !e commodities exploited 
are diverse, encompassing precious and semi-precious 
minerals, base metals, industrial minerals and construc-tion 
materials. Yet the informal nature of many ASM 
operations oen makes it di%cult to estimate total global 
production from the sector or the sector’s contribution 
to national economies and mineral output. Most analysis 
relies on anecdotal evidence. 
Yet analysts are unanimous that millions of people derive 
their livelihood from ASM. An estimated 13–20 million 
men and women in more than 50 countries worldwide are 
involved.2Around half are women.3 Sadly, about 2 million 
children are also known to be involved. More than 100 
million people therefore depend on ASM for their liveli-hood. 
It is also the main means of livelihood for some 
rural communities. 
Further, despite the lack of reliable statistics, analysts 
agree that ASM is a signi$cant contributor to both global 
production and consumption of some mineral prod-ucts. 
Global production of gold from ASM sources is 
estimated to be as high as 330 tonnes a year ($gure 5.1).4 
ASM contributes more in high-value minerals, such as 
gold, diamonds and tantalum, than in bulk minerals like 
iron ore and copper. ASM operators are also involved in 
winning sand and gravel. 
Figure 5.1 
ASM share in Western mineral consumption 
gold - 10% 
tantalum - 20% 
Cobalt - 30% 
tin - 25% 
copper - 0,5% 
iron ore - 4% 
5 g 
total per capita consumption 
statistical share of ASM 
50 g 
60 g 
300 g 
600 g 
2 kg 
5 kg 
20 kg 
5 kg 
1,100 kg 
1,350 kg 
35 t 
Source: cited from ICGLR, 2009. 
Pro!le in Africa 
ASM activities are widespread in Africa, employing a 
large number of people directly in mining and associated 
services, as well as supporting large numbers of depend-ants 
(table 5.1). !e large numbers of miners are partly 
attributable to high unemployment in many countries 
and the sector’s low barriers to entry, especially artisanal 
extraction. !is sub-sector is characterized by very low 
start-up capital, low levels of skills, limited infrastructure 
and ease of entry and exit, contributing to #uctuating 
numbers.
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 69 
Table 5.1 
African countries with more than 100,000 ASM operators 
Country ASM Estimated dependants 
Angola 150,000 900,000 
Burkina Faso 200,000 1,000,000 
Central African Republic 400,000 2,400,000 
Chad 100,000 600,000 
Côte d’Ivoire 100,000 600,000 
Democratic Republic of the Congo 200,000 1,200,000 
Eritrea 400,000 2,400,000 
Ethiopia 500,000 3,000,000 
Ghana 1,100,000 4,400,000 
Guinea 300,000 1,500,000 
Liberia 100,000 600,000 
Madagascar 500,000 2,500,000 
Mali 400,000 2,400,000 
Mozambique 100,000 1,200,000 
Niger 450,000 2,700,000 
Nigeria 500,000 2,500,000 
Sierra Leone 300,000 1,800,000 
Sudan 200,000 1,200,000 
Tanzania 1,500,000 9,000,000 
Uganda 150,000 900,000 
Zimbabwe 500,000 3,000,000 
Sources: Estimates based on CASM, ASM statistics for Africa. 
Owing to its high labour intensity, ASM is commonly 
acknowledged to create far more jobs per invested dol-lar 
than large-scale mining (LSM). !e pro$le of jobs, 
however, is largely that of poorly remunerated unskilled 
labourers who have gone into mining to avoid poverty. 
!e working environment generally has poor conditions. 
Employment in the sector is highly cyclical, especially 
re#ecting harsh economic conditions, such as those in-duced 
by drought and economic restructuring. During 
periods of stable economic activity in other sectors, the 
pull of ASM falls and the sector contracts. 
Many workers sell their minerals at lower than market 
prices to middlemen, some of whom sponsor their op-erations. 
!e incomes of such miners are usually below 
the poverty line, further reinforcing their poverty cycle. 
ASM operators are generally migratory. !ey move from 
site to site searching for easy to extract mineralizations and 
abandon sites once they $nd the ore di%cult to extract. 
A combination of practical, economic and social factors 
accounts for this migratory behaviour, such as the life of 
the mine, the lure of high-value mineral strikes in other 
areas, displacement from mining areas (perhaps aer 
their allocation to LSM companies) and the need to fol-low 
agricultural seasons. Since artisanal miners’ capital 
investment is low, the opportunity cost of moving is not 
a deterrent. 
As in other regions, ASM exploits many minerals in 
Africa, ranging from diamonds and a variety of other 
gemstones, to precious metals such as gold and tantalite, 
to industrial minerals including limestone for aggregate 
and agricultural purposes, clays for pottery and other 
uses and many other non-metallic minerals. ASM thus 
not only contributes to national and continental economic 
activity: as part of overall development programmes, it can 
be an important opportunity for improving conditions
70 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
in rural and remote areas, especially where alternative 
livelihoods are few. 
Challenges in Africa 
!e multitude of challenges faced by ASM in Africa is well 
documented in the literature.5 !ey include inadequate 
policy and regulatory frameworks; limited technical ca-pacity 
and access to appropriate technology (and conse-quent 
environmental degradation); lack of $nance; inad-equate 
access to exploration and mining areas; di%culties 
in accessing the market; issues associated with con#ict 
minerals; and women and child labour concerns. !e 
opportunity for ASM to be transformed into a tool for sus-tainable 
development, particularly in rural areas, can thus 
be realized only if these challenges are met holistically. 
Policy challenges 
!e absence of speci$c policy frameworks facilitating 
the emergence or growth of sustainable ASM operations 
is a major constraint in most African countries. In some 
countries, small-scale mining policy and regulations fall 
under general mining policy, which makes no distinction 
between LSM and ASM. !us the peculiar challenges in 
small-scale mining do not receive the attention that they 
deserve. Even in countries with a separate small-scale 
mining policy, the procedures for acquiring licences are 
generally cumbersome, which becomes a barrier to for-malization. 
Without speci$c frameworks, ASM operators 
face challenges in getting mining rights. 
Even when operators have formal access, the mining rights 
rarely provide for security of tenure: their duration is 
short and the size of the licence area usually small. Several 
licence areas may lie across a single ore body, leading to 
con#ict. When they lack security of tenure, ASM operators 
cannot use their mineral rights as collateral for borrow-ing. 
!e permitted levels of mechanization associated 
with these rights are limited either by law or by limited 
resources available to the sector, and this can prevent ASM 
operations from developing beyond subsistence horizons. 
!e lack of appropriate institutional, $nancial and techni-cal 
support mechanisms curtails ASM’s sustainability. !e 
ASM policy and regulatory environment in most African 
countries is seldom adequately supportive in vital areas 
such as access to appropriate $nancing mechanisms, pro-vision 
of geological information and services, technical 
and marketing support or facilities for upgrading min-ers’ 
skill levels. Even when there is such state support, its 
physical location may present problems for the mining 
communities. 
!e private sector could potentially provide some form of 
support with proper incentives, but LSM and ASM oen 
have an acrimonious relationship. Trespassing by ASM 
operators on concessions and the eviction of informal in-digenous 
miners by LSM companies lead to confrontation. 
Technical capacity and access to appropriate technology 
!e technical challenges facing ASM operators oen stem 
from their low education levels. !ey also usually lack 
knowledge of the legislative requirements on occupational 
health and safety, the environment, mineral rights and a 
decent work environment. In addition, they have virtu-ally 
no knowledge of marketing, business development 
or mine planning, which are critical skills for sustainable 
business operations. Further, they generally lack access 
to appropriate and aordable technology. !is is due to 
the prohibitive cost of plant and machinery, the overall 
lack of suitable small-processing technologies, the lack of 
local capacities to adapt traditional mining and mineral 
processing technologies to small operations and the weak 
capacity of ASM operators and communities to assimilate
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 71 
available technologies. All these de$ciencies force min-ers 
to target easy-to-$nd ore, but as they immediately 
abandon prospects as soon as the easy ore is mined out, 
they sterilize important resources. 
Poor mining methods are associated with poor safety, 
health and environmental practices. In small-scale un-derground 
mining, weak rock formations may be poorly 
supported, leading to frequent cave-ins and injuries or 
loss of life. Unplanned excavations are not rehabilitated 
and waste is indiscriminately disposed of, leading to water 
pollution and land devastation. Disposed mercury from 
gold-mining operations is particularly pernicious—and 
all the more unfortunate because the high level of mer-cury 
is unnecessary, as miners can use equally e%cient 
extraction methods. 
Lack of !nancing 
Access to $nance is one of the biggest challenges facing 
many ASM operators. Among the many reasons is that 
mining is a capital-intensive business and much of the 
high-risk early-phase work, such as exploration and ore 
reserve estimation, is typically $nanced from equity. !is 
phase does not attract other forms of $nance, including 
that from mainstream $nancial institutions ($gure 5.2). 
Figure 5.2 
Mine project development stages 
Risk 
Funding 
Di!cult to obtain funding 
Value 
growth 
Full 
Installation operations 
substantially 
complete 
EPC 
Major 
contracts 
Finance Close 
Decisions 
Project 
“GO” 
Ore body desision 
de!nition 
EXPLORATION 
PERCENTAGE COMPLETE 
STAGE I 
100 
STAGE II STAGE III STAGE IV STAGE V 
FEASIBILITY PLANNING 
AND DESIGN 
CONSTRUCTION RAMP-UP AND 
PRODUCTION 
Source: UNECA 2009b 
!e above $nancial constraints mean that most ASM 
operators cannot become involved in this early phase 
and consequently, without quanti$ed ore reserves, they 
cannot develop the robust and credible business plans 
that banks require. (!ey rarely have the ability to develop 
such business plans anyway.) 
ASM operators have few, if any, assets acceptable to banks 
and other lending institutions as collateral. Unlike their 
LSM counterparts, they cannot use their mineral rights 
(even where they exist) since the reserves are not quan-ti 
$able and their lack of a business plan forestalls risk 
analysis by creditors. !e migratory nature of many ASM 
operators also makes access to such $nance problematic.
72 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!ese factors place ASM operators outside the realm of 
formal $nancing institutions, leaving their scarce inter-nal 
resources and concessionary government support as 
sources of $nance. 
Such lack of access makes ASM operators vulnerable to 
exploitation by predatory mineral traders, as seen, for 
example, in Sierra Leone’s “supporter” system.6 Supporters 
are usually mineral buyers who try to ensure security of 
supply by $nancing mining operations, but as $nanciers 
of ASM operations, they extract unfair price concessions 
on the mineral products. Yet the miners have no option 
but to accept. 
Inadequate access to exploration and mining areas 
ASM policies in many countries provide for designation 
of land or areas for exploration and mining activities. If 
properly implemented, such policies have the potential to 
reduce tensions between ASM and LSM. Such designation 
might result in fewer con#icts over exploration and mining 
areas and could create space for bene$cial collaboration 
by the two sectors. Among the many bene$ts could be a 
reduction in environmental degradation associated with 
haphazard mining. 
Yet such land designation has so far failed to solve these 
problems, largely because few of the demarcated areas 
have been properly surveyed for ASM. Detailed geologi-cal 
information to prove their suitability for ASM is rare, 
weakening the relevance of “reservation policies” for 
ASM. !e challenge for policymakers is to $nd ways to 
conduct or fund comprehensive exploration to determine 
suitable areas for ASM and then provide such informa-tion 
to the miners. 
Di'culties in accessing markets 
ASM has complex marketing arrangements that are oen 
beyond the technical understanding of miners, especially 
for precious metals and gemstones. Some miners are tied 
to sponsors and providers of mercury (in the gold sub-sector) 
or providers of mining and processing tools. Prices 
rarely relate to market conditions because the sponsors set 
them. In this value chain, the miners are the least com-pensated. 
!e lack of a transparent and well-developed 
end-user market (in jewellery, for example) further ag-gravates 
marketing challenges. 
For industrial minerals and base metals, the paucity of lo-cal 
and regional markets re#ects African economies’ level 
of development. Other than aggregates for construction 
and road building, and lime for construction and agri-culture, 
few African countries have industries producing 
basic consumer goods (such as paper, paint or talcum 
powder) to absorb large volumes of industrial minerals. 
!ese economies cannot absorb base metals, minerals or 
other industrial mineral products from ASM, hence these 
outputs are exported as ore or sold to LSM companies in 
arrangements rarely bene$ting ASM operators. 
Conict minerals 
!e informal nature of much ASM makes it amenable to 
illegal dealings, especially in high-value minerals such 
as diamonds, gold and coltan. !e value chain for such 
minerals, from mining, through processing, trade and 
transportation to external markets is oen characterized 
by leakage, particularly in countries recovering from 
con#ict where prolonged security issues are part of the 
background to informal operations. 
!e nexus between natural resource exploitation and 
con#icts in Africa is well documented, particularly for 
the diamond value chain. Con#ict diamonds7 have been 
used by rebel groups to $nance military campaigns against 
established governments. 
As an informal activity with weak or non-existent legal 
protection, ASM is an easy victim of organized crime and 
paramilitary organizations. During civil strife in some 
countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 73 
and Sierra Leone) proceeds from artisanal mining have 
reportedly been appropriated by warlords and rebel move-ments 
to $nance war. In this way, artisanal mining has 
contributed to armed con#ict. Eorts to end con#ict by 
preventing the #ow of artisanal mining revenue to armed 
groups have been relatively successful for diamonds. 
Wider eorts are afoot to build a more robust legal and 
institutional framework for artisanal mining that would 
improve its resistance to takeover attempts by armed 
groups. !e most important was coordinated by the Sec-retariat 
of the International Conference on the Great 
Lakes Region (ICGLR). In December 2010 the Heads of 
State and Government of the ICGLR signed the Lusaka 
Declaration (box 5.1). !is tracking and certi$cation 
mechanism seeks to address the persistent illegal exploita-tion 
of natural resources in the region and its linkage to 
the proliferation of armed groups. !e declaration notes 
various transparency and certi$cation initiatives in the 
minerals sector, among them the Kimberley Process, and 
emphasizes the need for a regional approach in curbing 
the illegal exploitation of natural resources. 
Box 5.1 
Lusaka Declaration of the ICGLR special summit 
The Lusaka Declaration to Fight Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources from the Great Lakes Region was signed 
in Zambia by the Heads of State and Government of Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, the Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, 
Uganda and Zambia in 2010. 
In the Declaration the Heads: 
t Committed to fighting the illegal exploitation of natural resources through national, regional and international 
mean; 
t Approved six tools developed by the ICGLR Secretariat to curb the illegal exploitation of natural resources: 
the Regional Certification Mechanism to control the exploitation and trade of natural resources in the region; 
harmonization of national legislation; creation of a regional database on mineral flows; formalization of artisanal 
mining; promotion of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (see box 7.2 in chapter 7); and enforce-ment 
of whistle-blowing mechanisms; 
t Directed relevant institutions in the member States to implement the six tools, particularly the Regional Cer-tification 
Mechanism; 
t Committed to domesticating in their respective countries the Protocol on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural 
Resources in the Great Lakes Region; 
t Encouraged the harmonization of the various transparency and certification initiatives operating in the region, 
such as the International Tin Research Institute Tin Supply Chain Initiative; and 
t Called upon the international community to support and strengthen the ICGLR regional initiative against the 
illegal exploitation of natural resources.
74 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!e Southern African Development Community (SADC) 
has also developed a dra framework for tracking and cer-tifying 
mineral products in or transiting SADC member 
countries. Its primary objective is to ensure that illegiti-mately 
acquired mineral products do not enter legitimate 
value chains, either in countries where mining and pro-cessing 
take place or in those through which the miner-als 
transit. A secondary objective is to promote ethical 
practices in mining through transparent declarations of 
production and export $gures.8 
!e task of rendering artisanal mining less easy prey for 
armed groups has been heightened recently by political 
decisions stemming from reactions to atrocities in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo. !e US Financial 
Stability Act, passed in July 2010, requires US companies 
to submit an annual report to the Securities and Exchange 
Commission disclosing whether their products contain 
tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold sourced from that country 
or adjoining countries. !e law entered into force on 1 
April 2011. !e eect of the US law is that minerals from 
the central African region that do not possess veri$able 
chain-of-custody data would no longer be acceptable in 
international markets. !e EU is reported to be consider-ing 
similar legislation. 
Yet progress in practice is slow. It has been fastest for 
tin and tantalum, under a project to provide reliable 
certi$cation led by the International Tin Research Insti-tute. 
But even the institute has noted: 
“We are not just talking about implementing 
a system in areas where con#ict funding is 
known to exist, but in other provinces of the 
[Democratic Republic of the Congo], and other 
adjoining countries, an area covering practi-cally 
a third of Africa. Realistically, with the 
resources available to us, it is unlikely that 
all cassiterite from the region can be covered 
by the system in time and many current pro-duction 
areas will unfortunately as a result be 
subject to an eective embargo by next April”.9 
!e consequences if tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold 
sourced from those countries are no longer accepted 
by international markets cannot be overstated. In the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, the number of 
artisanal miners exploiting these minerals is estimated at 
150,000–200,000, and higher in neighbouring the United 
Republic of Tanzania. Many people there would suer a 
heavy loss of income and source of livelihood—primar-ily 
among the very poor with few alternative sources of 
income. 
Governments therefore need to see to it that artisanal 
miners have realistic, practical and aordable means of 
certifying production before they enforce such legislation. 
Women’s and child labour issues 
Cultural practices and legal contexts continue to entrench 
the minority and disadvantaged status of women in ASM 
communities. An analysis of the ASM production chain 
shows that most women take part in the activities allocated 
to them by society (mainly men) and are barred from oth-ers 
because of cultural taboos. Key gender factors include 
the limited level of access to resources (exploration ground 
and $nancial resources) that would allow women to par-ticipate 
as miners. Women are generally disadvantaged 
in the ownership and possession of land, mineral rights, 
capital and equipment. In some countries, for example, 
land and mineral rights acquired when a woman is single 
pass on to her husband on marriage.10 In the relatively few 
instances that they have some access to resources, women 
do not control them or the resultant bene$ts. 
Women bene$t less from mining than men, but also suf-fer 
more from its negative impacts and the nature of the 
sector. For instance, environmental degradation aects 
women’s capacity to provide clean water for their fami-lies 
and to source $rewood for energy. !is undermines 
their role as care givers. Some heavy-duty machinery and 
equipment for mining such as jack hammers is not easily 
used by women. Further, the di%cult working conditions 
in mining areas do not accommodate the special needs 
of women including health and safety, reproductive roles 
and hygiene.
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 75 
Within ASM communities, children are oen involved 
in mining, either for themselves or as part of the family. 
!e UN Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour 
identi$es mining as “work, which by its nature or the 
circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to harm 
the health, safety and moral of children”. !e convention 
has been rati$ed by 41 African countries, and the legal 
framework precludes young people under 18 from working 
directly in mines. !is is oen just ignored. 
Child labour is detrimental to children’s education, as well 
as their long-term physical and psychological develop-ment. 
While the hazards of ASM faced by children are 
the same as for adult miners, the risks to young bodies 
and minds are much more severe as coping mechanisms 
develop with age. Some children, either willingly or for-cibly, 
abandon schooling. !is not only robs them of their 
future but diminishes the countries’ ability to achieve the 
Millennium Development Goals. In some poor communi-ties, 
girls are more likely to be taken out of school to assist 
the family in livelihood activities than boys. 
Self-reinforcing nature of challenges 
!e challenges faced by ASM operators form a vicious 
circle and have a self-reinforcing eect on ASM activities. 
In particular, the lack of business and market knowledge, 
and lack of $nance, can force them to sell to middlemen 
at low prices, perpetuating their poverty. 
Artisanal miners are therefore kept in a poverty trap where 
their operations rarely graduate above subsistence and 
remain economically and environmentally-unsustainable. 
Hence there is a need for government support. 
Addressing the challenges: Some country initiatives 
!e literature has many recommendations on addressing 
the challenges outlined in previous sections. !e com-pendium 
on best practice for ASM published by UNECA 
(2002) provides a catalogue of experiences from Africa, 
some of which are reproduced in the following section. 
Many countries have reviewed their policy frameworks 
to facilitate the growth of ASM so that it can play its role 
in national development and reduce poverty. !ey have 
increasingly mainstreamed ASM into poverty reduction 
strategies. Some have passed legislation to simplify legal 
requirements, and others, such as Ghana and Zambia, have 
changed the law to improve the environment for ASM. Yet 
despite these moves, the duration of mining rights and 
size of concessions remain constraints in some countries. 
Beyond policy and legislative shis, most countries’ ap-proaches 
have responded to speci$c challenges. Yet a ho-listic 
approach is needed to address the poverty cycle that 
limits ASM development. !e self-reinforcing nature of 
the challenges underlines the limits to new regulations on 
health and safety or the environmental without improve-ments 
to access to technology, $nance, and information 
and support services. Similarly, tightening regulatory 
compliance without raising awareness of legal obligations 
and, more important, capacity to comply, does not help 
to eradicate illegal mining. 
In addition, although African governments may well 
recognize the above fundamental policy and regulatory 
approaches, their weak capacity may hamper practical ap-plication. 
Future policy needs to be structured so that the 
resultant regimes have an eective implementation plan 
supported by the necessary technical government capacity. 
Several examples illustrate the unsustainable nature of 
donor-driven initiatives,11underlining the need for a dif-ferent 
and more sustainable framework. Donor-driven 
schemes may $ll a short-term gap but they cannot guar-antee 
the long-term viability of technical support cen-tres— 
self-sustaining funding mechanisms are required. 
Many mechanisms had no strategies for the handover of 
mature programmes to the government at the end of the 
project. Further, the lack of domestic capacity to produce 
appropriate technology for small-scale mining and pro-cessing 
may have played a role. And there is always the
76 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 5.2 
Lessons from Ghana: Ill eects of well-intentioned policy 
With the aim of scaling up ASM from the use of rudimentary equipment to mechanized and more efficient methods, 
the Ghana Minerals Commission began registering Mine Support Service Companies to provide technical and 
financial support services to small-scale miners. Even though some smaller mining operations gained from this 
policy, the introduction of heavy equipment into the sub-sector has led to their use by informal miners, too. For 
instance, Chinese chang fa (processing equipment) is now commonly used by miners. 
The use of such heavy machinery has harmed the environment. In addition, the allure of quick returns from mecha-nization 
has caused the informal sector to proliferate. There may be more than 500,000 miners operating informally, 
including some encroaching on LSM concessions. Given miners’ failure to follow good mining practices, their 
mechanized activities have increased the number of accidents, through pit and embankment collapses, for example. 
Now the challenge for Ghanaian regulators is to implement policies that will control the harmful effects of miners’ 
activities, by providing suitable land and by discouraging people from operating outside the regulatory framework. 
danger of well-intentioned policy measures undermining 
the original objectives, unless the measures are well man-aged 
and monitored indicated in (box 5.2). 
Some countries have taken steps to help ASM operators 
to market their minerals. Measures include liberalizing 
trade in ASM mineral products (for example, in the United 
Republic of Tanzania) through explicit licensing proce-dures, 
requiring well-structured documents indicating 
quantities bought and sold. In Ghana, the state-owned 
Precious Minerals Marketing Company as well as some 
private companies are authorized to operate as the market 
for precious minerals. !ese companies are allowed to 
appoint agents to undertake their purchases, which they 
may directly export with appropriate central bank and 
customs documentation. 
In Ethiopia miners are required to sell their products 
to the central bank. !e bank also allows the miners to 
deposit their minerals, which are held in trust for them, 
until they sell. !is enables the miners to take advantage 
of favourable prices. In Mozambique, the Mining Develop-ment 
Fund, set up by the Government, plays a dual role 
in assisting ($nancially and technically) and promoting 
ASM, as well as acting as a gold buyer,12 particularly in 
remote sites where miners have little access to competi-tive 
markets. In these remote areas this fund is oen the 
only legal buyer. 
Nevertheless, illicit trade, particularly in precious min-erals, 
remains rampant. One approach adopted by the 
Precious Minerals Marketing Company in Ghana, and 
previously implemented in Zimbabwe, is to oer guaran-teed 
close-to-market prices, in order to cut the number of 
middlemen and predatory traders. Another avenue is for 
the authorities to establish an audit trail of purchases of 
precious minerals to individual (registered) mines before 
issuing an export permit. !e ICGLR tracking and certi- 
$cation scheme and the Kimberley Process Certi$cation 
Scheme are examples. 
For its part, SADC has developed a dra framework on 
illicit mineral trade. Integrating this framework and the 
ICGLR scheme would greatly strengthen eorts to tackle 
illicit mineral #ows across many more countries in Africa. 
Given the paucity of exploration funds, as said, the gov-ernment 
is the primary source of assistance for ASM 
Source: Ghana Minerals Commission.
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 77 
Box 5.3 
Small-scale mining loans in Ghana 
Ghana’s small-scale mining loan scheme was set up in 2006 with funds from the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries 
initiative and the Government’s Mineral Development Fund. So far, about $500,000 has been disbursed. 
Most beneficiaries are gold miners, though some are salt producers. To qualify, miners have to form cooperatives 
and be bound by the terms of the loan. The loans are made out in the form of cash for working capital, as well 
as for mining equipment and consumables, and are approved by a loans disbursement committee (made up of 
officers of the Minerals Commission). 
The beneficiaries are required to repay the loan in agreed instalments (at a subsidized interest rate) when produc-tion 
begins. A licensed buying agent of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company or an approved dealer acts as 
a guarantor to ensure that with each given volume of mineral sold the agreed amount is paid into a loan recovery 
account. The rate of repayment has been fairly high, but could have been higher with tighter security. 
operators making preliminary geological investigations. 
Some government-supported loan schemes have pro-vided 
loan $nance.13 !e Mining Development Fund in 
Mozambique referred to above is an example.14 In South 
Africa the government helped to set up the African Min-ing 
Fund, with the support of the International Finance 
Corporation (the World Bank’s private sector investment 
arm), to provide $nance for small-scale miners. Ghana, 
too, has experimented with loans (box 5.3). 
Financial assistance schemes for ASM that are run along 
business lines, such as revolving funds, assume the abil-ity 
to pay back the borrowed funds, as perhaps demon-strated 
through business plans. !e issue has always been, 
however, that ASM operators struggle to pay back loans, 
progressively reducing the funds available for other bor-rowers, 
usually leading to a collapse of the fund. 
Although a range of mechanisms, such as equity-based 
$nancial schemes, joint-venture partnerships, venture 
capital funds, investment bank funding, and unit trust 
or mutual funds, are also available in some countries, 
they impose conditions that ASM operators cannot meet. 
However, there are a few exceptions. An amethyst joint 
venture between a Zambian company and a Swedish 
partner, underwritten by HIFAB, a Swedish donor agency, 
is one. Another, also in Zambia, was Sable Zinc, a zinc 
tailings recovery project. !e company was formed by 
ex-miners and a technical partner with experience in the 
processing of zinc, with support from the Commonwealth 
Development Corporation.15 
An important lesson is therefore that ASM operators 
require the backing of a competent technical partner to 
access $nance. Lenders and equity investors seek dem-onstrated 
management experience and robust cash #ows 
underwritten by good ore reserves among other things— 
attributes conspicuously absent among ASM operators.16 
Cooperation between small- and large-scale miners is 
another route for ASM operators to access $nance and 
technical support, and could involve mentoring. An LSM 
company would, for example, adopt several small compa-nies 
and provide technical and business support, including 
guaranteeing their borrowings from commercial institu-tions. 
!e smaller companies are expected to graduate into 
fully-#edged businesses over an agreed period, normally 
Source: Ghana Minerals Commission.
78 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
$ve years, aer which the LSM company ceases mentoring 
this company and adopts another.17 
Productive collaboration between ASM and LSM has not 
been fully exploited. Mentoring oers gains to both sides. 
For LSM, it boosts the corporate image and community 
acceptability, oers $nancial returns from sub-contracting 
out non-core functions and improves relations with small-scale 
mining companies. For ASM operations, it helps 
to transfer technology and skills (entrepreneurship and 
expertise) cheaply. Further, it allows small-scale miners 
access to working capital, promotes legal, environmental 
and regulatory compliance, and improves overall work-ings 
as miners adopt best practice.18 
Yet important policy and structural issues need to be re-solved 
before such mentorship can deliver its full potential. 
!e approach needs to be adapted for artisanal miners, 
who are not as organized as small-scale miners. Further, 
once introduced the policy needs to be monitored and 
adjusted where necessary (see box 5.2). 
In South Africa mentorship and preferential sub-contract-ing 
are all part of the Mining Charter, suggesting a way 
forward in which national laws and policies are developed 
to enforce sub-contracting and mentoring programmes by 
LSM. !e Mining Charter and the Mineral and Petroleum 
Resources Development Act are examples of good practice 
in stimulating corporate social responsibility (CSR) and 
corporate social investment (CSI). 
CSR/CSI and mentoring initiatives are outside mining 
companies’ core functions, and they come at a cost. An 
incentives system has to be put in place to explicitly link 
CSI, sub-contracting and mentoring initiatives, possibly 
as a CSI scorecard to track progress. Subregionally, how-ever, 
CSR/CSI initiatives from LSM corporations tend 
to be philanthropic and public relations exercises, and 
mentoring oers few success stories. 
It would therefore be useful to explore an approach at 
the regional economic community level to harmonize 
policy and regulations to encourage standard practice. 
Certainly there is scope for developing a “regional tool kit 
for engagement” between LSM and ASM so as to optimize 
the bene$ts of this relationship.19 
!e above discussion makes clear that converting ASM 
into viable operating enterprises is an onerous task. A 
pragmatic approach to distinguish potentially-viable ASM 
operations (for targeted support) from marginal out$ts is 
appropriate, and a United Nations Economic Commission 
for Africa workshop in Johannesburg in 2009 suggested 
some criteria: 
' Access to technical skills—technical and business 
expertise; 
' Rights to viable mineral resources—location, size 
and quality; 
' Access to technology—including understanding of 
technology alternatives; 
' Entrepreneurial spirit—demonstrated willingness to 
continuously master the business, seek partnerships 
and show drive to succeed; 
' Legal and regulatory compliance—willingness to 
observe environmental and labour laws; 
' Access to markets—understanding demand and sup-ply 
dynamics; and 
' Agglomeration into small groups—these need to be 
run along business lines. 
Gender presents its own challenges, which are well recog-nized 
in regional frameworks. !e African Union (AU) 
recognizes the equal rights of women in all aspects of 
human socio-economic endeavour and the principle of 
gender equality is stated in Article 4 (l) of the Constitu-tive 
Act, which has since been rea%rmed.20 !e regional 
economic communities have protocols for addressing 
gender disparities. Yet African member governments 
need to improve the pace of domestication of the various 
regional, continental and international instruments on 
human and women’s rights. Gender analysis processes 
should be applied to mining projects, including gender-disaggregated 
data, to track improvements. 
From a regulatory viewpoint, the provision of women-friendly 
facilities and technology in mining areas could
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 79 
be made mandatory and a legal requirement for issuing 
a mining permit or allocating mining rights.21 To the 
extent possible, mining equipment should be ergonomi-cally- 
designed to be women-friendly. Training and gender 
advocacy campaigns need to be mainstreamed in mining 
areas incorporating the International Labour Organiza-tion 
(ILO) principles of a decent work environment that 
is gender sensitive and free of sexual harassment. 
Schemes for providing $nancial and technical assistance 
should be sensitive to women’s needs. Sources of capital 
would require a%rmative action principles to be applied in 
granting loans and credit. A proportion of funds for ASM 
should be reserved for women, to complement dedicated 
funds, such as the AU African Women’s Trust Fund. Infor-mation 
on these sources needs to be disseminated widely. 
Policies on ASM need to address child labour. !e ILO’s 
programme Minors out of Mining, launched in 2005, 
aimed to eliminate child labour in ASM completely within 
10 years. It is a tripartite eort initiated by governments 
with support of the industry (companies and workers) 
and the ILO. African countries in the programme include 
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, the 
United Republic of Tanzania and Togo. !e programme 
should form a fundamental aspect of strategies to keep 
children in school. 
Policy implications 
!e AMV foresees a mining sector that is safe, healthy, 
gender and ethnically-inclusive, environmentally-friendly 
and socially responsible. It aspires to harnessing the full 
potential of ASM in stimulating local and national entre-preneurship 
and in improving livelihoods. It also aims 
to promote an integrated approach to rural social and 
economic development. !e AMV further emphasizes 
the aspirations of the Yaoundé Vision for ASM which was 
adopted in 2002. Extracts from the Vision Statement are 
reproduced as appendix K. 
Along this perspective, ASM policy has to be formulated 
and implemented as part of a broad rural development 
strategy, and should include: 
' Regularizing informal ASM; 
' Simplifying and decentralizing procedures for acquir-ing 
ASM rights; 
' Providing a realistic implementation plan, including 
institutional capacity enhancement; 
' Assisting miners to graduate from subsistence to 
sustainable businesses; 
' Assuring a legal regime that gives ASM rightholders 
enough land, duration of rights and security of tenure; 
' Providing accessible institutional, technical and $- 
nancial support; 
' Encouraging support for ASM from the more estab-lished 
private sector (including LSM); 
' Expanding exploration work that leads to the desig-nation 
and allocation of areas for ASM; 
' Ensuring regional and international cooperation to 
address the challenges of con#ict minerals; 
' Raising capacity locally to run tracking and certi$ca-tion 
schemes before enforcing bans on transporting 
non-compliant minerals; 
' Enforcing international norms prohibiting child 
labour; 
' Exploring and launching measures to redress dis-crimination 
against women, whether due to the law 
or operation in practice; and 
' Promoting subregional cooperation in technology 
development, research, construction of appropriate 
plant and machinery, technical standards, compila-tion 
of a database of local capacity and generation of 
$nancial resources.
80 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Endnotes 
1 UNECA, 2002. 
2 Communities and Small Scale Mining, www.artisan-almining. 
org. 
3 Hinton et al., 2003. 
4 Telmer and Veiga, 2008. 
5 For example, Hentschel et al., 2003; Hinton et al., 
2003; Mondlane et al., 2005; UNECA, 2002, 2009a. 
6 Levin and Gberie, 2006. 
7 Con#ict diamonds are diamonds that originate in ar-eas 
under the control of armed forces $ghting elected 
and internationally-recognized governments. 
8 Several SADC countries, namely Malawi, Namibia 
and Zimbabwe, though not member States of the 
ICGLR, are partner countries to the ICGLR Decla-ration. 
Since such declarations and protocols always 
place reciprocal responsibilities on participating and 
partner countries, the logical way forward would be 
to harmonize the ICGLR tracking and certi$cation 
scheme with that of SADC, when the latter has been 
adopted. 
9 ITRI, www.itri.co.uk; 23 November 2010. 
10 UNECA, 2009. 
11 Including the Tarkwa Small-Scale Mining Centre in 
Ghana and the Uis Tin Mining project in Namibia. 
12 Mondlane, 2009. 
13 Svotwa, 2000. 
14 Drechsler, 2001. 
15 UNECA, 2002. 
16 Goss, 2009. 
17 UNECA, 2009a. 
18 UNECA, 2009a. 
19 UNECA, 2009a. 
20 For example, the Assembly of Heads of State and 
Government of the AU in July 2004 rea%rmed the 
commitment to African and international instru-ments 
on gender equality. 
21 UNECA, 2009a.
81 
Corporate Social 
responsibility initiatives6 “It is necessary for mining compa-nies 
CHAPTER 
to embrace the notion of CSR 
in order to contribute to wider 
development objectives. As CSR 
approaches could be voluntary 
or legislated, it is important 
to entrench CSR in any policy 
framework in a manner that is 
clear about the responsibilities of 
mining companies and govern-ment”— 
!e Africa Mining Vision 
THIS CHAPTER DISCUSSES the scope and drivers of 
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the application 
of the framework in Africa’s mining industry. It examines 
the bene$ts and limits of CSR as well as the challenges 
that practising it by mineral companies in Africa face in 
state capacity and societal expectations of development. 
!e past couple of decades have been marked by ini-tiatives 
designed to acknowledge and expand the social 
responsibility of business entities. !e premise has been 
that the roles and impacts of these entities go beyond pro-viding 
revenue and employment and maximizing pro$ts, 
thus increasing shareholders’ value, that they have power 
and in#uence (actual and potential) beyond their formal 
location within legal and political structures, particularly 
those of developing countries, and that they should be 
recognized as conscious and in#uential participants in 
activities with a broad range of consequences. Compa-nies 
have social responsibilities that go beyond pro$t 
maximization as part of their contribution to overall 
sustainability. 
!ere is no generally accepted de$nition of corporate 
social responsibility and no consensus on the list of the 
issues it covers. But “most de$nitions of corporate social 
responsibility describe it as constituting actions whereby 
enterprises integrate societal concerns into their busi-ness 
policies and operations, including environmental, 
economic and social concerns. Compliance with the law 
is the minimum standard to be observed by enterprises”.1 
Aer analysing numerous descriptions of CSR, one study 
concluded that “the challenge for business is not so much 
to de$ne CSR, as it is to understand how CSR is socially-constructed 
in a speci$c context and how to take this 
into account when business strategies are developed”.2
82 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Evolution of CSR as a tenet of sustainable development 
!e global growth and institutionalization of CSR have 
been strongly driven by the demands and pressures of 
the growing environmental consciousness of citizens 
and concerns about the extensive powers and rights that 
corporations have acquired with economic liberalization. 
!ese concerns have been expressed through pressures for 
ethical investment, social movements on issues such as the 
environment, fair trade, consumer rights, humane labour 
conditions, the rights of indigenous people and greater 
corporate accountability and transparency. In the western 
countries of the biggest transnational corporations, the 
emergence of powerful international non-governmental 
organizations coupled with advances in information 
technology mean that cases of social or environmental 
irresponsibility can spread quickly around the world, thus 
increasing the reputational risk $rms face. Enterprises 
with large social and environmental footprints such as 
mining have been very much in the forefront of those 
targeted by demands for high standards of CSR. Since 
the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment 
and Development, CSR has been increasingly linked with 
sustainable development. In mineral exporting African 
countries mining companies are among the main focus 
of demands on CSR. !is is not only because of the major 
environmental and social impacts of their operations 
(chapter 4), but also because these impacts are ampli$ed 
by the fact that their operations tend to be located in 
relatively under-developed parts of host countries. 
!e path towards embracing CSR as part of a sustainable 
business model has been long. Traditionally, business 
viewed CSR as a “so issue” that represented $nancial 
contributions—as corporate philanthropy or charity. 
Focus on CSR projects that went beyond charitable do-nations 
to worthy causes or organizations was viewed as 
shiing from the “core business”, and thus as leading to 
lower productivity, higher costs and waste of human and 
$nancial resources. Dealing with communities and related 
stakeholders was seen as time consuming, and project 
managers were reluctant to engage in discussions with 
stakeholders. Without frameworks compelling mining 
companies to do this, community concerns continued 
to be treated as peripheral, and any contributions were 
charity. !ese views have changed as business now accepts 
that CSR is necessary. For the global mining industry the 
Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) 
project (2000–2002) was an important milestone repre-senting 
the industry’s $rst serious response to growing 
pressure to consider all stakeholders aected by min-ing. 
During the project, stakeholders were consulted to 
identify key issues relating to mining and sustainable 
development. !e MMSD was an important milestone 
for industry recognition of its role in contributing to 
sustainable development priorities on social development 
as well as environmental stewardship. 
Today there is a proliferation of CSR frameworks, norms 
and reporting formats—some legislated, but most guide-lines 
or voluntary codes. !ey are from diverse sources 
including United Nations (UN) conferences, intergovern-mental 
bodies such as the UN and its a%liate bodies—the 
International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organi-zation 
for Economic Co-operation and Development 
(OECD) and the World Bank—national legislation, groups 
of international private $nancial institutions, industry 
associations and multi-stakeholder bodies. Many have 
overlapping objectives but dierent reporting formats. 
CSR frameworks and norms applying to mining have 
originated from all these sources. !e multiplicity and 
diversity of CSR frameworks and norms have helped in-tegrate 
CSR into everyday business operations, but these 
myriad sources and frameworks “are uncoordinated and 
so generate confusion”.3 
Intergovernmental processes and frameworks 
UN conferences have been important in establishing the 
growing link between CSR and sustainable development. 
In 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, governments agreed to 
adopt principles of sustainable development, focusing on 
environmental impact and mitigation of industrial activities 
on the physical environment. !ere was a speci$c protocol 
on forestry management. !e governments agreed to hold a 
World Summit on Sustainable Development every 10 years
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 83 
Mining, minerals and metals are important to the economic and social development of many countries. Minerals 
are essential for modern living. Enhancing the contribution of mining, minerals and metals to sustainable develop-ment 
includes actions at all levels to (para. 46 world Earth Summit Declaration): 
Support efforts to address the environmental, economic, health and social impacts and benefits of mining, miner-als 
and metals throughout their life cycle, including workers’ health and safety, and use a range of partnerships, 
furthering existing activities at the national and international levels among interested governments, intergovernmental 
organizations, mining companies and workers and other stakeholders to promote transparency and accountability 
for sustainable mining and minerals development; 
Enhance the participation of stakeholders, including local and indigenous communities and women, to play an 
active role in minerals, metals and mining development throughout the life cycles of mining operations, including 
after closure for rehabilitation purposes, in accordance with national regulations and taking into account significant 
trans-boundary impacts; and 
Foster sustainable mining practices through the provision of financial, technical and capacity-building support 
to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for the mining and processing of minerals, 
including small scale mining, and, where possible and appropriate, improve value-added processing, upgrade 
scientific and technological information and reclaim and rehabilitate degraded sites. 
Source: Johannesburg World Summit Plan of Implementation on Sustainable Development. 
to measure progress and re$ne commitments. Ten years 
aer the Rio Earth Summit, the 2002 World Summit on 
Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, for 
the $rst time including a global commitment to advance 
mining as a vehicle for sustainable development (box 6.1). 
!e Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals 
and Sustainable Development, established aer the World 
Summit to guide governments’ follow-up on global com-mitments 
related to mining contained in the Johannesburg 
World Summit Plan of Implementation on Sustainable 
Development, provides best practice analyses for govern-ments 
on a range of mining and sustainable development 
issues. It responded in part to the need to establish an inter-governmental 
body to debate mineral policy issues within 
the framework of the Johannesburg Programme of Action. 
!e UN Global Compact was started in 2000 by the UN 
Secretary-General as a strategic policy initiative for busi-nesses 
that are committed to aligning their operations and 
strategies with 10 universally-accepted principles in human 
rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Respon-sibilities 
of the private sector in community development 
are not speci$cally included. Currently more than 8,000 
companies from more than 120 countries, including some of 
the largest mining $rms, participate in the Global Compact. 
!e OECD has issued several frameworks such as the 1976 
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the 
1997 International Convention on Combating Bribery of 
Foreign O%cials. !e Guidelines for Multinational En-terprises, 
a set of non-binding recommendations, set out 
voluntary principles and standards for multi-national cor-porations 
operating in or from OECD member countries 
on issues such as human rights, environment, information 
Box 6.1 
World Earth Summit 2002 declaration (excerpts)
84 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
disclosure, bribery, consumer interests and employment 
and industrial relations. !e convention on bribery has 
provided the basis for anti-bribery legislation in OECD 
member countries. 
Other initiatives and frameworks 
!e Performance Standards of the International Finance 
Corporation (IFC)—which form part of its Sustainability 
Framework and the Equator Principles, both discussed in 
chapter 4—are the most notable CSR frameworks estab-lished 
by $nancial institutions. All private sector projects 
that are $nanced, even partly, by the IFC have to comply 
with the standards. More than 70 major banks including 
Barclays, RBS, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and JP Morgan 
Chase have voluntarily subscribed to the Equator Principles, 
which the banks must apply to all clients who borrow $10 
million or more. !e Independent Review Mechanism of 
the African Development Bank (AfDB), through its twin-pronged 
mediation and compliance review mechanisms 
for the projects funded by the AfDB, helps strengthen CSR 
and, especially, the need for extensive consultation with 
communities. !e compliance review process allows for 
introspection into the Banks adherence to its own norms 
and standards. 
!e International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), 
established in 2001 to improve sustainable development 
performance in the mining and metals industry, currently 
includes 20 of the largest mining and metal companies, 
as well as 31 national and regional mining associations 
and global commodity associations. !e ICMM’s Sustain-able 
Development Framework, which emerged from the 
MMSD, is the main industry framework for sustainable 
development and CSR. !e 10 principles of the ICMM 
Sustainable Development Framework commit members 
to, among others: 
' Integrate sustainable development considerations 
within the corporate decision- making process; 
' Uphold fundamental human rights and respect cul-tures, 
customs and values in dealings with employees 
and others, and seek continual improvement in health 
and safety performance; 
' Seek continual improvement in environmental per-formance, 
and contribute to the social, economic and 
institutional development of the communities in which 
they operate; and 
' Implement eective and transparent engagement, com-munication 
and independently-veri$ed reporting ar-rangements 
with their stakeholders. 
Many major mining companies now publish annual sus-tainability 
reports in addition to more conventional $nan-cial 
reports in an attempt to satisfy the new international 
stance. But the challenge has been to develop indicators 
and reporting formats, making for meaningful evalua-tion 
of a business’ CSR activities. !e ICMM has teamed 
up with the Global Reporting Initiative, a framework for 
industry reporting on social and environmental manage-ment. 
!e Global Reporting Initiative has been important 
for developing meaningful indicators and formats. Many 
corporate bodies now issue reports of their application of 
CSR principles even where the operating conditions do not 
make it mandatory. 
ISO 26000 “Guidance on social responsibility” is a good 
example of a framework from a multi-stakeholder process. 
!e process that preceded the adoption of ISO 26000 in 
September 2010 by the International Organization for 
Standardization involved a number of major non-gov-ernmental 
organizations, business organizations, more 
than 400 experts from 30 countries and understandings 
with international bodies such as the ILO and OECD. ISO 
26000 has been described as building on “the Brundtland 
de$nition of sustainable development by de$ning social 
responsibility as the responsibility of an organization for 
the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the 
environment, through transparent and ethical behaviour 
that contributes to sustainable development, including 
health and the welfare of society; takes into account the 
expectations of stakeholders; is in compliance with ap-plicable 
law and consistent with international norms of 
behaviour; and is integrated throughout the organization 
and practised in its relationships”.4
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 85 
Government legislation 
Some African countries have created statutory frameworks 
for CSR. !e Mineral and Petroleum Resources Develop-ment 
Act(2004) of South Africa, for example, requires an 
applicant for a mining right to submit social and labour 
plans. In the words of regulation 41, “the objectives of 
the social and labour plan are to: (a) promote employ-ment 
and advance the social and economic welfare of all 
South Africans; (b) contribute to the transformation of the 
mining industry;(c) ensure that holders of mining rights 
contribute towards the socio-economic development of 
the areas in which they are operating”. !e regulations 
prescribe that the social and labour plan must contain ele-ments 
in speci$ed detail of a human resource development 
programme, a local economic development programme 
and processes pertaining to management of downscal-ing 
and retrenchment, and must provide $nancially for 
the implementation of dierent aspects of the social and 
labour plan.5 
When granted the mining right, the applicant must com-ply 
with the social and labour plan and make it known 
to employees. !e plan may only be amended with the 
consent of the Minister of Mines. An approved plan legally 
requires that the holder of the mining right comply with 
its terms. !e holder of the mining rights must submit 
annual reports on compliance with the plans. In a typical 
lifecycle approach, the social and labour plan attempts 
to address socio-economic, ownership, technical skills 
development and post-mining issues. But the framework 
is static and does not provide mechanisms to address 
emerging challenges as mining operations progress. 
!e Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (2007) also re-quires 
the holder of a mining right to conclude with the 
community where its operations are to be conducted 
“a Community Development Agreement or other such 
agreement that will ensure the transfer of social and 
economic bene$ts to the community” (section 116[1]). 
!e agreement, to be reviewed every $ve years, must ad-dress 
“all or some … [matters] when relevant to the host 
community”, which are set out in section 116(3), as well 
as mechanisms for the community to participate in the 
“planning, implementation, management and monitoring 
of activities carried out” under it (section 117). Submit-ting 
the agreement to review aer $ve years allows for 
incorporating emerging challenges as new information 
surfaces, while also strengthening the approaches already 
in use. !e $ve-year period is reasonable for the stability 
required by investors. 
!e Berlin Guidelines of 1991 represented an attempt by 
mining companies to ensure that they adhered to home 
country standards while operating abroad. Recently, par-ticularly 
in Australia and Canada, there has been discus-sion 
about using domestic legislation to promote socially-responsible 
conduct abroad by corporations based in those 
countries and their subsidiaries or a%liates. Opponents 
of these proposals have suggested that such legislation 
would invade the sovereignty of the countries in which 
those corporations operate. Others have argued that the 
legislation would impose disadvantages on their corpo-rations 
compared with their competitors from countries 
without similar legislation. By contrast, some proponents 
argue that it is in the interest of the home country that its 
corporations act in accord with internationally- acceptable 
standards, particularly when they operate in developing 
countries where institutions or legal regimes may be weak. 
!is controversy was exempli$ed by the debate in Canada 
over the abortive Bill C300, introduced by Liberal Member 
of Parliament John Mackay. 
Promoting social and community development 
!e evolution of CSR has led to the mining industry 
accepting that implementing community development 
programmes and behaving as responsible corporate citi-zens 
are good business. Mines, particularly when situated 
in remote areas, require a good relationship with their 
communities—they need to obtain and maintain a so-cial 
licence to operate as well as satisfy their company’s 
corporate goals and shareholder expectations. Mining 
companies now accept that for communities in which they 
operate to live without basic services such as water, health
86 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
care, electricity and sanitation is unacceptable for good 
business. !ese communities oen lack social infrastruc-ture 
such as schools, clinics, hospitals and dispensaries, 
and their roads and other transport infrastructure are 
usually poor. Developing a mine presents an opportunity 
to improve conditions in these communities. Unless the 
community where the mine is located bene$ts from the 
investment and infrastructure associated with the mine, 
it will remain enclave. !e mine and its wealth are highly 
visible, and the pressure is immense to share this wealth 
with the local areas that have little development. 
Many companies understand that addressing CSR needs 
in communities will bene$t them, so adopting CSR is 
enlightened corporate “self-interest”. It is not simply a 
business expense but rather a capital investment with 
an expected return on investment. At the operational 
level, companies can maximize production because there 
will not be work stoppages due to community unrest. 
!is contributes to their overall competitiveness and 
improves work performance. At the strategic level, the 
overall risk of investment declines, thus increasing the 
value of the company’s social investments. Externally, 
good CSR programmes increase “political capital” with 
host governments, enhance investor relations and tangibly 
demonstrate a company’s corporate citizenship philoso-phy, 
adding to share value. 
Failing to provide tangible bene$ts to communities can 
result in a company losing its social licence to operate. And 
it has resulted in civil unrest initiated by communities in 
many countries in Africa and South America, leading to 
delays in mining production, injury or death, negative 
press coverage, damaged reputations and, ultimately, 
lowered share price. 
Communities have the means at their disposal to stop 
mining operations for extended periods of time. A com-munity 
in Papua New Guinea cut down about 30 kilome-tres 
of electricity poles, thus stopping power and shutting 
down the mine for about six weeks. Blockades on roads, 
armed occupation of mining lease areas, kidnapping 
of mines o%cials and other types of community revolt 
have occurred in areas where communities lack a voice 
and where mining companies and the host government 
have not considered their needs and aspirations. !ese 
disturbances and social costs pressured mining compa-nies 
to incorporate CSR as a part of doing good business. 
Civil disobedience and unrest in mining areas have a 
number of negative consequences . A mining company 
could suer damage to its reputation with the public, 
shareholders, potential investors and $nanciers. Its shares 
could plummet. And it could have di%culties expand-ing 
its operation to new destinations. For governments, 
repressive intervention to deal with the situation can be 
characterized as “lose-lose”. If police or military acts to 
ensure that a mine continues to operate and moves into 
an area where communities are revolting against mining, 
it may result in injuries or deaths. !e negative political 
fallout for the government and the country’s reputation 
is unpredictable. In some cases, court actions against 
government or the mining company can drag on for 
years, deterring development of the mining project in 
the meantime. 
Companies have sought to contribute to the social wel-fare 
of communities aected by mining activities, either 
directly or indirectly, through establishing trust funds to 
fund projects for the community’s bene$t. !ese funds 
have sometimes been established following arrangements 
setting out a formula for funding the trust from the in-come 
of the business. 
A tri-sector partnership approach has been adopted to 
address these challenges. !e partners in this approach 
are the company engaged in developing or planning to 
develop a resource, civil society organizations such as 
community groups, non-governmental organizations 
and churches, and local and central government insti-tutions. 
!e objective is to collaborate in community 
development projects by identifying and contributing 
resources that each partner can provide. Such arrange-ments 
enable companies to provide some resources to the 
community without legal obligation and without raising 
unsustainable community expectations or encouraging 
dependency on the companies. !e partnership seeks to 
recognize that civil society groups are oen more familiar 
with the community and its needs than others, and can 
contribute to or mobilize participation in a project based 
on their local knowledge. !e resources of the local and
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 87 
central government could be monetary or capacity help 
in coordinating the project. 
Agreements between mining companies and community 
representatives have also become instruments through 
which the former contribute to local development. In 
Australia, Canada and the United States, aboriginal groups 
have gotten the legal system to acknowledge their rights 
over designated areas of land and that they are entitled to 
negotiate terms on which resource developers can access 
such areas. !e terms negotiated are typically contained 
in impact and bene$t agreements. Typically, they contain 
provisions aimed at advancing employment skills train-ing 
as well as educational and business opportunities for 
members of the community. !ey also require payments 
(royalties, pro$t shares, trust funds for designated pur-poses) 
to the community or compensation to members of 
the community who suer loss as a result of the resource 
development. !ese agreements entrench company re-sponsibilities 
towards the welfare of communities at large, 
not just their employees. 
CSR and development e#ectiveness 
CSR norms, frameworks and reporting requirements ap-plying 
to mining $rms are clearly from multiple sources 
and a combination of the legislated and the voluntary. 
!e e%cacy of voluntary codes as opposed to mandatory 
codes is one of the most important debates over CSR, 
with its predominantly voluntary nature being seen as 
a growth of corporate power and retreat of the state. 
Voluntary CSR, as opposed to state regulation, has been 
described as the corporate equivalent of what poverty 
alleviation measures, such as targeting and social funds, 
were for the public sector and the aid community, all 
elements of the post–Washington Consensus response to 
the negative eects of crude market liberalization of the 
1980s.6 Voluntary CSR codes and guidelines have also been 
criticized for the rather haphazard and selective content 
of their codes and their lack of eective implementation 
mechanisms or procedures for monitoring compliance. 
Picciotto (2011) argues that voluntary codes have their 
advantages, including more easily reaching agreements 
on detailed and speci$c terms on obligations, which can 
be more easily applied to $rms than would be the case if 
codes are binding on states. Furthermore, they are easier 
to amend and more #exibly tailored to the requirements 
of speci$c businesses and avoid some of the rigidities 
around bureaucratically-enforced laws. 
Not all voluntary codes or guidelines are without legal 
eect. Certain voluntary CSR initiatives such as codes of 
conduct included in contracts with suppliers can become 
legally- binding as de facto minimum standards. Social 
labelling and certi$cation schemes incorporated into 
supply chain contracts become binding.7So, “on closer 
examination, it also becomes clear that it is inaccurate 
and inappropriate to treat these instruments as exist-ing 
outside or beyond the law. Codes entail a degree of 
formalization of normative expectations and practices. 
!ey also interact in various ways with formal law. … In 
practice, as already stated, eective compliance inevitably 
depends on the monitoring and enforcement mechanisms 
which can be devised, and especially on the strength of 
social and political pressures…the question is not whether 
hard and so law are mutually-exclusive, but how they 
can best be combined to produce eective regulation”.8 
!e scope of issues and the approaches to CSR in Africa’s 
mineral exporting countries con$rm earlier points that 
CSR is socially-constructed in speci$c circumstances and 
that what is enforced and the e%cacy of enforcement are 
not solely a function of the legal status of CSR but also 
of the strength of political and social pressures. Despite 
the CSR of many mining $rms formally covering govern-ance 
and ethics, employment, occupational health and 
safety, community and environment, a sample of African 
countries shows a preponderant interest and focus of the 
state, civil society organizations and the public on the 
environment and community issues, such as livelihoods 
and human rights abuses. Despite the widespread casu-alization 
of work and the employment of contract labour 
in Africa’s mines, there is substantially lower focus by 
the state and public on the working conditions of mine 
workers. In South Africa—because both history and the 
fact that the trade union movement, including the mine
88 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
workers union, are strongly linked with other social move-ments— 
workplace issues have a stronger prominence 
than in other African countries. In Ghana, for example, 
the work conditions and health and safety of workers in 
the mines are almost completely absent from the lively 
public discussions and non-governmental organization 
campaigning, which are largely directed at environmental 
and community and human rights issues. 
Zambia illustrates how historical experiences can also 
shape expectations of mining company’s CSR. Contempo-rary 
Zambian discussions of mining companies’ CSR ac-tivities 
draw unfavourable comparisons with the practices 
of the now defunct state-owned Zambian Consolidated 
Copper Mines (ZCCM), which operated a “cradle to grave” 
corporate responsibility welfare policy. In the context of 
national policy of state provision of health and education, 
the ZCCM provided medical services, sanitation, schools 
and social amenities to the communities living on the 
Copper belt. !is ended with the liquidation of the ZCCM 
and privatization of its mines. All the successor foreign-owned 
private mining $rms have CSR programmes but 
nothing of the scope or scale of the ZCCM.9 
In other African countries the mismatch between the 
expectations of stakeholders and what companies are 
actually doing has more to do with immediate factors 
than comparisons with the past. In Ghana a company 
oered support for alternative agricultural activities to 
people its gold mine displaced when most of the target 
group would have preferred training in artisanal skills or 
access to part of the mining concession land, which was 
not in use, for artisanal gold mining.10 Attention has also 
been drawn to similar divergences between the CSR of 
mining companies in South Africa and the post-apartheid 
expectations of workers and communities.11 
!ese mismatches between CSR and society’s expectations 
are situated within a larger question of how much CSR can 
contribute to resolving some of the many development 
challenges that mineral rich developing countries face—as 
well as resolving accusations of corporate double standards 
in energetic implementation of CSR activities by many 
$rms while engaging in practices much more damaging 
that what the CSR is ameliorating. In pressing develop-ing 
country governments to minimize their taxes and 
royalties, mining companies are eectively weakening the 
$scal capacity of the state. By contrast, these companies 
implement CSR policies and publicize their contributions 
to social infrastructure that the state is too poor to aord 
but which cannot ful$l what is needed. Many $rms, even 
as they proclaim their social responsibility, increasingly 
rely on casualized contract labour working on insecure 
terms and may pay many workers’ wages that, though 
meeting the legislated minimum, are not livable wages.12 
A thorny issue posed by the expectations of CSR in com-munity 
development is de$ning the boundary between 
the state’s responsibilities to its citizens and how mining 
company’s CSR complements the state’s eorts. In many 
African countries the coordination between state plan-ning 
and investment and CSR investments is inadequate. 
More signi$cant, CSR could reduce the motivation of 
government to ful$l its responsibilities to its citizens, and 
the latter could come to see the company as the provider 
of those services that they should be looking to the state 
for.13Better coordination between planning and invest-ment 
of the state and corporate outlay under CSR could 
improve the value of both streams of expenditure. So, for 
example, the sustainable use of a school or clinic built as 
part of CSR is better assured if the project is coordinated 
with the state—to ensure that it $ts into a larger plan and 
that the state can support health sta or teachers should 
the mine cease its support.14 
Policy implications 
It is no longer possible or feasible for mining companies to 
treat their contributions to social issues in communities 
and other CSR issues as peripheral to their core businesses. 
Whether from an assessment of measures required to 
be taken in the enterprise’s own judgment to maintain 
a sustained and viable business, or as a precondition for 
obtaining an essential licence or $nancing, or to avoid li-ability 
for breaches of the law, the pressures to comply with 
norms regarding socially-responsible conduct are becom-ing 
increasingly important. While signi$cant attention is
Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 89 
focused on addressing community issues, more remains 
to be done to meet expectations by communities and to 
respond to other issues such as trade union concerns 
about casualization and the larger decent work agenda. 
From a policy perspective, CSR initiatives should not be 
considered a substitute for government responsibility 
towards its citizens in providing basic infrastructure 
and other public goods. Indeed, CSR initiatives should 
complement government eorts through local govern-ment 
institutions and local authorities. !e framework 
that a government chooses to entrench CSR should be 
clear about the responsibilities of mining companies and 
which responsibilities should be matched with and com-municated 
to mining communities. 
!e dierent types of frameworks should be considered 
part of a national policy debate on the mining industry’s 
obligations regarding social development objectives. With-out 
such debate, there is danger that the CSR requirements 
in a jurisdiction will be le to the industry to determine. 
!is ad hoc approach can lead to uncertainty of how much 
should be spent on CSR and what types of CSR projects 
should be developed as well as the mechanisms for their 
development. Indicators around assessing the impact of 
good CSR projects must be built into the framework and 
applied by a range of stakeholders, such as civil society. 
!e framework must focus on stakeholder consultation 
and allow for review of obligations and commitments. 
!is review must be based on reporting requirements 
that should be part of the CSR framework. 
Endnotes 
1 UNCTAD, 2004. 
2 Dahlsrud, 2008. 
3 UNCTAD, 2004. 
4 Lowellyne, 2011. 
5 Kloppers and du Plessis, 2008. 
6 Utting, 2003. 
7 UNCTAD, 2004. 
8 Picciotto, 2011. 
9 Lungu and Mulenga, 2005. 
10 Hilson, 2007. 
11 Fig, 2003; Olaleye, 2010. 
12 Utting, 2003. 
13 Whellams, 2007. 
14 Lungu and Mulenga, 2005.
Minerals and Africa's Development
91 
Capture, Management 
and Sharing of Mineral 
Revenue 7 
CHAPTER 
“Obtaining an adequate share of 
mineral revenue and utilizing it 
in an equitable manner is crucial. 
An e%cient and transparent #scal 
regime should catalyze social, 
physical and knowledge infra-structure 
development” 
—!e Africa Mining Vision 
THIS CHAPTER PRESENTS perspectives on captur-ing, 
managing and sharing mineral revenue. It looks at 
the oen con#icting objectives of mining companies and 
governments in resource-rich countries. It discusses vari-ous 
tax instruments available for the mineral sector, the 
need for $scal policy to be linked to development options, 
the management of mineral revenue, and the equitable 
allocation of a portion of such revenue to communities 
close to or aected by mining projects. 
Capturing revenue 
Overview 
One of the key challenges is that the pro$t-maximization 
and repatriation logic of private foreign investment is at 
odds with a nation’s desire to retain as much as it can of 
the revenue generated from the exploitation of its mineral 
assets. Governments are pulled in dierent directions in 
providing su%cient incentive for companies to invest in 
exploration, development and production while collect-ing 
adequate revenue for socio-economic development. A 
properly structured $scal regime seeks to balance these 
objectives. 
!e consensus is that tax regimes for mining operations 
should be designed to apportion “rent” between the 
investor and the country in which the minerals are lo-cated. 
!e investor must be compensated through a rate of 
return for investment risk, and the host government must 
be compensated for the exploitation of non-renewable 
resources. Some reward is due to the host country once its 
minerals are extracted and sold, regardless of whether the 
seller reports a pro$t (though the potential adverse eects 
of high upfront payments on developing and operating 
mining projects need to be considered, too). Any income 
above the return on investment should be shared between 
the investor and the host government.
92 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Mining rights can be viewed in a similar manner to 
public–private partnerships (PPPs), but unlike PPPs for 
infrastructure and agriculture—where the state is ex-pected 
to receive an improved asset at the end of the 
concession—in mining the state generally gets back an 
exhausted and possibly dangerous asset at the expiry of 
a mining right—perhaps a hole in the ground or even a 
tailings dump. !is increases pressures on governments 
to maximize $scal and economic bene$ts while the asset 
is productive. Exigencies of sustainable development make 
further demands that the mineral asset generate material 
bene$t for the future generations that are deprived of 
it—so-called intergenerational equity—which introduces 
accountability issues on how much wealth mineral assets 
generate and how this wealth should be distributed. 
!e adequacy of revenue obtained by African governments 
from mineral exploitation is a subject of controversy. 
No precise or uncontested measure for determining ad-equacy 
exists. But the widespread sense that Africa has 
not obtained commensurate compensation from exploita-tion 
of its mineral resources is impossible to ignore. !is 
sentiment has become particularly pronounced since the 
early years (2002–2007) of the current mineral commod-ity 
price boom, which has substantially lied pro$ts for 
mining companies. 
Yet few of these high pro$ts have translated into increased 
or commensurate bene$ts for African mineral nations 
and their local communities. !e bene$ts to governments 
were contained by the generous mineral policy regimes of 
most countries, resulting from the reforms of the 1980s 
and 1990s. !ese had oen been prescribed by the World 
Bank (see chapter 2). 
A critical feature of most of these regimes is that the tax 
burden over the useful life of mining assets is distributed 
in such a way that little tax is paid until the invested capi-tal 
has been recovered. !is postpones tax payments and 
during periods of boom prices, the bene$ts accrue mainly 
to the investor. !is inevitably accentuates the impression 
of inequity in the distribution of such bene$ts and has 
contributed to widespread dissatisfaction. 
Mineral revenue and tax instruments 
Otto and Cordes (2002), Otto et al. (2006) and Daniel et 
al. (2010) are among works that have discussed mineral 
taxation in great detail, and raise issues important to 
tax policy. !ese include the mix of direct and indirect 
taxes, the types and levels of taxes, the maximization of 
government revenue in the short and long run, tax incen-tives 
available for achieving speci$c policy objectives and 
tax-stability systems (including reinvestment incentives 
as well as foreign exchange considerations) (box 7.1).
Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 93 
Box 7.1 
Some mineral taxes 
Direct tax instruments 
t Corporate income tax (plus withholding tax) 
t Progressive profit taxes (such as South Africa’s formula tax on gold) 
t Resource rent taxes 
t Windfall profit tax, additional profit tax, super-profit tax 
Indirect tax instruments 
t Royalties ad valorem, specific/production volume 
t Import duties 
t Export taxes 
t Value-added tax (VAT)/goods and services tax (GST) 
t Labour levies (skills, unemployment) 
Other imposts 
t Competitive bonus bidding, auctions (as for hydrocarbons) 
t Surface fees 
t Licence fees 
t Production-sharing contracts 
t State equity participation 
Corporate income tax is a typical and broadly applicable 
impost not unique to mining. !e general issues are the 
rate of tax, the allowable deductions from gross income 
and the extent to which losses are carried forward (or 
even back). Capital allowances are a mechanism by which 
policy seeks to in#uence the pattern of expenditure of 
a mining project. !e treatment of environmental and 
social expenses—particularly those for current environ-mental 
management, disaster mitigation and funding 
for mine closure—requires careful consideration. For 
example, the creation of environmental or social funds 
into which companies contribute has become common 
in mining regimes, but whether expenditure on these 
activities should be permitted as a deduction from gross 
income has become an issue. !e other deductible costs 
for calculating taxable income have to be addressed. 
Determining the level of revenue from mineral sales can 
be a challenge. Many economically important minerals 
have a published price and for those it is relatively easy 
to determine the appropriate sales revenue. Even with 
no published price, it is oen possible to $nd a reference 
price to determine mining company income. For instance, 
the price of aluminium is oen used as a reference for 
determining sales prices for bauxite and alumina. Con-troversy 
can, however, arise over the proper valuation of 
by-products, depending partly on how easily they can 
be separated from the main value minerals. Particularly 
where the mineral is supplied to project sponsors, share-holders 
or other related entities, it is necessary to prevent 
transfer pricing, that is, to ensure that the valuation of the 
mineral produced is transparent and at an arms-length 
competitive price. !e agreements relating to production 
and sale must therefore include the price references to be 
used in determining revenue. 
Royalties are the principal means for ensuring that the 
country obtains some minimum value of the mineral 
produced1. !ese may be imposed as an amount per unit 
of production; at a rate based on the value of the mineral 
sold; or, less commonly, on the basis of the pro$ts from, 
or the pro$tability of, the mining operation. Royalties also 
have the advantage of being relatively easy to determine 
and collect, and thus impose less demand on the sophis-tication 
of the government’s tax authorities. Royalties 
are generally applicable on the value of the minerals at 
mine-gate, to compensate the state for the loss of a non-replenishable 
resource, whether a pro$t is made or not. If 
royalty rates are set too high, however, they can sterilize 
marginal deposits as they are eectively a working cost 
(see just below).
94 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Resource rent tax (RRT) mechanisms seek to implement 
the basic concept of rent apportionment and are imposed 
on the pro$t of the project or company aer deduction of 
a “normal” rate of return on capital. Some in the mining 
investment community oppose them, as illustrated by the 
vociferous opposition, mainly by mining companies, to 
recent proposals for a super pro$ts tax in Australia. Still, 
it is generally recognized that an RRT has the advantage 
of being neutral in its impact on investment. !us unlike 
other taxes, it causes no distortion to incentives. 
!e basic elements of RRT schemes are: 
' !e threshold rate of return aer which the tax should 
be imposed. 
' !e rate of tax to be imposed. 
' Whether the impost should be ring fenced on each 
project or on a group of projects by the same investor. 
' What deductions should be allowed from income 
for tax purposes. 
Land (2010) provides a recent discussion on RRT in the 
minerals industry. A possible way of getting around the 
di%culty of determining a speci$c rate, described by 
Land, is to link it to the long-term yield on bonds issued 
by the host country, especially since this can be expected 
to incorporate country risk2. !e basic approach is to 
determine the threshold rate of return at which the RRT 
would be triggered by analogy with the interest rate pay-able 
by the country on commercial long-term debt plus 
a margin to compensate for additional risks involved in 
mining projects. As for the rate of the RRT, Land (2010) 
provides rates from 10 per cent to 70 per cent (though the 
highest rate, for Papua New Guinea, no longer applies). 
RRT is one of the least distortionary of the usual mineral 
tax instruments because it does not sterilize resources, 
as high mineral royalties could. Marginal deposits would 
never breach the RRT threshold and therefore a high RRT 
rate would not impact negatively on investment decisions 
for such a deposit. 
Table 7.1 
Resource rent taxes in Africa 
Country Sector Year Type 
Ghana Hydrocarbons 1984 Contractual 
Tanzania Hydrocarbons 1984 Contractual 
Ghana Minerals 1985–2003 Law 
Madagascar Hydrocarbons and minerals 1980s Law 
Namibia Hydrocarbons 1993 Law 
Zimbabwe Minerals 1994 Law 
Angola Hydrocarbons 1990s Contractual 
Malawi Minerals 2006 Law 
Liberia Minerals 2008 Law 
Source: Land, 2010. 
RRT has a reputation for administrative complexity, which 
may weigh against it, but it has largely the same infor-mation 
and audit requirements as conventional income 
taxation. !e main dierences are: 
' A project ring-fence basis is used for assessment (typi-cally 
only relaxed for exploration expenses) even 
though ring-fencing is not unique to RRT. 
' A cumulative, rather than annual income, basis of 
assessment is used. Although mainly a computational 
issue, there may be issues over prior-year records. 
' !e use of cash #ow, rather than an accounting ap-proach, 
excludes non-cash charges like depreciation.
Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 95 
RRT does not safeguard against tax leaks such as trans-fer 
pricing, thin capitalization or spurious allocation of 
overheads and, in this sense, is no dierent from other 
kinds of pro$ts taxation. 
Transfer pricing of production in particular has attracted 
attention, but transfer pricing of inputs and equipment 
constitutes a complex problem for governments and one 
harder for them to handle. Prices are oen less transparent 
and tax evasion may take place through the use of non-arms- 
length suppliers based in tax havens. Debt service 
to institutions linked to the investor can cause similar 
problems. In this connection, the G20, the Organisation 
for Economic Co-operation and Development and the 
European Union are all clamping down on tax havens, 
work that deserves support from African governments. 
Taxes on dividends and state equity participation are 
also features of many $scal regimes. Duties on imported 
inputs, particularly those used during exploration or mine 
development phases, tend to be limited, if imposed at all. 
Unless properly monitored, this approach can prevent 
local supply systems from developing, where economi-cally 
viable, and hence deny the country the bene$ts of 
enhanced local linkages (discussed further in chapter 
8). In some jurisdictions, the local government system 
prescribes property rates payable to the local authority for 
land and structures. Depending on how these are valued 
and the rate of tax, they can yield substantial revenue from 
the assets of large-scale mining operations. 
African states should consider imposing a capital gains tax 
on any mineral property sold before mining operations 
begin. Even if statutes have provisions for capital gains 
tax, enforcement—when companies dispose of their assets 
and leave the country—imposes challenges that can be 
addressed by requiring companies to settle tax obligations 
as a pre-requisite for any transfer of their mining rights. 
Tax stabilization 
Experience as well as prudence point to the importance of 
focusing not only on particular elements but also on the 
overall tax package in mineral projects. In many large-scale 
projects in Africa, sponsors and their lenders have 
sought and obtained assurances that there would be no 
additions to the total tax package agreed to initially. Dur-ing 
the recent period of high prices and pro$ts, however, 
existing tax regimes have not earned African mining 
countries a commensurate share of the large additional 
pro$ts. !e pressure on governments to impose additional 
taxes, in spite of such stabilization clauses, has sometimes 
proved irresistible, reinforcing the argument to develop 
$scal regimes that uphold equity during boom and bust— 
characteristics of the mineral commodity price cycle. 
Stability clauses facilitate capital raising for large projects, 
but they are oen unnecessarily extensive. One factor in 
determining their duration should be the period required 
for repaying the initial loans to the project from outside 
lenders, if any. Such clauses, inserted with others requiring 
most favoured tax treatment for the bene$ciary company, 
risk causing unforeseen losses to government revenue if 
the authorities grant similar concessions to later entrants. 
Optimizing mineral revenue and linkages through price discovery 
One of the most important elements of a mineral regime 
that attempts to optimize the development impact is set-ting 
a fair market value of resources—“price discovery”. 
Transparent and competitive concessioning of known 
mineral assets can help. Auctioning prospective hydrocar-bon 
blocks is common in the petroleum industry but rare 
for “solid” minerals. Public tender will clearly have sub-optimal 
results for terrain with no known assets or areas 
of low prospectivity. Many new mineral developments in 
Africa over the last decade have, though, involved known 
deposits or old workings, and many of these concessions 
were given to investors under discretionary allocation 
rather than via public tender. Even with a public tender, the 
selection of mining companies was oen based primarily 
on bidders’ $nancial and technical capability to realize 
the project. !is contrasts with a bid price that seeks to 
include an initial bonus or use of other instruments to 
maximize both revenue and other development bene$ts.
96 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
!e Africa Mining Vision seeks to create an e%cient and 
transparent $scal regime that catalyses social, physical 
and knowledge infrastructure. African mining countries 
will need to explore more transparent and competitive 
concessioning systems, especially for disposing of known 
mineral assets. Such a system could attempt to maximize 
the development impacts of mineral assets through the 
inclusion of various linkages in the bids: 
' Fiscal elements—maximizing state revenue through 
a combination of the signature bonus (up-front ten-dered 
payment), corporate tax, dividend withholding 
tax, the royalty rate, and the RRT or the percentage 
free carried state interest. 
' Infrastructure linkages—which include possibilities 
for PPPs in infrastructure coupled with bidding up 
the proportion of open access capacity available to 
third parties to encourage collateral use of infra-structure 
by other economic and social sectors at 
non-discriminatory taris. 
' Backward linkages—bidding on local content as a 
share of total purchases or inputs expressed in nomi-nal 
milestones, such as production periods of 5, 10, 
15 or 20 years. 
' Forward linkages—the degree of value added locally 
before export, supported by a suitable set of govern-ment 
incentives. 
' Knowledge linkages—bidding on annual contribu-tions 
to local technical human resource development, 
research and development and technology-develop-ment 
initiatives. 
One caveat to this approach is that the greater the variety 
of elements on which bids are to be evaluated, the more 
complicated the scheme and the greater the implementa-tion 
challenges. 
Managing revenue 
Revenue impacts 
Revenue from mineral operations oers governments, 
among other things, the $nancial resources to fund physi-cal 
and social infrastructure, including human capital. 
A persistent concern, however, is the potential impact of 
large revenue from the extractive sectors on other parts of 
the economy. !e main risk is that the in#ow of revenue 
from mining, whether to the public or private sector, 
results in real exchange rate appreciation, which tends to 
undermine the competitiveness of other sectors exposed 
to international competition—“called the Dutch disease”. 
In addition, a dominant natural resource export sector can 
destabilize a nation’s socio-economic system, especially 
in countries with non-democratic political institutions. 
Various prescriptions are at hand for prudently managing 
the mineral sector, including appropriate savings strate-gies, 
in#ation targeting and exchange rate management, 
and striving for “a steady path of growth of public ex-penditure 
that does not accelerate beyond the capacity of 
the economy to deliver”.3 Steps include special oshore 
funds that ring-fence or constrain the use of additional 
revenue (through stabilization or sovereign funds) or laws 
setting government spending limits and restricting uses 
to which some of this revenue may be put. 4 
Given the limited domestic scope for backward and 
forward linkages, governments might consider creat-ing 
regional development funds to invest in long-term 
economic physical and human infrastructure to bolster 
intraregional trade and economies of scale through larger 
markets. !e New Growth Path adopted by South Africa 
in 2010 recommends creating an African Development 
Fund that will function as a sovereign wealth fund and 
invest in regional infrastructure.5
Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 97 
Revenue transparency 
Campaigning by civil society organizations in recent 
years has brought revenue transparency to the fore as 
an essential component to promote mineral wealth for 
socio-economic development. Its main elements include: 
' A sound system for collecting, receiving and record-ing 
all public revenue obtained from the minerals 
industry. 
' Mechanisms for obligatory, regular and open report-ing, 
both of revenue received by public bodies and of 
payments made by each $rm engaged in such opera-tions 
to public institutions and o%cials. 
' Credible processes and institutions to ensure account-ing 
and auditing of revenue and payments. 
' Channels for public participation, nationally and 
locally, in monitoring and enforcing the transpar-ency 
obligations of public institutions, o%cials and 
companies. 
' !e Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative 
(box 7.2). 
Box 7.2 
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative 
Launched by the British Prime Minister of the time, Tony Blair, in June 2003 to promote revenue transparency in the 
extractive industries, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has become one of the main initiatives for en-hancing 
revenue transparency. 
Despite some criticisms, it provides an acceptable attempt to improve transparency. Twenty African countries have so 
far agreed to use it to enhance reporting and auditing of revenue from their petroleum and mineral resource ventures. 
The International Council on Mining and Metals, with 20 of the largest mining companies as members, supports it. 
The depth to which these commitments are realized will depend on continuing engagement with, and scrutiny by, 
broad constituencies locally, nationally and internationally. Nigeria, for example, has developed a legal framework to 
support the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and make the process mandatory. The Initiative does not, 
however, yet cover the initial contracting stage, where much of the revenue leaks. 
Implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative needs to follow the following criteria: 
t All material oil, gas and mining payments by companies to governments (“payments”) and all material revenues 
received by governments from oil, gas and mining companies (“revenues”) are regularly published for a wide 
audience in a publicly accessible, comprehensive and comprehensible manner. 
t Where such audits do not already exist, payments and revenues are the subject of a credible, independent 
audit, applying international auditing standards. 
t Payments and revenues are reconciled by a credible, independent administrator, applying international au-diting 
standards and with publication of the administrator’s opinion regarding that reconciliation including 
discrepancies, should any be identified. 
t This approach is extended to all companies including state-owned enterprises. 
t Civil society is actively engaged as a participant in the design, monitoring and evaluation of this process and 
contributes towards public debate. 
t A public, financially sustainable work plan for the above is developed by the host government, with assis-tance 
from international financial institutions where required, including measurable targets, a timetable for 
implementation and assessment of potential capacity constraints. 
Source: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative,http://eitransparency.org.
98 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Sharing revenue among local communities 
!e discovery of an extractive resource invariably raises 
expectations among local communities that they stand to 
gain. To reduce the potential for con#ict, governments at 
various levels need to develop clear guidelines for distrib-uting 
the bene$ts and wealth between the central govern-ment 
and local authorities and communities. Property 
rates and other fees, for example, may be levied and col-lected 
directly by the local government. Some countries 
have introduced programmes for allocating portions of 
central government mineral revenue to institutions of 
local mining communities or, less commonly, to allow 
lower level governments to impose taxes. Such schemes 
oen specify: 
' !e components of government revenue from which 
allocation is to be made, whether from royalties, 
corporate taxes, dividends, or a combination of any 
of them. 
' !e proportion to be allocated. 
' !e recipient of the funds, whether lower level gov-ernments 
or groups within the community, and their 
respective shares. 
' How payments are to be made, whether directly by 
the central government revenue collectors or through 
another government agency or institution, either 
existing or to be created for the purpose. 
Several countries in Asia and Latin America have revenue-sharing 
arrangements, but such arrangements are much 
less common in Africa. In Ghana the Mineral Devel-opment 
Fund, formed in 1993, provides a mechanism 
through which some mining royalties paid to the central 
government are distributed to local communities. Under 
the Fund, 9 per cent of such royalties goes to the local 
community to be shared by the district assembly (the local 
administrative unit) and the local traditional authorities. 
It also provides for funds to be made available, on appli-cation, 
for use on speci$c problems that can be shown to 
result from mining. Still, it prompts complaints, such as 
the adequacy of the amounts received; delays in releasing 
funds; paucity of information for bene$ciary institutions 
on the amounts paid by mining companies and to local 
institutions; lack of mechanisms for auditing traditional 
institutions’ use of funds; and limited community input 
into decisions on the use of funds. 
Sierra Leone established a Diamond Area Community 
Development Fund in 2001 into which 25 per cent of 
the 3 per cent diamond export taxes levied on artisanal 
diamonds is paid, used for developing diamond min-ing 
communities. In addition, the government’s Gold 
and Diamond O%ce deposits 0.75 per cent of the export 
value in an account held by the Ministries of Mineral 
Resources and Local Government, from which resources 
are disbursed to chiefdoms and districts. 
!e fund has several aims: implement post-war transfor-mation 
eorts, reclaim diamond areas that were overtaken 
by insurgents, enable communities to promote their own 
poverty agenda, provide basic services and infrastructure 
and reduce illegal artisanal mining through an incentive 
scheme that links the number of licences issued to the 
amount received by each chiefdom and district. !ere 
are formulas for calculating allocations to district coun-cils 
and chiefdoms and these funds are only disbursed 
once speci$c development projects have been approved. 
Guidelines exist for approving projects. 6 
!e International Council on Mining and Metals reviews 
experiences from programmes,7 and $nds that most gov-ernments 
regard minerals as part of a nation’s natural 
endowment, implying the need for equitable distribution 
of bene$ts across the nation. It argues that, although local 
communities should receive compensation for the harm 
caused by mining, governments should not accord them 
unnecessary privileges, just because they are close to a 
national asset. Such privileges could ultimately lead to 
political dislocation and secessionism.
Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 99 
Policy implications 
!e design of national $scal policy frameworks for miner-als 
has to be guided by national sustainable development 
objectives, at all levels. As articulated in the Africa Min-ing 
Vision, the focus should be on mining for growth, 
socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. 
Countries should have well-constructed and equitable 
revenue capture and management systems. !ey need to 
ensure that stakeholders understand them. 
An e%cient $scal regime has to reconcile the expectations 
of investors and governments. !e various tax instruments 
should be integrated into a package that is attractive for 
investors and that maximizes government rent capture. 
Self-adjusting instruments that cater for both vibrant and 
stagnant global demand scenarios should be considered, 
such as RRTs or formula taxes (as in South Africa) that 
work on pro$tability rather than pro$t. Taxes that lead 
to sterilization of mineral deposits should be minimized 
or not used. 
!e eective use of mineral revenue in long-term physical 
and social infrastructure marks the prudent transforma-tion 
of $nite mineral capital into other forms of long-term 
capital—to ensure inter-generational equity—and 
is enhanced by transparency in collection, as well as in 
use. Systems that allocate part of the mineral revenue to 
communities near mining areas should be designed to 
ensure lasting bene$ts beyond the life of the mine. 
Endnotes 
1. Otto et al. (2006) provide a comprehensive account 
of the dierent forms of mineral taxes. 
2 One of the most controversial elements of the pro-posed 
Australian RRT was the threshold rate of 
return. 
3. Daniel et al, 2010. 
4 Bell and Maurea, 2007. 
5 Government of South Africa, 2010. 
6 Sierra Leone, 2008. 
7 ICMM, 2009.
Minerals and Africa's Development
101 
Linkages 8 
CHAPTER 
Optimizing Mineral-based 
“For the mining sector to improve 
its contribution to broad based 
development, it must be better 
integrated into the national and 
regional economic fabric through 
linkages. To harness linkage 
opportunities, challenges such 
as those relating to de#ciencies 
in human capital formation, 
particularly in knowledge 
intensive areas, as well as infra-structure 
inadequacies must be 
addressed”— 
!e Africa Mining Vision” 
MINERAL ENDOWMENTS ARE by nature $nite, suer 
long-term real price decline and are susceptible to cyclical 
#uctuations. !ey generally demand many skills and much 
capital to extract and process. !ey embody their own 
growth impetus which, if understood and managed, can 
be used to alter Africa’s debilitating economic position. 
!e Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development 
of Africa, 1980–2000, observed that the failure of raw 
material–exporting industries to integrate into the na-tional 
economies of the member states impeded back-ward 
and forward linkages. (!ese and other terms are 
discussed in the next section.) !e plan therefore called 
for “integrating natural resource development within 
national and African multi-national socio-economic de-velopment 
programmes and projects, so as to encourage 
complementarity of dierent natural resources available 
in various member states in the production process and 
to promote backward and forward linkages within the 
African economies”. 1 It also called for the “establishment 
or strengthening of national machinery for the creation 
of policies to ensure that proper backward and forward 
linkages exist between these resource sectors and other 
sectors of the economy in order to promote integrated 
rural development”. 2 
Examples of failed attempts across the continent over the 
years have caused some scepticism about the capacity of 
mining-related projects to catalyse growth and develop-ment. 
Recent thinking has once again, reawakened interest 
in linkages for economic development, including cor-ridor 
development and clustering, to facilitate growth in 
depressed economic environments. !is has been partly 
shaped by the experiences of resource-rich countries 
such as Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the United 
States, and, to some extent, Australia, whose economies 
have evolved from a basis of primary extraction to ones 
characterized by highly skilled and knowledge-intensive 
manufactured exports.
102 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
In these countries, industrial development was based on 
continued exploitation of resources and increasing do-mestic 
value added from the formation of linkages with 
industries directly and indirectly associated with key 
mineral-based projects. Mining sites became centres of 
growth instead of enclaves, and agglomeration not only 
increased workforce productivity, but also raised incomes 
among the local population and economic growth more 
widely. Of greater signi$cance, it promoted a shi to a 
more dynamic and sustainable growth trajectory as sec-ondary 
and tertiary industries, fostered early on in the 
evolutionary process, continued long aer the minerals 
had been depleted. 3 
Conceptualizing and quantifying mineral-based linkages 
Types of linkages 
What does “linkage” mean in the minerals industry? !e 
term is used in several branches of economics, such as 
input-output, economic-cluster and supply-chain analysis. 
Input-output analysis, which aims to describe the relation-ships 
between dierent economic sectors in a national or 
regional economy, uses the terms backward and forward 
linkages to signify sectors that respectively deliver to and 
take deliveries from a particular sector. It is used mainly 
to quantify the impact of changed output in one sector 
on the rest of the economy. 
!e analysis of clusters—groupings of enterprises that are 
related and that depend on each other—aims less to quan-tify 
and more to identify relationships that can be based 
on deliveries of physical products and on less tangible 
interactions, such as exchange of ideas. Cluster analysis 
is oen applied at the same time as supply-chain analysis, 
which studies the production process as a sequence. Both 
use the terms upstream and downstream linkages (as well 
as sidestream linkages, a later addition). 
Input-output analysis is a quantitative technique, but 
the other two are less focused on—and less amenable 
to—quanti$cation of linkages. 
In a business environment, linkages are used to de$ne any 
commercial interaction between dierent pro$t-oriented 
enterprises that develop naturally in a well-functioning 
market economy. Linkages form as enterprises seek the 
most economical and e%cient way of sourcing the skills, 
materials and services they need to produce a commercial 
output. In this way, linkages li production, product diver-si 
$cation and specialization, as well as productivity. Most 
business linkages are created through supply chains that 
comprise procurement, out-sourcing and sub-contracting 
of activities between large and smaller $rms. Business 
linkages take various forms—informal and formal, direct 
and indirect. Formal arrangements include supply con-tracts, 
marketing and franchising of technology-licensing 
agreements, partnerships and joint ventures. Informal 
arrangements include collaboration in market informa-tion 
or technology-transfer networks. 4 
Setting up a gold, chrome, iron ore or diamond mine 
typically gives rise to two main groups of linkages. !e 
$rst includes backward/upstream linkages (to the mine) 
and forward/downstream linkages (to bene$ciators or 
processors of the mine’s output). !e second includes side-stream 
linkages (to industries or organizations providing 
technological, human resource and infrastructure inputs) 
and lateral migration linkages (development of alternative 
uses of generic technologies used in the industry). (!ese 
ideas are expanded in the following sub-sections.) 
!e sequencing, scale and depth of subsequent linkage 
development is in#uenced by a host of factors, notably 
size, type, location and scale of commodity mined; avail-ability 
of supporting physical infrastructure; quality of 
local skills; corporate procurement practices; the legal 
environment; and degree of involvement on the part of 
the government and producer $rms to drive the process. 
Taken together, the various linkages form a system of 
individual parts that can operate and function indepen-dently 
of each other but achieve their full vibrancy through 
interaction and overlap ($gure 8.1). Each participant in the
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 103 
industry is connected to others, and the industry needs 
to be viewed as an integral system. 
Figure 8.1 
Linkages in the minerals industry and the relationship between #rms 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 2 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 2 
Supplier 
Level 2 
Supplier 
End 
User 
End 
User 
Level 1 
Supplier 
Bene!ciator 
Bene!ciator 
End 
User 
Level 3 
Supplier 
End 
User 
Level 1 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
End 
User 
End 
User 
Level 2 
Supplier 
Level 2 
Supplier 
Level 2 
Supplier 
Level 1 
Supplier 
Processor Processor Processor Processor 
New 
Firm 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
Level 3 
Supplier 
LATERAL 
MIGRATION 
LINKAGE 
Other Industrial 
Sectors 
Infrastructure 
RD and Skills 
Financial 
Services 
Communications 
Multiplier 
Effect 
UPSTREAM 
LINKAGES 
OUTPUTS: 
Employment in mine 
Taxes, Dividends 
Foreign Exchange 
DOWNSTREAM 
LINKAGES 
SIDESTREAM 
LINKAGES 
MINING 
OPERATION 
Direct impact 
Indirect impact 
Source: Lydall, 2010. 
Upstream linkages 
Collectively, upstream linkages refer to the various direct 
and indirect inter-$rm relationships connecting an indus-try 
with its suppliers or supply chain. Upstream linkages 
are generally based on vertical, horizontal and technologi-cal 
demand–supply interactions among producer $rms, 
specialized manufacturers, input providers, agents and 
distributors as well as service suppliers that evolve over 
the life of an operation.5 
In the minerals industry, upstream linkages arise before 
a plant can be commissioned—as deposits are identi$ed, 
assayed and quanti$ed; $nance secured; legal and per-mitting 
issues addressed; plans for development and 
earthworks commissioned; and labour, raw materials 
equipment and utilities sourced. Upstream-linkage eects 
continue, albeit with dierent suppliers, once full produc-tion 
is reached. !e depth of linkage development wanes 
once a mine is decommissioned and closes. Upstream 
linkages become more important as the complexity of 
extracting, processing and transporting mineral products 
increases, drawing in large amounts of construction ma-chinery 
and equipment; manufacture of metal products;
104 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
vehicles; water, scienti$c and technical services; electric-ity; 
business services; and transport and communication 
services. 6 
!e degree of local economic diversi$cation also strongly 
depends on subsequent linkage development between the 
$rst level of suppliers supporting the mine directly and 
suppliers supporting them (see $gure 8.1). As each of these 
suppliers expands, its dependence on other supplier $rms 
grows. !is process is continuous and the multiplier eect 
increases with each additional linkage. 7 
Downstream linkages 
Nationally, downstream (or forward) linkages trace the 
interconnectedness of a sector to other sectors in the 
regional economy that consume its output in the produc-tion 
process. A typical mineral value chain comprises six 
stages($gure 8.2): exploration, mining, mineral process-ing, 
smelting and re$ning, semi-fabrication and $nal 
product manufacture. 
Run-of-mine ore is generally the principal output of the 
mining stage and forms the primary input into the mineral 
processing stage. !e resultant concentrate is the key input 
into the smelting and re$ning stage. !e re$ned product 
is then turned into semi-fabricated products and, at the 
end of the value chain, such outputs are consumed by a 
variety of dierent manufacturing/industrial sectors. 
Figure 8.2 
!e main stages in the mineral value chain 
1 2 3 4 5 
EXPLORATION MINING FINAL 
PRODUCT 
MINERAL 
PROCESSING 
SEMI-FABRICATION 
SMELTING 
 
REFINING 
UPSTREAM 
INPUTS 
UPSTREAM 
INPUTS 
UPSTREAM 
INPUTS 
UPSTREAM 
INPUTS 
UPSTREAM 
INPUTS 
- Consulting services 
(surveying, drilling, 
mine design, bulk 
earthworks, etc) 
- Specialised equip-ment 
- Raw material inputs 
- Utilities 
- Finance 
- Run-of-mine ore 
- Consulting services 
- Specialised equip-ment 
- Raw materials 
- Water  power 
- Labour 
- Concentrate 
- Consulting 
services 
- Specialised 
equipment 
- Raw materials 
- Water  power 
- Labour 
- Re!ned products 
- Consulting services 
- Specialised equip-ment 
- Raw materials 
- Water  power 
- Labour 
- Semi-fabricated 
product 
- Consulting services 
- Specialised equip-ment 
- Raw materials 
- Utilities 
- Labour 
Source: Lydall, 2010. 
Coal, petroleum and gas are consumed in electricity gen-eration. 
Re$ned petroleum products are used in manu-facturing 
chemicals and chemical products. Metal ores 
and industrial minerals are consumed in the manufacture 
of basic metals and non-metallic mineral products, with 
each successive level of processing adding value. 
A Southern African Development Community study 
evaluated the value chain for various minerals produced 
in the region.8 !e results showed that the value of the 
mineral or element (by weight) contained in downstream 
(including assembled) products relative to that in the $rst 
commonly saleable product for each element can reach
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 105 
a factor of at least 400. For example, the unit value for 
copper in a motor is 117 times that contained in cathode 
copper, 38 times for iron in fabricated tanks and 6 times 
for platinum in auto-catalysts. !e ratio can be as much 
as 173 times for gemstones in jewellery, and as high as 
5,000 per carat in a polished diamond. Given these ratios, 
backward linkage development should aim at creating an 
integrated industrial platform of feedstock for components 
and, ultimately, original equipment manufacturers. 9 
Downstream linkages in Africa are oen weak because 
mineral products are not consumed in the national econ-omy, 
but exported in raw or partly processed form, in 
the absence of local manufacturing. Increased bene$cia-tion 
may yield both national bene$ts (increased foreign 
exchange) and local bene$ts (higher wage incomes and 
local procurement). In addition, mineral-based intermedi-ate 
and $nished products do not usually suer the same 
terms-of-trade decline and volatility as raw materials, 
and may therefore provide a more stable economic base. 10 
Yet raw minerals to hand do not automatically confer an 
advantage on the manufacturing bene$ciation sectors— 
competitive advantage issues such as logistics, compara-tive 
production costs, skills and crasmanship do. With 
precious minerals, the primary products are generally 
available in any of the world’s markets at internationally 
determined prices, due to their high value-to-weight (or 
value-to-volume) ratio. !e vast majority of bene$ciation 
(jewellery fabrication and diamond cutting) takes place 
in countries that have little or no mine production of 
precious minerals. !e lower the value-to-weight (or 
value-to-volume) ratio, generally, the greater the loca-tional 
advantage of the resource country, given the higher 
transport costs per unit weight (or volume) of material. 
!us for bulk commodities, though prices are generally 
determined internationally, some processing takes place in 
the resource country but manufacturing oen takes place 
near the market for the product (such as copper $ttings). 
!e largest mineral-based feedstocks into the global econ-omy 
are, for manufacturing, steel and polymers (from 
crude oil), for agriculture, nitrogen, phosphates and po-tassium 
and for infrastructure, cement, steel (rebars) 
and copper. Within the areas covered by Africa’s various 
regional economic communities, resources for almost all 
these feedstocks are available. Hence the critical issues are 
twofold: producing them at internationally competitive 
prices at large economies of scale; and developing common 
regional markets by removing the barriers to intraregional 
trade, so creating large markets that can absorb a signi$- 
cant part of the expanded output. 
Sub-optimally sized plants in Africa, which sell locally 
at monopoly prices, severely compromise the growth of 
downstream sectors and lead to trade diversion rather than 
trade creation. !ere are, of course, exceptions (box 8.1).
106 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 8.1 
Morocco’s phosphate industry 
With the world’s largest reserves, Morocco is the largest exporter and the second-largest producer of phosphate, after 
the United States. The International Fertilizer Development Centre in 2010 put Morocco’s share of global phosphate 
resources at 85 per cent. 
The phosphate industry dominates mining, accounting for about 95 per cent of mineral production in 2009. The industry 
is run by a state company, Office chérifien des phosphates, responsible for managing and controlling all aspects of 
phosphate mining and beneficiation. 
The country has a large downstream phosphate chemicals sector. The main products are phosphoric acid and 
phosphate-based fertilizers. Phosphoric acid in 2009 amounted to 2.8 million tonnes, for which India was the largest 
customer. Fertilizers amounted to 2.4 million tonnes. Morocco has several phosphate-based chemical plants with 
Maroc Phosphore II, at Safi, one of the largest phosphoric acid complexes in the world.1 In 2008, Office chérifien des 
phosphates began a $12 billion expansion plan that aims to double phosphate production by 2015.2 
Notes: 
1. http://www.mbendi.com/indy/chem/af/mo/p0005.htm. 
2. Newman, 2009. 
Minerals with largely local and regional potential have re-ceived 
less attention and investment than those for export. 
Yet replacing imports by locally sourced mineral products 
and facilitating the expansion of local and regional markets for 
these products would require as much attention as bene$cia-tion 
for international markets. Linkages based on inputs to 
the national and regional economy (such as manufacturing, 
agriculture and construction) therefore need to be prioritized. 
Sidestream linkages 
Mining, by virtue of its scale and scope of activities, creates the 
critical mass needed to establish other areas such as $nancial 
services, power, logistics, communications, skills and technol-ogy 
development. !e depth and extent of such side-stream 
linkages in the regional economy has a determining in#uence 
on subsequent upstream and downstream linkages, particu-larly 
further down the mineral value chain where inputs such 
as research and development (RD), skills, technology and 
infrastructure increase in importance. 
Side-stream linkage formation also underpins the viabil-ity 
of other sectors and unrelated industries in an economy. 
In Australia and Canada, for example, governments have 
acknowledged the importance of these linkages, and sup-ported 
their growth (chapter 10). Africa needs to do more 
along these lines. 
Lateral migration linkages. Upstream, downstream and side-stream 
linkages are critical for unleashing sustained economic 
diversi$cation in a mineral-rich country. But global experience 
shows that the real transition—from a primary-commodity 
exporter to a high-technology, knowledge-intensive industrial 
leader—requires developing the more dynamic linkages in 
each stage of the mineral bene$ciation chain, which oer 
greater commercial rewards.11 Mining should not only be seen 
as a source of export commodities (metals and minerals), but 
also as an engine for the development of its inputs industry 
(backward linkages) and the export of the industry’s related 
services, namely capital goods and expertise in $elds such 
as process control, construction equipment and materials-handling, 
all of which can be used in a wide number of eco-nomic 
sectors as well as mining.12 Lateral migration linkages 
generally only emerge in advanced stages of industrial develop-ment. 
!ey also depend heavily on long-term investment in 
technical human resource development (training engineers, 
for example) and RD.
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 107 
Quantifying mineral sector impacts 
It is usually hard to quantify linkages, and quantitative 
comparisons among countries or mining operations can 
be misleading. One of the reasons has to do with clas-si 
$cation of activities. In some countries and branches 
of the industry (bauxite mining in Australia is a prime 
example), a signi$cant part of the production process is 
outsourced to construction companies and is registered 
as a construction activity in the national accounts. !e 
same type of classi$cation di%culty complicates analy-sis 
at the micro level of individual operations, as well as 
comparisons between them. 
Mining companies outsource work to dierent extents. A 
company that outsources little raises employment levels 
and value added of the mining industry in statistics but 
appears to have few linkages to the rest of the economy. 
In contrast, a company with similar production volumes 
and technology that outsources as much as possible makes 
only a small contribution to employment and GDP in the 
national accounts, but will appear to have very strong 
linkages to other sectors. 
Changing perspectives on mineral-based linkages in Africa 
Most of the current African mining regimes were intro-duced 
in the 1980s and 1990s during a period of stagnant 
global demand. Governments were concerned, among 
other things, that heavy demands on investors to build 
linkages could deter scarce mining investment. With, 
however, the global supply–demand pendulum swinging 
far the other way, African governments urgently need to 
revise their regimes to make resource exploitation con-ditional 
on investors maximizing development impacts. 
African ministers have already stressed “…the need for 
greater local bene$ciation of Africa’s mineral resources 
and the enhancement of its industrial base through min-eral 
sector upstream, downstream and sidestream link-ages”, 
calling for an improvement in “… mineral resource 
policies, legal, regulatory and administrative frameworks 
and enhancement of [Africa’s] industrial base through 
mineral resource exploitation regimes; and for develop-ing 
the linkages of the mineral sector with the domestic 
economy”. 13 
Jourdan (2010) goes further and suggests that Africa should 
leave its mineral assets in the ground (for exploitation at 
a later date) if the linkages cannot be built. He makes 
this recommendation based on the view that if foreign 
capital—through trans-national corporations—exploits 
the assets, market forces are unlikely to naturally estab-lish 
the linkages because the trans-national corporations 
already have their global linkages to optimize returns. 
!e evidence of mining in Africa over the last 50 years 
appears to support this contention. Even so, he argues that 
the disadvantages of foreign capital can be eliminated or 
mitigated through state strategies that oblige or incentiv-ize 
trans-national corporations to realize local linkages. 
African governments have seldom stimulated linkages 
through structured interventions, but one success is Mozal 
in Mozambique (box 8.2). While based on hydro-electric 
rather than mineral resources, the government recognized 
the dangers of using a capital-intensive single-site project 
to drive development. From the start the project heavily 
emphasized building linkages.
108 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 8.2 
Mozal, Mozambique 
Mozambique emerged from its protracted civil war one of the poorest countries in the world. The Mozal aluminium smelter 
in the south was the first major development in the country for decades and was made possible by private investment 
from international players, facilitation from the government and regional support from the South African Government.1 
It began operations in 1999. From the outset a local enterprise development programme—Mozlink—was involved in the 
project, run by the International Finance Corporation and Mozal with the Investment Promotion Centre of Mozambique. 
Mozlink had evolved out a programme to train and mentor local small and medium enterprises in mining to bid for win and 
perform construction contracts following Mozal standards. That success promoted the formation of Mozlink to provide 
technical and managerial assistance to upgrade the capacity of local mining SME suppliers to participate in Mozal’s 
supply chain for goods and services, thus strengthening local supply chains. By 2007, Mozlink had built capacity of 45 
local small and medium enterprises. In addition, monthly spending on 250 local firms supporting Mozal increased to 
$17 million. Small and medium enterprise performance as measured by quality management, maintenance and safety 
improved by 20 per cent.2 
Indirect spillovers fostered by Mozlink included the Mozambique Organisation for Quality to promote and train Mozam-bican 
domestic companies in international health, safety, quality and environmental standards; the Mozambican Business 
Network to encourage interaction with small and medium mining enterprises; and a three-year programme (with backing 
from the International Finance Corporation and large foreign investors) to get local small and medium enterprises more 
involved in procurement programmes for mining, natural gas and other industrial areas.3 
Side-stream linkages from the smelter included an improved power grid, a large-scale water supply network, housing, 
better roads, a finger jetty to load products directly onto ocean-bound liners, a highway connecting the port of Maputo 
to South Africa, and overall improvements in investor confidence, which prompted them to consider setting up a heavy 
mineral sands operation (Corridor Sands).4 
Notes: 
1. UNECA, 2004. 
2. Jaspers and Mehta, 2007. 
3.Jaspers and Mehta, 2007. 
4. UNECA, 2004; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 
Constraints to developing linkages continent-wide 
African countries have diverse development experiences, 
mineral endowments and economic needs, yet share com-mon 
impediments that prevent mineral-based linkages 
from developing. !e most notable are inadequate capture 
and management of resource rents (see chapter 7); poor 
resource infrastructure; trade barriers and regional mar-ket 
constraints; inhibitors to downstream value addition; 
failure to secure upstream linkages; and human resources 
(which are now discussed).
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 109 
Poor resource infrastructure 
Infrastructure is a determining factor in industrialization. 
It directly aects the degree of agglomeration of upstream 
and downstream industries associated with a particular 
mining operation, while in#uencing the growth of other 
economic sectors with similar requirements. 
Sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure is inadequate, frag-mented 
and expensive, even compared with that in other 
low-income regions (table 8.1). Power supply and roads 
are principal areas of de$ciency. 14 
Table 8.1 
Infrastructure de#cits 
Normalized units Sub-Saharan Africa Other regions 
Paved road density (kilometres per square kilometre) 31 134 
Total road density (kilometres per square kilometre) 137 211 
Telephone mainline density (lines per 1,000 population) 10 78 
Mobile density (lines per 1,000 population) 55 76 
Internet density (lines per 1,000 population) 2 3 
Generation capacity (megawatts per 1 million population) 37 326 
Electricity coverage (percentage of population) 16 41 
Improved water (percentage of population) 60 72 
Improved sanitation (percentage of population) 34 51 
Source: Yepes et al., 2009. 
Africa has 15 landlocked states, and many of the railway 
lines they use have been damaged or destroyed in civil 
war, rendering the logistics of global trade extremely 
di%cult. Distance from port raises average freight costs, 
eectively reducing available funding for re-investment. 
Tumafor (2009) shows that Africa’s logistical costs are 
around 250 per cent of the global average, thus many 
African states’ resources remain stranded, as individual 
projects cannot alone carry the necessary infrastructure 
costs. Limão and Venables (2001) maintain that a dete-rioration 
of infrastructure from the medium to the 75th 
percentile raises transport costs by 12 percentage points 
and reduces trade volumes by 28 per cent. 
In Africa, poor infrastructure accounts for 40 per cent 
of transport costs for coastal countries, and up to 60 per 
cent for landlocked countries. High trade costs undermine 
producers’ competitiveness and lower consumer welfare 
because imported inputs and $nal goods are made more 
expensive. 15 Landlocked countries are further disadvan-taged 
by having to rely on political stability and good 
institutional structures in transit countries. 16 
However, although poor infrastructure poses a constraint 
to the realization of the linkages, Africa’s mineral endow-ment 
could be used to provide major trunk infrastructure 
for the development of other sectors. 
Constraints to trade 
Constraints to trade are a major impediment to growth 
in many African countries. Where the trade environment 
is more favourable, businesses are better positioned to 
take advantage of new opportunities, grow and create 
jobs. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2010 
report, manufacturing enterprises in Africa have di%culty 
exporting because of poor customs administration and 
restrictive trade and customs regulations.17 Although 
much attention is paid to tari reduction, improved cus-toms 
processes and trade logistics would greatly bene$t 
African exporters. According to the OECD (2009), re-ducing 
delays at borders by 6.3 per cent, or the number 
of documents required for trading by 11 per cent, could 
increase trade #ows in Africa by 10 per cent.
110 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Inhibitors to downstream value addition 
Factors in poor downstream linkage development include 
lack of large economies of scale to remain competitive 
in many bene$ciation processes; the strategies of multi-national 
bene$ciators (with capacity elsewhere); and the 
inability of local $rms to penetrate established global value 
chains (as well as infrastructure and trade constraints). 
!e growing excess capacity at the smelting and re$ning 
stage for most base metals, relative to the mining stage, 
has depressed smelting charges. Copper smelting and 
re$ning charges have fallen from over 30 per cent to less 
than 10 per cent of the re$ned copper price over the last 
decade, reducing the overall pro$tability of smelters and 
re$neries. Ironically, the excess capacity partly stems from 
government incentives to promote further processing. 
Base and precious metals are easily marketed up to the 
stage of semi-fabricated products. In the absence of estab-lished 
commercial networks, production can be sold on 
commodity exchanges. !e situation is more complicated 
for products with a wider and non-standardized range 
of quality dierences, such as many industrial minerals. 
Most multi-national $rms producing such minerals are 
closely integrated with users of their products and these 
relationships have been built over many years. !e costs 
of switching to a new supplier are very high and carry 
considerable technical risks and companies therefore 
try to avoid them. 
Some multi-nationals prefer to send crude resources to a 
central bene$ciation facility in another country, or have 
a policy of keeping to their “core competence” of resource 
extraction, and then—if they have a monopoly or oligopoly 
position in the country—only make the semi-processed 
resource available to the local market at a monopoly price 
(import parity). Addressing this may require minimum 
levels of bene$ciation in the mineral extraction agreement, 
or an eective competition authority or regulator.18 Other 
measures include requirements on mineral companies to 
make their output available to local companies at free on 
board or export parity prices, or to sell a certain propor-tion 
of their production on national or regional markets 
(the latter would also set a representative reference price). 
Impediments to securing upstream inputs 
!e main di%culties arise from centralized purchasing 
strategies of most resource extraction multi-nationals and 
the lack of a domestic business sector with the requisite 
capacity and access to capital to take up these opportuni-ties. 
As well as a shortage of basic local human resources, 
technological expertise to establish these industries is 
lacking. In addition, lower freight prices, more e%cient 
logistics and trade liberalization have exposed most input 
markets to international competition. 
!e weak development of pan-African markets for in-dustrial 
goods and services has restricted the emergence 
of home-grown, innovative $rms. African $rms need to 
deepen their consumer orientation to promote formation 
of second- and third-level upstream linkages. 19 
Stipulating (and enforcing) minimum local content re-quirements 
in contracts or licences can help to overcome 
the di%culties, though this strategy carries risks of en-couraging 
rent seeking unless it is carefully structured. 
Investing in appropriate basic and technological education 
may be costly and usually yields results only in the long 
term, but results tend to be more sustainable. 
Human resource de!ciencies 
According to the World Bank (2009), education in Sub- 
Saharan Africa is poorer than in other regions. !e min-eral 
industry alone cannot change this situation, but 
selective actions by both the private and public sector to 
build sustainable capacity in geology, mining, minerals 
processing and extractive metallurgy—to help to local-ize 
the industry—would work to develop linkages. South 
Africa is a success with a strong cluster of specialized
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 111 
goods and service industries as well as established tertiary 
institutions and programmes geared to transferring and 
improving skills in the sector. Still, even South Africa’s 
training at tertiary level is far too low to sustain strong 
local growth, given the competition for skills interna-tionally. 
20 
Spatial linkages 
Sandenbergh et al. (2009) discuss examples of the syner-gistic 
relationship between bulk mining and infrastructure 
development leading to signi$cant economic advantages 
in Africa. Examples include the phosphate industry of 
Morocco (see box 8.1) as well as the iron-ore industry in 
Mauritania and the manganese industry in Gabon (box 
8.3). !ey also show that building transport and energy 
infrastructure, linked to bulk mining operations, can 
have signi$cant direct and indirect economic impacts, 
including jobs and foreign exchange. Such construction 
can also lead to upstream linkages to other bulk commodi-ties 
oen sourced internally, such as aggregate, sand and 
limestone, and can expand the potential for downstream 
processing.21 
Fauconnier (2004) maintains that opportunities abound 
in Africa for using infrastructure to foster mineral-based 
linkages. Strong global mineral demand has increased the 
viability of many inland deposits, overcoming the high 
infrastructure capital expenditure (of as much as 70–80 
per cent of total capital expenditure on new iron-ore 
mines). Surging demand could provide the “anchors” for 
the integrated development of the surrounding stranded 
potential in other sectors (such as agriculture, forestry 
and tourism), using a resource or development corridor 
approach to optimize these spatial linkages provided by 
the anchor project infrastructure, as in southern Africa 
through spatial development initiatives.
112 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 8.3 
Mauritanian iron ore and Gabonese manganese industries 
Mauritania 
Mauritania has extensive iron-ore deposits and has been a major iron-ore producer and exporter for about half a cen-tury. 
Production started in1963 and by 1966 more than $200 million had been invested in mining, port infrastructure 
and a dedicated rail line to carry the ore 650 kilometres to the port. By the mid-1970s iron-ore operations had large 
direct and indirect impacts on the economy, accounting for about 25 per cent of GDP due to the high consumption of 
utilities (power and water) and links to the transport and service sectors. At the time, iron-ore mining provided nearly 
30 per cent of all government revenue.1 
Mauritania is the world’s seventh-largest exporter of iron ore. Production is largely controlled by the state company, 
which produces about 12 billion tonnes of ore a year. The company is developing a $700 million Guelb II project, 
expected to add approximately 4 million tonnes to annual output.2 Reports suggest plans to “double production fol-lowing 
extensions to the iron-ore infrastructure and the second installation of the mineral port”.3 
Gabon 
In 2009, Gabon was the seventh-biggest producer of manganese, with about 8 per cent of world production. Comilog 
is the producer (67 per cent owned by Eramet of France and 25 per cent by the government) at an open pit at Moanda. 
The pit has an annual capacity of 4 million tonnes of ore. Exports are mainly to China. 
Comilog has begun building the Moanda Metallurgical Complex, at the Moanda mine.4 It will include a metal produc-tion 
plant with capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year of manganese metal and 65,000 tonnes a year of silico-manganese 
metal. The complex is to benefit from the construction of the Poubara hydroelectric power plant, a government project 
to improve national power supply. Moanda Metallurgical Complex is scheduled to start production in late 2012 or 
early 2013. The company has reported that improvements to the Trans-Gabon railway, in which Comilog holds a 75 
per cent stake, were on target.5 
Notes: 
1.Handlo, 1988. 
2.http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/26/mauritania-mining-production-idUSLDE61P1PH20100226. 
3.Mauritanides 2010, www.mauritanides2010.com/. 
4. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2009/myb3-2009-gb.pdf 
5. Bermudez-Lugo, 2009. 
Policy implications 
Although mineral resources are a $nite source of com-parative 
advantage, global evidence shows that they can 
catalyse long-term sustained growth and development 
only if they are managed and supported appropriately. !e 
right policies and strategies are critical to leveraging the 
development impacts which the extraction and process-ing 
naturally generate and which policy planners oen 
overlook. !e main aspects encompass linkages upstream, 
downstream, side-stream and laterally from a particular 
mining operation. !e key drivers for these include a
Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 113 
signi$cant entrepreneurial base that can service local, 
regional and export markets; competitive production 
(high productivity and low costs relative to competitors’); 
crasmanship and speci$c skills; access to markets (do-mestic 
and foreign); good market intelligence; low costs 
of doing business; low material funding costs; special 
economic zones; quality assurance; and RD. 22 
Africa is in the unique position of collectively possessing 
all the necessary minerals for industrialization. !e next 
steps entail getting the basics right—using revenue from 
the sale of mineral resources to set a foundation on which 
linkage eects can manifest themselves and multiply. 
Collective emphasis needs to be placed on harnessing 
opportunities and minimizing weaknesses. Four critical 
issues need to be addressed: human capital constraints; 
weak innovation capacity among $rms; low exports; and 
$rms’ poor competitiveness, particularly due to poor 
infrastructure and public services. 
Policy reforms can be summarized as follows. 
More consciously and consistently integrating mineral 
policy into development policy. !is involves a shi away 
from the traditional (practically exclusive) focus on min-eral 
extraction. 
Enhancing primary sector integration into the broader 
economy. Building backward and forward linkages re-quires 
complementary strategies, primarily creating the 
business environment and public sector institutions that 
foster growth. Second is—as far as governments can— 
setting terms on access to mineral resources that both 
impose linkage conditions on mineral rights holders and 
provide incentives for investors to structure projects in 
ways that deepen the integration of mineral projects into 
the broader national and regional economy. Reasonable 
national local content and value-addition milestones need 
to be incorporated in mining regimes. 
Promoting mineral beneciation before export. !e pur-suit 
of downstream processing of minerals before export 
should not be placed at the top of the national agenda for 
the minerals industry in isolation. Bene$ciation contrib-utes 
to growth and diversi$cation only when it generates 
above-average upstream and side-stream linkages, and 
should not be pursued merely because a country is en-dowed 
with mineral resources. Although some countries 
have used export taxes to promote downstream process-ing, 
experience is mixed and such taxes need to be applied 
judiciously, possibly only aer an independent study has 
indicated that investment in the next value-addition step 
is feasible. (New trade agreements, particularly the Eco-nomic 
Partnership Agreements with the European Union, 
are likely to complicate use of this instrument—chapter 9.) 
Directing attention to developing upstream capital goods 
and service industries. !is is critical for employment 
generation and for generating new products and processes. 
Enhancing local linkage development through local par-ticipation 
and empowerment models. Many bene$ts can 
#ow from local participation and empowerment models. 
Extending economic infrastructure. Funding and driving 
the establishment of economic infrastructure, particularly 
power and transport, is critical in prudent mineral devel-opment. 
23 Policymakers need to maximize the bene$cial 
spillover eects of infrastructure triggered by mining 
through resource corridors. Planning needs to explore 
the collateral or integral use by other economic sectors. 
Mineral infrastructure needs to allow third-party access 
at non-discriminatory taris. Expanded infrastructure 
will also promote rural development. 
Developing human resources and fostering innovation. 
Eort needs to be directed to expand higher technical 
skills required by the minerals industry. Public support 
is required for innovation in $elds related to natural re-source 
exploitation through national innovation systems, 
such as tax incentivization of local RD and technical 
human resource development, as well as the allocation of 
some resource rents to developing technological linkages. 
Pushing regional integration. !e gradual movement 
towards regional integration would go some way in over-coming 
barriers to establishing linkages, through creating 
regional common markets (customs unions). African gov-ernments 
need to dismantle the numerous impediments to 
intraregional trade in order to realize the larger regional 
markets and to overcome the high barriers to entry that 
are related to poor economies of scale for many mineral
114 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
backward and forward linkage opportunities (discussed 
further in chapter 9). In order to soen currency appre-ciation 
(Dutch Disease) and to access regional markets, 
South Africa’s New Growth Path24 has mooted creat-ing 
an African Development Fund to invest in regional 
infrastructure and so stimulate intraregional trade and 
investment. (See also, Jourdan, 2010, for a proposal for an 
African regional development fund to support long-term 
regional physical and knowledge infrastructure). 
In conclusion, successful linkage development relies on 
simultaneous multi-factor promotion: skills, savings, busi-ness 
performance, governance, pricing, policy making and 
implementation capacity. It is also premised on maximiz-ing 
the development impact of a resource endowment by 
optimizing potential investor market interest in realizing 
wide-ranging linkages, given the demand for speci$c 
resources at a given time. 
Most important, given the cross-cutting nature of the 
issues that have to be resolved to promote linkage devel-opment, 
an integrated sectoral and spatial strategic ap-proach 
is fundamental. Not only do all stakeholders have 
to work together (labour, business and government), but 
multiple government departments and agencies need to 
play constructive roles, nationally and regionally. 
Endnotes 
1. African Union Commission, 1980: para. 77. 
2. African Union Commission, 1980: 172. 
3. Aroca, 2001; Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Wright and 
Czelusta, 2003. 
4. Stanton and Polatajko, 2001. 
5 Lydall, 2009. 
6 Aroca, 2001; San Cristobal and Biezma, 2006. 
7. Walker, 2001. 
8. SADC, 2000. 
9. Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Baxter, 2009. 
10. Walker and Jourdan, 2003. 
11 Walker, 2001. 
12. Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Walker and Minnitt, 2006. 
13. AUC, 2008. 
14. Yepes et al., 2009; Eberhard et al., 2008; and Foster, 
2008. 
15 Limão and Venables, 2001; Lahti, 2007; Eifert et al., 
2008; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 
16 Portugal-Perez and Wilson, 2008. 
17 World Bank, 2009. 
18. Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 
19 Lahti, 2007. 
20. Walker and Minnitt, 2006; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 
21. Bermudez-Lugo (2009). 
22. Baxter, 2009. 
23. Additionally, information and communications 
technology systems, bulk water and waste-treatment 
plants, housing, airports, education and training 
centres, and retail outlets all help to realize long-term 
sustainable agglomeration eects. 
24. Government of South Africa, 2010.
115 
International Trade 
and Investment Issues 9 
CHAPTER 
“As a knowledge-driven, vibrant 
and competitive mining sector is 
crucial for Africa, it is important to 
be fully aware of existing interna-tional 
trade and investment regimes 
for mineral resources and the 
implications of speci#c provisions of 
any treaties signed as many of these 
treaties retard the development of a 
value added African mineral sec-tor”— 
!e Africa Mining Vision 
HISTORY AND THE experience of other, now indus-trialized, 
countries show that the international trade and 
investment regimes as well as domestic trade, investment 
and industrial policies are critical in the transition and 
development of domestically owned industrial $rms. Most 
African countries have indeed in the past two decades 
carried out far-reaching economic, trade and investment 
liberalization, initially prompted by conditions imposed 
by primarily the World Bank and the International Mon-etary 
Fund, and subsequently reinforced by changes in 
such regimes. 
Yet such liberalization has accentuated the structural vul-nerabilities 
of mineral-producing developing countries. 
Today, instead of economic diversi$cation, they have on 
average less diversi$ed economies that are more concen-trated, 
for instance, in low value-added mineral and ag-ricultural 
exports—both of which are extremely sensitive 
to external price shocks. 
!e Africa Mining Vision (AMV) recognizes that if African 
countries are to move to mining sectors that are integrated 
into national and regional economies, with domestic $rms 
heavily involved, and from the current predominance of 
mining enclaves, governments will have to push through 
substantial shis in policy and practice in a range of eco-nomic 
sectors. It acknowledges that transforming the 
mining enclave into part of a dynamic resources-based 
industrial economy will require “proactive and deliberate 
actions from key stakeholders, particularly governments”. 1 
!is chapter looks at the scope granted by current interna-tional 
trade and investment regimes for national strategies. 
It focuses on actions by governments to promote industrial 
development, economic diversi$cation and value addition 
along the mineral value chain, and local enterprise promo-tion. 
It covers issues such as policy instruments for eco-nomic 
diversi$cation and industrial development and tools 
to enhance value addition. !e legal architecture for trade 
and investment is based on agreements of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) and on international investment and 
trade agreements such as bilateral investment treaties, and 
bilateral, regional and multi-lateral trade agreements.
116 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
e context 
!e Addis Declaration, a precursor to the AMV2 , called 
on “AU Member States to work together to ensure that 
international agreements that they enter into enhance 
rather than undermine Africa’s policy space for integrat-ing 
mineral resources development into their economies”. 
!e declaration took into account that African countries 
are increasingly negotiating trade and investment agree-ments, 
especially with developed countries, that require 
greater liberalization than required by the WTO. !ey 
typically involve greater liberalization of trade in goods 
and services, rules on investment and public procurement, 
as well as more stringent intellectual property protection. 
!e declaration therefore urged African countries and 
regional economic communities to ensure that current 
negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) 
and overall WTO negotiations do not limit national devel-opment 
policy, and do avoid the “lock-in eect” of trade 
liberalization, which has accentuated the commodity 
dependence of low-income African countries. 
Historically, the space and #exibility of international 
rules on tari application, subsidies, export restrictions, 
performance requirements for foreign $rms and intel-lectual 
property were exploited by countries implement-ing 
national industrial development policies. !e newly 
industrialized economies of Asia are o-cited examples, 
but “indeed there are few examples of successful indus-trialization 
where government did not actively promote 
industry”3 
!e current international trade and investment regime has 
accentuated developing countries’ di%culties in advanc-ing 
their national interest and sustainable development 
objectives. International agreements have progressively 
reduced the scope for national development strategies and 
policies of the type that were employed for the transition 
of today’s industrialized countries, including producers 
of natural resource-based mineral commodities.4 !ese 
agreements have, for example, constrained the possibili-ties 
of using subsidies to develop local production of new 
products or new methods of production, and of impos-ing 
on foreign investors performance requirements that 
favour technology transfer and the use of domestically 
produced components. v 
Although developing countries can bene$t from WTO’s 
Special and Dierentiated Treatment provisions, one 
assessment of these provisions concluded that it was 
doubtful that current provisions were enough to enable 
least-developed countries, for example, to promote their 
economic development and reduce their international eco-nomic 
marginalization. !e majority of these provisions 
failed to exempt such countries from WTO rules, in line 
with their development, because many of the provisions 
were “best endeavour” clauses rather than obligations.6 
!e greater trade liberalization process has accentuated 
the structural vulnerabilities of mineral-producing devel-oping 
countries. Today, instead of economic diversi$ca-tion, 
they have less diversi$ed economies that are more 
concentrated, for instance, on low-value-added mineral 
and agricultural exports, which are extremely sensitive 
to external price shocks. UNCTAD (2010) noted that 
“By the end of the 1990s the production structure of the 
[Sub-Saharan African] sub-region had become reminis-cent 
of the colonial period, consisting overwhelmingly of 
agriculture and mining.” 
Tari#s 
Taris are the most commonly used trade instrument for 
supporting industrialization. All today’s industrial econo-mies 
used them extensively to protect infant industries 
as they evolved towards competitiveness. Moreover, les-sons 
from other parts of the world, especially Asia, show 
that taris were important in developing manufacturing 
for domestic and export markets. Taris can contribute 
to very positive (but dierent) industrial and domestic 
enterprise development outcomes. 7 
Tari reduction has been a centrepiece of trade liber-alization 
since the 1980s, accompanied by a decline of
International Trade and Investment Issues 117 
manufacturing in, for example, Africa and Latin America. 
!e application of taris has become more contentious 
since the creation of the WTO and the consequent pro-hibition 
and circumscription of many domestic policy 
instruments that were key elements of pre-WTO indus-trial 
policy toolkits. !e Uruguay Round reduced average 
industrial taris by all WTO members but le developing 
countries with considerable #exibility by not requiring 
wholesale liberalization of all tari lines. Rather, each 
developing country was free to determine which tari 
lines to “bind” and the extent of tari reduction on each 
product line. 
Most African countries have bound only a proportion of 
their taris and these are at relatively high levels. In prac-tice, 
however, the applied rates are much lower because of 
conditions attached to lending by the Bretton Woods in-stitutions 
or governments’ commitments through bilateral 
and regional trade agreements. In some African countries, 
local manufacturers of industrial mineral products (such 
as cement manufacturers in East Africa and aluminium 
product manufacturers in Ghana) have complained about 
the damaging eects of tari reduction and the #ood of 
competing imports as a result of trade liberalization.8 
!e non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations 
under the WTO’s Doha Round could drastically restrict 
the use of industrial taris that came out of the Uruguay 
Round. On the basis of proposals from developed coun-tries, 
NAMA seeks to bind and reduce industrial taris, 
harmonizing taris among products and countries.9 !e 
immediate eects on Africa will vary from heavy impacts 
on the eight African countries that are expected to cut 
their taris using the “Swiss formula”, to smaller impacts 
on least-developed countries that will not be required to 
apply the formula (but will still be required to increase 
the proportion of goods with bound taris). Even the 
least-developed countries will thus see their policy space 
constricted. 
Akyuz (2009) has noted that “an irreversible commit-ment 
to low taris across a whole range of sectors would 
carry the risk of locking developing countries into the 
prevailing international division of labour since many 
of them would need to provide support and protection 
to new sectors needed for industrial upgrading”. Overall, 
the longer-term implications of proposed binding and 
cuts in industrial taris could be detrimental to capital 
accumulation, technological progress and productivity 
growth since these hold the key to narrowing income 
gaps and catching up with richer countries. 
Outside the WTO, various free trade agreements—nota-bly 
the EPAs between the majority of African countries 
and their biggest trading partner, the European Union 
(EU)—will restrict the use of taris on imports from the 
EU. !e EPAs are intended to replace the preferential 
trade arrangements under the Cotonou Agreement with 
WTO-compatible trade agreements, but they cover much 
more than trade in goods. Under the EPAs taris will be 
eliminated on up to 80 per cent of imports from the EU 
over speci$ed periods in exchange for duty- and quota-free 
access to EU markets. Standstill provisions mean 
that new taris cannot be introduced and existing ones 
cannot be increased. 
Given the size and diversity of manufactures that Africa 
imports from the EU10—in 2006 machinery, chemicals and 
manufactured goods accounted for 78 per cent of imports 
from the EU —eliminating taris will aect the support 
that they can provide in developing local manufacturing 
industry, including mineral-based activities. 
Interim EPAs contain narrow lists of sensitive products 
that are excluded from tari elimination; they also have 
very narrow provisions for protecting infant industry. 
!ese provisions do not, however, make up for the policy 
freedom lost by the taris eliminated on most European 
goods under the EPAs. Although it is hard to make spe-ci 
$c pronouncements about these provisions’ precise 
constraining implications for mineral-based industri-alization, 
national and regional negotiators do not seem 
to have considered the development of these and related 
sectors when drawing up the sensitive product lists. In 
most cases the lists’ composition was informed by static 
considerations of the needs of current industries: dynamic 
policy objectives, such as diversifying economically and 
setting up new industries, played very little part. 
National governments and regional blocs also failed 
to coordinate coverage of sensitive product lists across 
EPA groupings. !is omission will make the creation of
118 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
trans-boundary value chains much more di%cult, which 
also implies that the value addition of mineral products 
will not be optimized. “!is means that future policies 
to promote the development of new productive sectors 
will not be able to incorporate a selective tari protection 
element, typical of these policies and largely used in the 
past by today’s developed countries”. 11 
Industrial taris are not always the best tool to promote di-versi 
$cation and technological upgrading. But developing 
countries need them in their arsenal: taris on particular 
product categories, re#ecting the path of technological 
upgrading, can be a key instrument of sectoral policy to 
support diversi$cation and technological improvement.12 
Similarly, Akyuz (2009) notes that “since industries do not 
emerge spontaneously, taris may need to be raised for 
new, more advanced industries (e.g., high-tech products) 
as they emerge sequentially in the process of industrial 
upgrading, while being phased out for less advanced 
industries (labour-intensive and low-tech products) as 
they gain competitiveness. !us, at any point in time, 
eective use of taris for industrialization would require 
the coexistence of very low and very high taris…In the 
process of sequential build-up of competitive industries 
under temporary infant-industry protection, the optimal 
level and structure of taris would change over time.” 
!us trade agreements should be in line with developing 
countries’ ability to diversify and upgrade technologically. 
Non-tari# barriers 
Non-tari barriers in potential markets, especially de-veloped 
countries, have long constrained the viability 
of processing and bene$ciation industries in developing 
countries that export raw materials. !e number of tech-nical 
measures, such as safety standards and technical 
regulations, as well as those promoting environmental 
objectives, has increased. By 2006 little more than 10 years 
aer the Uruguay Round was concluded, government-mandated 
testing and certi$cation requirements had 
risen sevenfold. 
Legitimate non-tari barriers for meeting environmen-tal 
concerns oer opportunities to access new markets 
or maintain existing ones, based on environmentally 
sound practices. Problems arise, though, when the pur-pose 
of technical measures goes beyond their legitimate 
objectives. Some countries may use them as strategic 
instruments of trade policy, such that measures become a 
form of protectionism and can unfairly restrict imports.13 
A recent proposal from Argentina on the NAMA nego-tiations 
points out that non-tari barriers, for example 
in the chemical sector, distort international trade and 
increase export-related transaction costs for domestic 
industries, placing them at a clear disadvantage relative 
to other WTO producers. 
During the past few years, several mineral-exporting 
countries have expressed concern about the potential for 
national and regional legislation to become non-tari bar-riers 
to developing-country mining exports. One notable 
case is examined in box 9.1.
International Trade and Investment Issues 119 
Box 9.1 
Anxieties over REACH 
Highlights 
The Regulatory Framework for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) is the European 
Union (EU) chemicals legislation that will manage the safe use of chemicals throughout their entire lifecycle. It has 
particular ramifications for metal producers, applying directly to metals, metal compounds and metals in alloy manu-factured 
in and imported into the EU. 
In effect since June 2007 the REACH system has four pillars: registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of 
chemicals. It will apply to all substances, on their own, in preparations and in articles manufactured in or imported 
into the EU market in quantities of 1 tonne or more a year. REACH requires most chemicals within the scope of the 
Regulation to be registered in order to have the right to be manufactured in and to have access to the EU market. 
Pre-registration and registration apply directly to metals, metal compounds and metals in alloys manufactured in or 
imported into the EU market. It does not apply to minerals, ores and ore concentrates if they are not chemically modi-fied. 
Without pre-registration, access to the EU is denied. If pre-registration is not completed and the marketing or use 
of the substance continues, the producer or importer and clients are at risk, as marketing is then illegal.1 
Concerns 
Government and industry representatives in Latin America, North America and Africa have expressed their concerns 
that REACH rules have the potential to become a non-tariff barrier to mining-related products. 
t The India-Brazil-South Africa Ministerial Declaration made in March 2006 in Brazil expressed concern at 
the unintended consequences of REACH on developing economies. It urged the EU to ensure that REACH 
would not become a technical barrier to trade. Ministers also expressed concerns that high compliance costs, 
the possibilities for substituting commodities and the lack of technological and human resource capacity to 
comply might render the EU market inaccessible for exports from developing countries. The South African 
representative noted that REACH would impose additional costs of approximately €9.2 billion on developing 
countries as well as entail a lengthy registration process. 
t Ministers from 26 African countries at the Second African Mining Partnership Plenary in February 2005 in 
Cape Town expressed their concerns about potential “unintended consequences” of REACH legislation on 
exports to Europe of African mineral products and the need, therefore, to ensure that REACH would “not 
create obstacles to economic development and poverty reduction strategies of African states”. They called 
for exemptions, simplified procedures and assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to comply 
with REACH rules. 
Source: Yupari, 2010. 
Notes: 
Export taxes 
Export taxes can play a key role in developing competitive 
industries in commodity-dependent developing countries, 
and are widely used: recent data suggest that 11 per cent 
of world trade in natural resources is covered by export 
taxes,14 but just 5 per cent of total world trade. Some 15–25 
per cent of world trade in $sh and forestry, and 5–10 per 
cent of that in fuels and mining, are also estimated to be 
covered by export taxes. !ese taxes are not prohibited 
by the relevant WTO agreement.15 
Many regional trade agreements have, however, forbidden 
their use on the basis that they can distort trade and prices,
120 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
such as those under the EU, the North American Free 
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), CARICOM, MERCOSUR 
and ANZCERTA. Some bilateral free-trade agreements 
also prohibit export taxes, such as Canada–Chile, Can-ada– 
Costa Rica, Japan–Singapore and the EU–Mexico.16 
In the mining industry, the incidence of these taxes varies 
greatly among product sub-headings, with iron, copper, 
natural or cultured pearls and stones the most frequently 
subject to export taxes (table 9.1). 
Table 9.1 
Export taxes on selected minerals 
Mineral commodity Country Export tax rate (per cent unless otherwise noted) 
Aluminium China 15 
Russia 6.5 
Indonesia 10 
Manganese China 20 
Ghana 6 
Molybdenum China 15–20 
Russia 6.5 
Nickel Russia 5–30 (depending upon form) 
Ukraine 30, but not less than €5.50/kilogram 
Steel scrap China 10 
Russia 15 or €15/metric ton (whichever is larger) 
India 15 
Argentina 20 
Guinea GNF25,000/metric ton ($4.98 at current rates) 
Vietnam 35 
Tin China 10–20 
Russia 6.5 
Congo, Dem. Rep. of 11 
Indonesia 10 
Tungsten China 10 
Russia 6.5 
Zinc China 5–15 
Ukraine 30, but not less than €0.32/kilogram 
Source: Price, 2009. 
Many developed economies, notably the United States, EU 
and Japan, are increasingly critical of export taxes and 
other export restrictions. !ey argue that these distort 
trade and pose a threat to the competitiveness of their 
$rms by driving up the price of their inputs while lower-ing 
them for their competitors. China in particular has 
been targeted by both the United States and the EU and 
accused of giving unfair advantage to its export $rms by 
placing restrictions, including taxes on some of its exports, 
in particular rare earths. In 2009 the United States and 
EU lodged coordinated complaints against China at the 
WTO, arguing that its export restrictions on raw materials 
such as coking coal were distorting the global market and 
damaging their steel manufacturers.17 
!e EU, which imports 70–80 per cent of its primary 
resources, had already declared “an open global market 
completely free of all distortions on trade in energy and 
raw materials” as a key goal of its trade policy.18 !e 
EU’s strategy of using free trade agreements to prohibit 
or restrict the use of export taxes has been implemented 
through EPAs, which go well beyond the goods agree-ments 
needed for WTO compatibility. For example, the 
goods agreement of the comprehensive EPA signed in
International Trade and Investment Issues 121 
2007 between the EU and the 15-member Caribbean 
Forum (CARIFORUM) contains an undertaking by the 
Caribbean countries to eliminate export taxes within 
three years. !e interim EPAs with African countries and 
regions contain various provisions that aim to eliminate 
or severely restrict the use of export taxes to exceptional 
circumstances or on mutual agreement. Côte d’Ivoire 
and Ghana, for example, can apply export taxes if they 
can show exceptional circumstances, the East African 
Community can use export taxes if it is authorized by an 
EPA Council and Cameroun and the Southern African 
Development Community (SADC) need to consult the 
European Commission before applying such taxes.19 Such 
provisions limit the ability of African signatory countries 
and regions to use export taxes in promoting the process-ing 
of primary commodities, including minerals. 
Some African, Caribbean and Paci$c countries have ex-pressed 
concerns about the EPA restrictions on export 
taxes based on implications for policies aimed at stimu-lating 
movement up the value chain. In April 2008 a 
conference of African Union ministers of trade and of 
$nance issued a joint declaration on the EPAs in which 
they called for the review of various provisions in the 
interim EPAs, including those on export taxes. 
Disagreement over export taxes is one of the more conten-tious 
issues holding up the conclusion of comprehensive 
EPAs involving African EPA groupings.20 Namibia signed 
the SADC interim EPA only aer reserving the right 
not to implement the agreement unless the provision on 
export taxes was lied. 
Even though export taxes are not a magic bullet, they 
could be part of policy strategies that provide incentives 
for developing domestic manufacturing or processing 
industries that have higher value-added exports and that 
generate jobs in mineral-rich developing economies. 21 
!e Dar es Salaam Declaration of Trade Ministers of 
LDCs calls for #exibility in using export taxes on fuels 
and mining commodities as they are legitimate tools for 
development.22 Furthermore, a well-designed progressive 
export tax system could serve as an income stabilization 
instrument—tax rates follow world commodity prices up 
and down, capturing windfall gains and moderating the 
adverse impact of falling prices on producers’ income.23 
Distortion of market price signals is a potential negative 
eect of export taxes. For this reason, some authors have 
suggested that policymakers should also consider other 
potential counter-eects such as intermediate traders’ 
rather than processors’ appropriation of the lower cost 
margin as a result of imperfections in internal markets, 
and the negative impacts on the country’s terms of trade if 
the international market for the processed good is domi-nated 
by a single buyer.24 
Foreign investment regulation and domestic policy space 
Africa’s liberal mining regimes illustrate the importance 
its governments give to attracting foreign direct invest-ment 
(FDI). Many governments see extensive foreign 
investment regulations—in, for example, WTO agree-ments, 
regional or bilateral trade agreements and bilateral 
investment treaties (BITs)—as trade-os for securing FDI. 
BITs are important international binding instruments 
that shape the current framework for FDI. From the very 
beginning, treaties focused on investment protection 
against nationalization or expropriation, assurances for 
the free transfer of funds and the provision for dispute-settlement 
mechanisms between investors and host states. 
Developed countries sign BITs to open investment oppor-tunities 
for their $rms abroad, and developing countries 
sign them to increase FDI. But the in#uence of BITs in 
attracting investment is disputed, with separate studies 
by UNCTAD and the World Bank concluding that their 
in#uence is at best marginal.25 
!e General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and 
the Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures 
(TRIMs) are WTO’s agreements with the most direct and 
indirect provisions on FDI. GATS creates a framework 
under which WTO members decide which service sectors 
and subsectors they will liberalize, subject to the basic
122 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
principles of market access and national treatment and to 
the conditions to which access and treatment are subject. 
GATS therefore oers countries the option of allowing 
foreign service providers entry into their markets under 
conditions that they pre-determine. It covers a wide range 
of services from the most complex to the simplest deliv-ered 
through four modes of supply of services. Delivery 
mode 3—“commercial presence”, which covers FDI by 
service suppliers—is the key mode for foreign investment 
regulation. 
Market access and national treatment under GATS have 
implications for domestic policy space, especially in di-recting 
foreign investment towards national development 
goals and in promoting domestic enterprises. Most Afri-can 
countries have few prospects for exporting services, 
especially under mode 3, and so commitments may not 
come with any reciprocal bene$ts. !us despite requests 
from other WTO member countries—mainly developed 
economies—most African countries have been cautious in 
making commitments, though some have made sweeping 
commitments in many sectors and sub-sectors under 
modes 1, 2 and 3. For example, the United States made a 
request to Ghana in 2002 demanding removal of all limita-tions 
on market access and permit national treatment in 
the provision of energy services under modes 1, 2 and 3. 
!e extent to which these agreements can help African 
countries to balance investment protection and wider 
economic development depends on their content and on 
whether rules and limitations they impose are consistent 
with countries’ broader development goals and social 
expectations.26 
!e important question is therefore whether and how 
far African countries can retain the ability to make the 
choices and decisions necessary for promoting their na-tional 
development objectives by in#uencing, through 
direct or indirect measures, the amount and kinds of FDI 
that they receive, and more important, freely regulate the 
conduct of the foreign $rms involved. 
Performance requirements 
One area where the constraining eects of the interna-tional 
investment regulatory regime are patent concerns 
performance requirements on foreign $rms, described as 
“a hallmark of industrial policy”. Historically, countries 
have combined incentives with regulations to encour-age 
$rms, especially foreign, to deepen and extend their 
integration into local economies and to ful$l national 
development objectives. !ese measures have been used 
to pursue a range of policy objectives, including increas-ing 
the use of local content, especially by foreign $rms, 
as well as promoting export manufacturing, technology 
transfer and joint ventures between local and foreign 
$rms; developing local human resources; encouraging 
learning by doing; and creating jobs.27 
TRIMS outlawed many performance requirements, forbid-ding 
those inconsistent with the international principle 
of national treatment or the prohibition on quantitative 
restrictions stated by the General Agreement on Taris 
and Trade (GATT). TRIMs is not intended to regulate 
investment speci$cally and does not directly aect WTO 
members’ ability to regulate and place conditions on the 
entry and use of foreign investment.28 From a development 
perspective the important point is TRIMs’ “prohibition 
of domestic-content requirements whereby an investor is 
compelled or provided an incentive to use domestically 
produced rather than imported products, and of foreign-trade 
or foreign-exchange-balancing earnings or to foreign 
exchange in#ows attributable to investment”.29 National 
policy and legal measures favouring domestic products 
could therefore con#ict with TRIMs measures. 
Developing countries strongly opposed TRIMs and many 
have shown little enthusiasm for eliminating the instru-ments 
it targets since they see them as necessary for en-couraging 
industrialization. Many also feel that TRIMs 
imposes restrictions on government action without re-ciprocal 
restrictions on the actions of multi-nationals. 
According to UNCTAD (2007: 1): 
“Many countries have used these performance re-quirements 
as a tool to maximize the bene#ts from 
foreign direct investment (FDI). For instance, local 
content requirements, which force foreign investors
International Trade and Investment Issues 123 
to purchase a proportion of their production inputs 
from domestic sources, are generally designed to 
create local jobs and training, promote the transfer 
of technology and ameliorate trade imbalances”. 
At the 2005 WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong it was 
agreed that least-developed countries could continue to 
apply existing TRIMs till 2012 subject to further extension 
by the WTO Council for Trade in Goods. Furthermore 
least-developed countries could introduce new TRIMs 
for $ve years from 2005, which could be extended. But 
all least-developed countries are to phase out all TRIMs 
by 2020. !ese decisions should have been signi$cant for 
Africa, which has 33 of the 49 countries classi$ed as least-developed 
countries, including mineral-rich countries 
such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. Because 
the Doha Round is incomplete, however, these decisions 
have not been implemented, though least-developed coun-tries 
could press for them to be treated as an early harvest 
from the negotiations, so that they come into force before 
the Doha Round negotiations are concluded. 
Performance and economic requirements such as those 
to increase linkages between foreign investors and local 
manufacturers would help in balancing extensive liber-alization 
normally promoted by international investment 
agreements, and it is possible to make them consistent with 
WTO rules. Local content and technology transfer meas-ures 
could help to establish upstream and downstream 
linkages and contribute towards the host country’s eco-nomic 
development.30 But performance requirements need 
to have clear objectives and to be eectively enforced. 
As seen, since the 1990s Africa’s strategy for attracting 
FDI into mining has involved a liberal approach to how 
and where companies source their inputs of goods and 
services. Some countries allow mining companies to retain 
a large slice of their foreign exchange earnings outside 
the producing country to cover their imports and other 
operational expenses. In Ghana, for instance, the central 
bank allowed external retention of 80 per cent in 2008 and 
2009, though according to the Ghana Chamber of Mines 
actual external retention was only 37 per cent in 2008 and 
34 per cent in 2009, and in 2008, Ghana’s LSM procured 
47 per cent of inputs and 71 per cent of consumables lo-cally. 
31 !e dierence between allowable retentions and 
actual foreign procurement in the Ghanaian case could 
be an example of how mining $rms are becoming more 
sensitive to host country interests in backward/upstream 
linkages. 
Mining companies’ local content strategies have tended 
to focus on their immediate scope of work, that is, those 
construction or management functions and activities es-sential 
to develop or operate the project. Policies should 
therefore seek to better align these strategies with aspects 
of public economic policy and priorities for industrial 
development, private sector development, investment 
promotion and competitiveness.32 
Performance requirements and BITs 
Some regional and bilateral agreements are much more 
restrictive than TRIMs on performance requirements 
because they address all measures regulating FDI, not 
just those related to trade. NAFTA, for example, prohibits 
performance requirements as a condition for making, 
or aer making, an investment.33 BITs with the United 
States, exempli$ed by that with Rwanda (box 9.2), have 
prohibitions on investment performance requirements 
that go well beyond those that are only trade related.34
124 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 9.2 
Excerpts from the 2008 US–Rwanda BIT 
Article 8: Performance Requirements 
1. Neither Party may, in connection with the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, 
or sale or other disposition of an investment of an investor of a Party or of a non-Party in its territory, impose or enforce 
any requirement or enforce any commitment or undertaking: 
(a) to export a given level or percentage of goods or services; 
(b) to achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content; 
(c) to purchase, use, or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from persons 
in its territory; 
(d) to relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign 
exchange inflows associated with such investment; 
(e) to restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such 
sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings; 
(f) to transfer a particular technology, a production process, or other proprietary knowledge to a person in its 
territory; or 
(g) to supply exclusively from the territory of the Party the goods that such investment produces or the services 
that it supplies to a specific regional market or to the world market. 
2. Neither Party may condition the receipt or continued receipt of an advantage, in connection with the establishment, 
acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, or sale or other disposition of an investment in its territory 
of an investor of a Party or of a non-Party, on compliance with any requirement: 
(a) to achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content; 
(b) to purchase, use, or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from persons 
in its territory; 
(c) to relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign 
exchange inflows associated with such investment; or 
(d) to restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such 
sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings. 
US and Canadian BITs typically seek pre-establishment 
concessions, which mean that investors bene$t from most 
favoured nation treatment and national treatment even 
before they set up. !ey are therefore released from per-formance 
requirements, which tend to be conditions for 
entry. EU BITs, in contrast, tend to make most favoured 
nation and national treatment status subsequent to entry, 
making an investor more susceptible to performance 
requirements.35 
Some BITs have started to refer to sensitive issues such as 
human rights and socio-economic development overall. 
South Africa’s more recent BITs, for example, refer to its 
Black Economic Empowerment programme (box 9.3).
International Trade and Investment Issues 125 
Box 9.3 
South Africa’s BITs and development challenges 
Post-apartheid South Africa pushed for BITs to open the country to greater foreign investment. However, questions are 
being raised over the compatibility of some of the terms of BITs that have extensive policy measures, such as those on 
improving the lot of historically disadvantaged South Africans. The relationship between the country’s constitutional 
provisions aimed at redressing the effects of many decades of deeply entrenched social injustice and the limitations 
imposed by some BITs is also a subject of discussion. 
Some foreign investors and their governments argue that the Black Economic Empowerment programme runs counter 
to the guarantees provided in treaty obligations offering national treatment, most favoured nation treatment, or fair 
and equitable treatment. The programme has measures for employment-equity, preferential access to government 
contracts and licences as well as sector-specific charters that require companies to meet indicators and targets for 
divestiture of minority equity stakes to partners in the programme. To avoid such arguments, the BIT with the Czech 
Republic specifically upholds measures to promote equality or advance people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. 
The government’s BIT Policy Framework Review of 2009 stated that major issues for developing countries were 
not being addressed in the BIT negotiating process, thereby imposing rules with severe implications for sustainable 
development. It argued that investment provisions in BITs did not compel foreign companies to transfer technology, 
train local workers or obtain materials locally. Also missing were special or differential treatment clauses that would 
specifically provide for the economic development of treaty parties. Finally, it found that treaties appeared to favour 
the interests of developed countries and their business entities, and lacked adequate safeguards, exceptions and 
limitations necessary for legitimate government activity. 
Sources: Bastida and Yupari, 2009; Department of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa, 2009a, 2009b; South African Human 
Rights Commission, 2009; Peterson, 2006. 
Performance requirements in EPAs 
!e EPAs between the EU and some African regions— 
including interim EPAs with 18 African countries signed 
at end-2007—could restrict African countries’ policy 
freedom in regulating EU investors. !e interim EPAs 
cover only goods but contain varying provisions on trade 
issues, such as investment, competition, public procure-ment, 
services and intellectual property, which could be 
the subject of future negotiations under “rendezvous” 
clauses. !e interim EPAs of the Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and 
the Central African Economic and Monetary Community 
have the most comprehensive provisions.36 
!e EU retains a consistency in its demands for compre-hensive 
EPAs with all African negotiating regions. Of 
the African, Caribbean and Paci$c members, only the 
CARIFORUM grouping has concluded a comprehensive 
EPA, and its provisions oer pointers to what the EU will 
be seeking in African EPAs. !is agreement has been 
described as “exceeding”, in that it goes far beyond the 
thresholds for determining WTO compatibility laid down 
in article XXIV of the GATT, article V of the GATS as 
well as many “WTO-plus” terms. On this basis Sauvé and 
Ward (2009) conclude that: 
“!e CARIFORUM EPA represents a signi#cant de-parture 
from earlier trade arrangements between the 
[European Commission] and the CARIFORUM region 
by moving beyond goods trade and incorporating ar-eas 
such as trade in services, investment, government 
procurement, competition policy and trade-related 
intellectual property matters. … Indeed, even while 
allowing for inevitable dierences in EPAs to be (pos-sibly) 
concluded with the African and Paci#c regions 
owing to dierences in economic structures, develop-ment 
levels and collective preferences, the argument 
can be made that the CARIFORUM EPA has set the
126 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
bar for all subsequent EPA negotiations and perhaps 
indeed for future preferential trade agreements (PTAs) 
entered into by the EU. !ere is little doubt that such 
a bar is quite high”. 
Provisions under the services, investment and competition 
agreements in the CARIFORUM EPA combine to limit the 
powers of CARIFORUM countries to regulate the entry 
of EU capital, and set the terms on which EU $rms enter 
and operate. All these agreements provide for the national 
treatment of EU capital in CARIFORUM countries, such 
that they cannot be disadvantaged in any way relative to 
local economic actors, by measures such as performance 
requirements. Under the investment agreement, the par-ties 
agreed to remove restrictions on foreign ownership, 
prohibit the use of instruments normally used to screen 
foreign investment for its local bene$ts and to provide na-tional 
treatment for foreign capital, which implies outlaw-ing 
performance requirements “that encourage economic 
linkages or protect domestic enterprises”.37 
“!us, by sidelining domestic tools to encourage for-eign 
investment, the EPA model displaces the adapt-ability 
that domestic instruments oer in terms of the 
tailoring and staging of regulation as the costs and 
bene#ts of market access in dierent sectors become 
more apparent over time. It is in this sense that the 
EPA model demands that [African, Caribbean and 
Paci#c] states relinquish core policy space; they must 
accept legal restrictions in a treaty instrument that 
lacks adaptability and that will be very di%cult to 
adjust or withdraw from”.38 
Expropriation provisions 
Expropriation ranked among the top controversial issues 
when international laws on investment were developed. 
!e basic principles of customary international law on 
expropriation state that foreign-owned property may not 
be expropriated or subject to a measure tantamount to 
expropriation unless four conditions are met: the measure 
is for public purposes; it is taken in accordance with ap-plicable 
laws and due process; it is non-discriminatory; 
and it is accompanied by compensation.39 
International legal doctrine distinguishes between two 
broad categories of expropriation: direct expropriation, 
which entails the actual taking of property by direct 
means, including the loss of all, or almost all, useful con-trol 
over property; and indirect taking, where the meas-ure 
deprives the owner of the substantial bene$ts of the 
property, without formal expropriation. One important 
type of indirect taking is a regulatory expropriation, where 
a measure is taken for regulatory purposes, but has an 
impact on the economic value of the investment su%cient 
to be considered an expropriation. In recent years, the 
potential for investment disputes over alleged regulatory 
expropriation has shot up. !e literature suggests that the 
main challenge is how to distinguish between legitimate 
exercise of government authority and regulatory taking 
that requires compensation. 
Investor–state dispute settlement 
International investment agreements oen provide for 
settling disputes by negotiation between the parties. Some 
include provisions authorizing arbitration between foreign 
investors and host states without involving the investor’s 
home state. !e most elaborate provision for investor–state 
arbitration is in NAFTA (and some recent FTAs that fol-low 
the NAFTA model). 
NAFTA authorizes the investor to submit claims that the 
host state has breached the investment chapter of NAFTA 
to arbitration before the World Bank’s International Center 
for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Additional 
Facility or an ad hoc tribunal under arbitration rules of 
the United Nations Commission on International Trade 
Law. NAFTA provisions address issues that provisions in 
international investment agreements are oen silent on, 
such as the submission of the same dispute to local courts, 
the place of arbitration, appointment of experts, remedies 
available, interim measures and enforcement of awards.40 
Since the late 1990s, the number of treaty-based inves-tor– 
state disputes has grown enormously. Some have
International Trade and Investment Issues 127 
gone to the International Center for the Settlement of 
Investment Disputes, the United Nations Commission 
on International Trade Law, the Stockholm Chamber of 
Commerce, ad hoc arbitration, and the Cairo Regional 
Centre for International Commercial Arbitration. !e rise 
in such disputes has triggered discussion on what should 
be the proper counterweight to investors’ rights in inter-national 
investment agreements. Some recent agreements 
emphasize public policy concerns, balancing private and 
public interests by including general exceptions to protect 
public health, safety or the environment. 
Policy implications 
As the number of trade and investment agreements contin-ues 
to expand, a new generation of agreements is emerg-ing 
with sophisticated and complex provisions in which 
countries and multi-national companies have to work. 
Developing countries may face two main challenges. 41 
First is a challenge of capacity. Many lack the resources 
to participate fully in writing and implementing interna-tional 
investment rules. Without the necessary knowledge, 
negotiators from African (and other) developing countries 
may $nd it hard to take part in talks to obtain conces-sions, 
or may engage in them without fully grasping the 
consequences of any agreement they reach. 
Second is a challenge of content. Countries may $nd it 
di%cult to link the goal of creating a stable, predictable 
and transparent FDI policy framework that enables in-ternational 
$rms to advance their objectives with their 
own objective of retaining the margin of freedom needed 
to pursue their development goals. 
It is of overriding importance for African and other de-veloping 
countries to maintain a consistent eye for the full 
implications of the speci$c provisions of any treaties they 
are invited to enter, and not to sign them on the basis of 
what could turn out to be a naïve faith in these treaties’ 
objectives and signi$cance. 
Endnotes 
1 AUC-UNECA, 2009: 7, emphasis added. 
2. !e Addis Ababa Declaration on Development and 
Management of Africa’s Mineral Resources, adopted 
by the First African Union Conference of Ministers 
Responsible for Mineral Resources Development, 
October 2008. 
3. ul Haque, 2007. 
4. UNCTAD, 2006a. 
5. UNCTAD, 2006a. 
6. UNCTAD, 2010. 
7. Chang, 2005. 
8. China Cement Net, 2010; East Africa seeks higher 
taris for cement imports. 
http://www.cementchina.net/news/shownews. 
asp?id=7184 
We must stop the Chinese onslaught- Aluworks boss. 
http://www.ghananewslink.com/?id=12708 
9. Botswana, Egypt, Gabon, Morocco, Namibia, South 
Africa, Swaziland and Tunisia. 
10. European Commission, 2007. 
11. South Centre, 2008. 
12. UNCTAD, 2006. 
13. UNCTAD, 2006b. 
14 WTO, 2010. 
15. According to Article XI.I of GATT “No prohibitions or 
restrictions other than duties, taxes or other charges, 
whether made eective through quotas, import or 
export licences or other measures, shall be instituted 
or maintained by any contracting party on the im-portation 
of any product of the territory of any other 
contracting party or on the exportation or sale for 
export of any product destined for the territory of 
any other contracting party.” 
16. Piermartini, 2004.
128 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
17. O%ce of the United States Trade Representative, 2009. 
18. Mandelson, 2008. 
19. Stevens et al., 2008. 
20. AUC, 2010. 
21. !ird World Network, 2010. 
22. WTO, 2009. 
23. WTO, 2010. 
24. Piermartini, 2004. 
25. Hallward-Driemeier, 2003. 
26. Mann, 2008. 
27. UNCTAD, 2006b. 
28. UNCTAD, 2007a. 
29 Akyuz, 2005: 54. 
30. Singh, 2007. 
31. Ghana Chamber of Mines, 2009. 
32. ODI(Overseas Development Institute), 2006. 
33. Yupari, 2010. 
34. Tobin and Rose-Ackerman, 2003. 
35. Molineuvo et al, 2006; Malik, 2006. 
36. Stevens et al., 2008. 
37. Van Harten,2008. 
38. Van Harten,2008. 
39. UNCTAD, 2007b. 
40. UNCTAD, 2006b. 
41. UNCTAD, 2007b.
129 
Mineral 
Management: 
!e Power of 
Institutions 10 
CHAPTER 
“A well-governed mining sector 
contributing to an industrializing 
Africa”—!e Africa Mining Vision 
ONE OF THE central themes in this report is the need for 
a shi in policy focus from a concentration on extracting 
minerals to a broader framework that integrates policies 
for mining, industry and development. !is follows from 
the goals in the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) of a sector 
that is not only “a key component of a diversi$ed, vibrant 
and globally competitive industrializing African econo-my”, 
but is also “knowledge-driven” and “catalyzes and 
contributes to…. broad-based growth and development”. 
Other chapters have suggested that this central theme 
and these goals have implications for institutional policy. 
!is chapter seeks to explore these implications, as well 
as those relating to ful$lling the vision of a sustainable 
and well-governed mining sector. 
Rethinking the role of institutions to meet development objectives 
Integrated policies on industrialization and development 
require an analysis of the links between the institutions re-sponsible 
for mining and those for other sectors (such as 
infrastructure, agriculture, trade, industrial development, 
technical training, employment and health).!ey also require 
an analysis of these institutions’ capacities. Mkandawire (2010) 
re-emphasizes a conception of institutions as (potentially) 
“transformative instruments in the context of extreme poverty 
and under-development” and not merely as “constraints on 
social actors”.1 
A recent review of the African state in post-colonial economic 
performance reveals the controversy over state institutions 
directly engaged in production, marketing and other com-mercial 
activities.2It also notes the impact of World Bank 
programmes in weakening state institutions already in cri-sis 
and in promoting an ideology inconsistent with build-ing 
a set of strong programmes to lead eorts at structural 
transformation. It argues for a “developmental state”—a state 
that “provides [leadership and] guidance in constructing … [a 
comprehensive development] framework”; a framework that 
contains “incentives and sanctions, so that economic agents 
who meet targets are rewarded and those who fail are penal-ized”. 
It recognizes that development policy requires dialogue 
with key social and economic agents, but argues that, because 
“free market forces will not drive economic transformation 
on their own, the developmental state must play a central role 
in resource allocation and in e%cient coordination of crucial 
economic activities”.3 
Evans (2010) makes the seemingly obvious point that “only 
a #exible, creative process of exploration and experimenta-tion 
that pays careful attention to local institutional starting 
points” can help to establish institutional arrangements that 
produce a developmental state. !is approach has, however,
130 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
been contrasted with the actual experience of many African 
countries over the last three decades or more.4 
!e following points therefore bear underlining: institutions 
are more than formal structures; transplanting borrowed 
institutions does not necessarily work (though a compara-tive 
study of others’ experiences can contribute to creative 
adaptation); a healthy scepticism is required to assess pro-posals 
for adopting models, given a tendency to create ideal 
constructs that ignore the limitations of the real institutions 
from which they are abstracted and the particular contexts 
in which they emerge and operate; institutions take years to 
make an impact, which requires a long-term view rather than 
short-term $xes; and the capacity of African nations to evolve 
successful arrangements is severely undermined to the extent 
that the reform process is—regardless of the rhetoric—driven 
by powerful external agendas. 
Institutions promoting mineral-based linkages 
!e most important institutions are those with responsibility 
for technical education, infrastructure development (especially 
power, transport and telecommunications) and $nancial re-source 
mobilization. Linkage development requires promotion 
of technical and entrepreneurial skills, support for institutions 
that oer training for science and technology research and 
development (RD), as well as a fostering of greater interac-tion 
between such institutions and industry.5 
Upstill and Hall (2006) give an account of extensive Austral-ian 
government support for minerals-related RD. Some of 
the institutions through which this is funnelled are the Com-monwealth 
Scienti$c and Industrial Research Organization 
and the Cooperative Research Centres programme based in 
the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. 
An analogous institution for Canadian government support 
for RD is the Canada Mining Innovation Council. Box 10.1 
discusses South Africa’s main mineral research institution.
Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 131 
Box 10.1 
Mintek: World class mineral and metallurgical innovation 
South Africa’s national mineral research organization, Mintek, is one of the world’s leading research and development 
(RD) institutions specializing in mineral processing, extractive metallurgy and other mineral-related services. 
Mintek works closely with industry and other RD bodies, providing a complete range of process technology develop-ment 
services, from preliminary laboratory bench-scale investigations to large-scale pilot plant testing, and integrated 
mineral process flow sheet design and development in support of bankable feasibility studies. 
It carries out engineering design, plant construction and commissioning activities with local and international partners. 
Mintek’s technology services are backed by comprehensive laboratory and pilot plant facilities for sample preparation, 
crushing and grinding, physical separation processes, flotation, smelting, leaching, metal recovery and purification. 
These facilities are supported by internationally accredited analytical laboratory and mineralogical services. 
About 27 per cent of Mintek’s annual budget is funded by the Parliamentary Science Vote, with the rest funded by 
commercial activities for clients worldwide. Activities include contract RD, sales of products and services, technology-licencing 
agreements and running joint-venture private companies. 
As an RD institute, Mintek is an important part of the South African National Innovation System. After a Science White 
Paper in 1996, South Africa reviewed all science councils, including Mintek, to improve their science and technology 
competitiveness. The Government set up a National System of Innovation, along with an Innovation Fund, to evenly 
spread the research funds under the Parliamentary Science Vote to all players in the science, engineering and tech-nology 
arena through a competitive research-bidding process. 
This encouraged collaborative research between the Government, science councils, universities and firms. Among 
the criteria for accessing the Innovation Fund are potential for commercializing research results and products, a clear 
illustration of national economic and social benefit, and a demonstration of how South Africa’s competitive position in 
innovation would be improved, locally and internationally. 
Several mineral-based projects, with the theme of value addition, have been launched with support from the Innovation 
Fund. Examples include computer-aided design and manufacture of gold, platinum and diamond jewellery; research 
into manufacturing high-temperature platinum and manganese alloys for aerospace; and setting up alternative tech-nologies 
for the local titanium industry. 
Source: Mintek, www.mintek.co.za; National Advisory Council on Innovation, www.nacinnovation.biz/; Department of Science and Technology 
of the Republic of South Africa, www.dst.gov.za. 
International $nancial institutions have their own role to 
play along the value chain, including building capacity 
among public and private entities and providing grants 
and loans, including the African Development Bank 
(box 10.2).
132 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 10.2 
!e African Development Bank 
The African Development Bank’s mission is to help to reduce poverty, improve living conditions for Africans and 
mobilize resources for the continent’s economic and social development. The institution aims to assist African coun-tries— 
individually and collectively—in their efforts to achieve sustainable economic development and social progress. 
Established in 1963, it supports the development agendas of its regional member countries. It has traditionally been 
involved in developing infrastructure. Its support for the Infrastructure Programme and Spatial Development Initiatives 
of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the African Peer Review Mechanism and its sponsorship of the 
African Legal Support Facility are recent instances of initiatives linked to the broader framework for the mineral policy 
proposed by the Africa Mining Vision. 
The African Development Bank is an important player in its regional member countries. Its engagement in mining has 
included direct lending to private entities, equity investments and technical assistance. Projects have ranged from 
construction of cement plants, mining of iron deposits to bauxite processing. 
Source: African Development Bank Group, www.afdb.org. 
In 2006 the New Partnership for Africa’s Development 
(NEPAD) initiated a continent-wide study on spatial de-velopment 
initiatives (SDIs) that proposed an indicative 
list of development corridors across the continent, mainly 
anchored on mineral resources, which could underpin 
development in other sectors.6 Annex 2 of the AMV con-tains 
a summary of the SDI concept and contends that 
“the SDI model provides a practical way to achieve a 
regional approach to development which goes beyond 
the limitations of multi-country projects, encouraging 
a sustained process of integrated development within a 
region de$ned by its economic potential rather than its 
political boundaries”.7 
!e SDI approach promotes the spatial “densi$cation” of 
resource corridors to catalyse development in other sec-tors 
by densifying the trunk infrastructure with feeder 
infrastructure to realize stranded potential in other sec-tors, 
particularly agriculture and agro-processing, for-estry 
and wood processing as well as tourism. Resource 
contracts need, however, to stipulate third-party access 
to infrastructure at non-discriminatory taris in order 
to realize this collateral impact. !e SDI approach also 
promotes sectoral deepening through backward and for-ward 
linkages of all resource projects (not just minerals) 
and infrastructure projects in a given area. (Chapter 11 
summarizes the projects in which regional economic 
communities are harmonizing mineral policies, and SDI 
has a role in that.)
Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 133 
Map 10.1 
Potential Resource-based African Development Corridors 
Nepad SDP: Source AMV, Annex 2, AU, Addis Ababa 2009. 
Traditional institutional roles in mining 
!e institutions with responsibility for more traditional 
mining roles, such as licensing exploration and mining, 
and negotiating agreements for such operations, can pro-mote 
linkages. !e imposition on mining companies of 
obligations for building open access infrastructure (see 
chapter 7) is one potential mechanism. Support oered 
by these institutions to local small-scale miners in skills 
training, new equipment or access to funding on so 
terms can also enhance development impacts. Some initia-tives, 
conceived and implemented in a sustained manner, 
could have a large impact not only on local participation 
in mining but also integrate mining better into national 
economies (see chapter 5). 
At least in terms of formally expressed policy prescrip-tions, 
we have long moved from the position where the 
fundamental objective was to limit state institutions on 
the basis of an ideology of faith in the free market.8 !at 
position oen led to a dogmatic insistence on cutting 
back public expenditure, with little regard for strategic 
considerations of development objectives, thus resulting 
in a weakening of institutions which were already under 
pressure from the crises facing the economies in which 
they operated.9 
!e controversy over the role of state mining enterprises 
has been alluded to: many have been unsuccessful in Af-rica 
and have disappeared from the institutional landscape
134 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
(see chapter 2), but some remain both in Africa (such as 
Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company—see box 8.1 
in chapter 8) and in other regions (see chapter 3).10 To be 
meaningful, discussions in Africa about creating such 
enterprises (similar to those in Namibia and South Africa) 
have to identify carefully the particular objectives to be 
served, take account of the variety of historical experi-ences 
and be ready with mechanisms for addressing the 
institutional weaknesses that in the past contributed to 
their poor performance. 
!e importance of government geological survey institu-tions 
is now widely acknowledged. !ey can provide a base 
of information, which improves both the quality of deci-sions 
and the negotiating positions of African countries 
when dealing with international companies. Yet many 
geological surveys on the continent have poor human 
and material resources. Institutions with responsibility 
for regulating the environmental impact of mineral opera-tions 
have become more prominent aspects of the legal 
landscape in Africa over the last two decades. 
Institutions for designing mining $scal regimes and for 
collecting and auditing revenue from mineral operations 
require attention. Skills requirements become even more 
pronounced in designing and administering resource 
rent taxes.11 Some countries have sought to improve per-formance 
by setting up specialized units in government 
revenue agencies and cooperating with the state institu-tions 
that have specialist knowledge. For the Extractive 
Industries Transparency Initiative particularly, some have 
used private auditors. 
Negotiating contracts 
!e AMV identi$es the critical nature of the initial con-tract 
negotiations and the need “...to improve the capacity 
of African states to negotiate with the resource TNCs on 
the resource exploitation regime. Generally these negotia-tions 
are extremely asymmetrical, where the TNC is highly 
resourced and skilled and the state poorly”.12 It notes that 
these contracts tend to be long-term and negotiated early 
on, before mineral extraction begins, presenting serious 
obstacles to renegotiating them. It is therefore important 
for government negotiators to identify crucial issues at 
the outset, including those involving potential linkages, 
even though the local economy may not be able to take 
advantage of them immediately. Other important outputs 
are shown in box 10.3.
Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 135 
Box 10.3 
!e Africa Mining Vision key outputs of mineral contracts 
The Africa Mining Vision recommends that negotiators should secure agreement on the following before signing any 
mineral contract: 
t An equitable share of the resource rents. 
t A flexible fiscal regime that is sensitive to price movements and stimulates national development. 
t Third-party access to the resource infrastructure (particularly transport, energy and water) at non-discriminatory 
tariffs. 
t The development of the local resource supplier/inputs sector where feasible (particularly capital goods, ser-vices 
and consumables) through flexible local-content milestones. 
t The establishment of resource processing industries through the use of flexible value-addition milestones 
and incentives and the upfront stipulation of competitive pricing of resource outputs/products in the domestic 
market for the life of the project. 
t The development of local human resources and technological capacity through stipulated investments in 
training and research and development, preferably in partnership with the state. 
t Provisions that safeguard transparency and good governance as well as enforce internationally accepted 
safety and health standards, environmental and material stewardship, corporate social responsibility, and 
preferential recruitment of local staff. 
Source: AU-UNECA, 2009: 21. 
Multi-lateral organizations have become involved in build-ing 
capacity for negotiating contracts. !e African De-velopment 
Bank has established an Africa Legal Support 
Facility (box 10.4) to provide specialist legal assistance 
primarily related to litigation over vulture fund claims, 
but also to build the capacity of resource-rich African 
countries to negotiate complex commercial transactions, 
including those for natural resources. Similarly, the World 
Bank has set up the Extractive Industries Technical Ad-visory 
Facility for resource-rich, developing-country 
governments. !e United Nations Development Pro-gramme 
has assisted several African countries through its 
Regional Project for Capacity Development for Negotiat-ing 
and Regulating Investments Contracts. !e United 
Nations Economic Commission for Africa, through its 
regional Institute for Development and Economic Plan-ning, 
based in Dakar, Senegal, is initiating a course in 
mineral-contract negotiations and policy development, 
based on the AMV. !e aim is to oer the course every 
year to senior policymakers and other stakeholders.
136 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 10.4 
African Legal Support Facility 
More than 70 per cent of the nearly $1 billion dollars in judgments awarded to plaintiffs in lawsuits instituted by vulture 
funds have been against regional member countries (RMCs) of the African Development Bank. 
Partly in consequence, African finance ministers in June 2003 called for a legal technical assistance facility to be set 
up to help Highly Indebted Poor Countries in addressing the growing problem of vulture funds. The Commission for 
Africa in March 2005 also called for such a facility for African countries. The Policy Big Table in February 2007 called 
for a technical advisory facility to help RMCs to negotiate extractive resource contracts and to create an appropriate, 
enabling environment with a modern legal and regulatory framework. The African Development Report 2007, which 
was devoted exclusively to natural resources for sustainable development in Africa, noted the need for sound principles 
to guide the design of efficient contracts in Africa’s natural resource sector. 
Management at the African Development Bank hired an external consultant to conduct a study on the viability of such 
a facility. Confirming the pressing need for one, the study recommended an autonomous, independent, international 
organization with an approach focusing on combating vulture funds; assisting RMCs negotiate complex transactions; 
and building capacity of RMCs in these and related areas. 
Source: AMV, AU 2009, p21. 
!ese initiatives re#ect the glaring need to swily build 
capacity in this vital area. Much can also be learnt from the 
contributions made to developing countries by the Techni-cal 
Assistance Group of the Commonwealth Secretariat 
(later, the Economic and Legal Advisory Services Division, 
now incorporated into the Special Advisory Services Divi-sion). 
Stronger coordination would be useful, however, to 
avoid duplication and possible con#ict among initiatives. 
Regulating government discretion in awarding mineral rights 
How governments decide on granting mineral rights is 
one of the key areas that national legal systems provide 
rules for. !e underlying aim is to reconcile the #exibility 
and control that government institutions want with the 
demands of transparency and e%ciency that can improve 
the quality of decisions and help to realize economic value 
for the state. 
Some regimes leave the decision on the person to whom 
mineral rights are granted a matter of government dis-cretion, 
subject to broad constitutional and administra-tive 
law principles. !at it might take litigation or other 
contentious mechanisms for resolving disputes to assess 
whether they have been properly applied in a speci$c case 
makes them both expensive and, oen, too unpredictable 
to be reassuring to many applicants or other interested 
parties. Some criteria give more (or less) weight to the 
order in which applications were submitted in limiting 
the discretion to make an award.13 
For large-scale projects, the person deciding on the grant 
of mineral rights in many jurisdictions is the minister 
responsible for mines. Provision may be made requiring 
him or her to consult or act on the advice of another public 
body or o%cial whose recommendations are submitted 
in writing. If the minister is permitted to and intends to 
disregard that recommendation, he or she must say why 
in writing. !ese arrangements allow for technical inputs 
into the decision. 
Some countries assign such grant decisions to o%cials 
below ministerial level. Some decisions may even be made 
locally rather than by central government—the power to 
grant a small-scale quarry licence, for example.
Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 137 
Another method of regulating discretion is to require it 
to be made by auction. Bids are submitted and a selection 
made from an evaluation of all quali$ed bids. !is method 
is meaningful for areas that have been systematically de-marcated, 
that possess detailed information and that have 
generated substantial interest among potential bidders. 
!e evaluation criteria have to be clearly articulated and 
weighted for the process to be both credible and e%cient. 
(A note on auction processes is attached as Appendix L.) 
African states could consider classifying their territories 
into areas of unknown mineral resources where a dis-cretionary 
regime may be the only feasible one; known 
resources where an auctioning procedure has a better 
chance of working; and partially known resources where 
further state exploration work is required. 
Other governance challenges 
Transparency in decision-making and in accounting for 
revenue is an area whose desirability appears to elicit near 
unanimity. !e practical implications, however, need to 
be pursued systematically. Registers of grantees of min-eral 
rights as well as the existence and content of mineral 
development agreements ought to be made available to 
the public in practice, not just in theory. !e Extractive 
Industries Transparency Initiative, for example (see chap-ter 
7), seeks to mobilize pressure in support of revenue 
transparency, and its principles can be advanced through 
a variety of institutional arrangements. Some countries 
have established bodies with separate legal personalities 
as the principal promoting vehicle; others have limited 
themselves to less formal mechanisms to coordinate and 
focus the work of existing institutions. What matters is 
whether the structures put in place are primarily rhe-torical 
devices to announce adherence to transparency 
principles—or to promote and implement them. 
Public participation in decision-making is another norm 
broadly accepted as desirable (see chapter 4). !e notion of 
a democratic developmental state proposes the incorpora-tion 
of such participation into institutional arrangements 
for pursuing the development agenda.14 !e role of civil 
society organizations in advancing such participation 
and deepening democratic governance is increasingly 
acknowledged. 
Mining organizations (such as national and regional 
chambers of mines) and trades unions have a long history 
of making organized representations to and in#uencing 
government. Since the United Nations Conference on the 
Human Environment in 1972, a broader range of civil 
society organizations have sought and gained legitimacy in 
intervening in policy formulation at international forums. 
In Africa, such bodies operate in areas related to minerals 
nationally and regionally. For speci$c projects, they have 
engaged in advocacy for human rights and environmental 
issues, sought enforcement of established norms, organ-ized 
community participation in environmental and social 
impact assessment proceedings and worked with mining 
companies on alternative-livelihood and community-development 
schemes. On policy formulation, some of 
their vocal issues relate to elaborating and applying human 
rights and environmental norms in mining operations, 
to revenue transparency and to the inadequacies of $scal 
regimes. !eir eorts have contributed to strengthen-ing 
voice and participation of citizens, to $lling gaps in 
capacities of enterprises and state organizations and in 
enhancing the legitimacy of the outcomes of consultative 
processes. Still, much remains to be done nationally and 
regionally to bring civil society organizations more into 
decision-making. 
Kaufmann et al. (2009) identify six broad elements in their 
evaluations of the state of governance in various countries. 
!ese are voice and accountability; political stability and 
absence of violence; government eectiveness; regulatory 
quality; the rule of law; and control of corruption. 
!ese elements are indeed useful in assessing the state of 
government institutions in a country, but a note of caution 
must be sounded. !e more one tries to combine them 
into one broad evaluation of a country’s institutions, the 
less useful the exercise can become. !e instruments
138 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
used in measuring each of them contain many aspects 
that are subjective and less precise than one might think 
initially. !e constituencies whose perceptions form the 
basis of particular measurements may be weighted in 
favour of in#uential but unrepresentative groups. Nor are 
the elements exhaustive: the development ends served by 
government institutions have to be a central part of the 
assessment of the state of governance. 
!e African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights15 
and the African Peer Review Mechanism16 are two con-tinental 
institutions that oer possibilities for enhancing 
the evaluation of government performance. !e African 
Charter on Human and People’s Rights includes provi-sions 
on managing natural resources.17For the African 
Peer Review Mechanism, Adotey Bing-Pappoe observes 
that it, “by requiring governments and civil society to 
engage collectively over the issues that face the nation, and 
to do so using the evidence from development practice, 
should help to improve both the incidence and quality of 
evidence-based decision-making”.18Steps are being taken 
to include speci$c indices relating to the governance of ex-tractive 
industries in the mechanism’s evaluation process. 
More broadly, a dynamic approach to addressing govern-ance 
challenges has to incorporate the role of external 
actors—including businesses, shareholders and their home 
governments. Achieving accuracy in weighting and de-picting 
the relationship between internal governance 
limitations and the activities of external actors requires 
careful and concrete analysis. Furthermore, in the words 
of Stevens and Dietsche (2008), parsimonious explana-tions 
that ignore time and historical context are unlikely 
to capture the dynamics of the range of “variables that 
can induce positive institutional change.” A focus on in-ternal 
capacity constraints or governance limitations too 
oen provides a pretext for diverting attention from the 
obstacles that Africa’s historically determined place—as 
a cheap supplier of raw materials—puts in the way of its 
development possibilities. 
Policy implications 
Implications for policy are as follows: 
' !e development agenda has to be central to es-tablishing 
and evaluating institutions and their 
arrangements. 
' !e promotion of linkages between mining and other 
sectors must be a critical part of institution building 
in Africa, nationally and regionally. 
' Important institutions on the continent urgently need 
capacity enhancement in many areas. 
' A concrete analysis of the context—rather than re- 
#exive adoption or imposition of models—is vital to 
institution building. 
' Attention has to be paid to improving the criteria 
by which dierent aspects of governance are evalu-ated 
to make them more meaningful, objective and 
representative. 
' !e African Commission of Human and Peoples’ 
Rights and the African Peer Review Mechanism oer 
serious possibilities to improve governance.
Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 139 
Endnotes 
1 Edigheji, 2010. 
2 UNECA, 2011. 
3 UNECA, 2011: 7. 
4 Mkandawire, 2009. 
5 For accounts of such interactions in South Africa, see 
Walker and Minnitt (2006) and Lydall (2009). 
6 NEPAD, 2006. 
7 AUC, 2009. 
8 In addition to other works cited above this chapter, 
see, for example, Rodrik (2006) and Lall (1995). 
9 Mkandawire, 2001. 
10 See also Auty (1993). 
11 Land, 2010; Calder, 2010. 
12 AUC, 2009: 21. 
13 UNECA, 2004: 81–83. 
14 UNECA, 2011; Mkandawire, 2010. 
15 www.achpr.org 
16 http://www.aprm-international.org/ 
17 http://www.humanrights.se/upload/$ les/2/MR-ins-trument/ 
African%20Charter%20on%20Human%20 
and%20Peoples%20Rights.pdf 
18 Bing-Pappoe, 2010; see also Masterson et al. (2010).
Minerals and Africa's Development
141 
in Mineral Policy 
Harmonization 11 
CHAPTER 
Regional and Sub-regional 
Strategies 
“Regional ... integration in reduc-ing 
transaction costs, establishing 
intra-regional synergies, enhanc-ing 
competitiveness and realizing 
economies of scale would catalyze 
minerals cluster development... 
For goods, services, capital and 
other factors to freely $ow ... there 
is need to expedite intra-regional 
harmonization of laws, regula-tions 
and #scal regimes, among 
other critical factors” 
— !e Africa Mining Vision 
INCREMENTAL, SECTOR%BASED REGIONAL eco-nomic 
integration has been accepted for decades as a 
central component of any forward-looking and all-en-compassing 
development strategy for Africa. Cooperation 
in minerals through policy harmonization is thus part 
of the overall process of strengthening intra–regional 
economic community (REC) harmonization and their 
eventual integration as intended by the African Union. 
!e bene$ts of regional minerals integration may be il-lustrated 
through the European Coal and Steel Com-munity, 
the precursor of European integration (box 11.1). 
Four of its features may provide useful lessons as Africa 
seeks to enhance integration through harmonizing its 
mineral policies. 
First, minerals and other natural resources, oen in-volved 
in the cause and maintenance of con#ict on the 
continent, can be used strategically to strengthen regional 
economic integration, ensure peace and security and 
boost cooperation. Second, collaboration of supranational 
institutions can help direct and expedite economic inte-gration. 
!ird, removing tari and non-tari barriers 
on goods and services enhances trade and strengthens 
economic integration and allows for economies of scale. 
And fourth, regional economic integration as well as peace 
and security—as promulgated in the Africa Mining Vision 
(AMV)—can be achieved despite historical hostilities and 
entrenched mistrust.
142 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 11.1 
!e European Coal and Steel Community 
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established by the Treaty of Paris in 1951 as a common market 
for coal and steel among six signatory states: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. 
It was one of the first organizations based on supranational integration and a direct precursor to the EU. 
It consisted of four institutions: a High Authority (the executive), a Common Assembly, a Special Council of Ministers 
and a Court of Justice. In 1967 the ECSC merged with the European Economic Community (also known as the Com-mon 
Market) and the European Atomic Energy Community to form the European Community. In 1993 the European 
Community became the EU. The ECSC ceased operation in 2002 when the Treaty of Paris expired. 
The ECSC removed internal tariffs and other trade barriers (including on transport), created a common external tariff, 
regulated production and sales, and facilitated investment in coal and steel. Its life matched a period of increasing trade 
in coal and steel among member states, but it was largely ineffectual in regulating these industries, mainly because 
of fundamental changes in market conditions in the 1960s: the expected fears of supply scarcity were not borne out. 
Member states’ coal industry was overtaken by oil and other sources as the primary energy and the steel industry by 
the emergence of large international centres of steel production. Member states also often supported their national 
industries (including protectionism) without regard to the ECSC, which did little to stop them. It also failed to prevent 
new cartels from forming. 
Yet outweighing all this were the political accomplishments. The idea behind the ECSC was to make a third world war 
economically unthinkable and materially impossible: the ECSC was established to ensure longer-term peace through 
economic integration, and was designed to pave the way for broader supranational institutions. In these aims, it was 
successful: war has not been seen in Western Europe since 1945—despite the centuries of hostility between some 
member states—and the ECSC laid the foundation for the EU, one of the world’s most successful examples of inter-national 
economic integration. 
Sources: Alter and Steinberg, 2007. 
Yet Africa has peculiar attributes, including foreign po-litical 
interference, that needs to be factored into policy 
harmonization and economic integration. For example, 
African countries are at very dierent stages of develop-ment 
and have dierent colonial legacies. !e presence 
of many RECs also presents obstacles, especially when 
coordination is lacking. !e dream of an African Eco-nomic 
Community through a six-stage1 process envisaged 
in the Abuja Treaty can, however, be realized through 
overcoming these barriers and transforming the landscape 
of the various RECs, which oen have overlapping. 
e integration landscape in Africa 
Africa’s integration landscape consists of an array of RECs, 
including the eight that the African Union Commission 
(AUC) recognizes as the building blocks of an African 
Economic Community (table 11.1).
Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 143 
Table 11.1 
African regional economic communities 
Regional economic community Geographical spread 
Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) Five countries encompassing most of North Africa 
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 19 countries including Egypt in North Africa, all East African countries 
(except Tanzania) and seven countries in Southern Africa 
Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) 28 countries in West, Central and Northern Africa 
East African Community (EAC) Five countries in East Africa 
Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) 10 countries in Central Africa 
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 15 countries encompassing all West Africa 
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 12 countries in the Horn of Africa and the northern part of East Africa 
Southern African Development Community (SADC) 14 countries in all Southern Africa 
Source: Authors. 
Dual or multiple membership is common. In addition to 
these RECs, six other groups exist: the Central African 
Economic and Monetary Community, the Economic 
Community of Great Lakes Countries, the Indian Ocean 
Commission, the Mano River Union (MRU), the Southern 
African Customs Union (SACU) and the West African 
Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). 
Given these numerous regional groupings, African leaders 
have in many forums stressed the need for greater coor-dination 
and harmonization in building an integrated 
continent. Chapter XIX of the Abuja Treaty stresses the 
importance of establishing the African Economic Com-munity 
“through the coordination, harmonization, and 
progressive integration of the activities of regional eco-nomic 
communities.” It further enjoins member countries 
“to promote the coordination and harmonization of the 
integration activities of regional economic communities 
with the activities of the Community.” Article 3 of the 
2001 Constitutive Act of the AU also underscores the 
need “to coordinate and harmonize policies between the 
existing and future Regional Economic Communities for 
the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union.” 
!e adoption of the Minimum Integration Programme 
(box 11.2) demonstrates continental commitment towards 
integration and the acceptance that such integration must 
appreciate the dierences among member states and that, 
through harmonization, they can minimize policy dier-ences. 
NEPAD rea%rms the importance of creating an 
Africa-wide integrated socio-economic framework with 
the primary objectives of eradicating poverty, promoting 
growth, and integrating Africa into the world economy. 
Sectoral coordination is accepted as a viable strategy to-wards 
the gradual and systematic deepening of regional 
integration on the continent.
144 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Box 11.2 
Minimum Integration Programme, 2009–2012 
The African Union Commission (AUC) formulated, at the request of the African Union policy organs, the Minimum 
Integration Programme (MIP) to address the mixed results achieved in regional and continental integration. In terms 
of the Abuja Treaty, only some RECs have achieved beneficial outcomes. 
The MIP comprises initiatives that the RECs and regional integration stakeholders have prioritized to speed up integra-tion. 
It is intended to be implemented by RECs, member states and the AUC alongside Africa’s development partners 
on the basis of subsidiarity. 
The MIP was developed using “variable geometry” integration. This approach allows RECs to progress at different 
speeds. It has the following main objectives and prioritized sectors. 
Main objectives 
t Situate RECs in the context of implementation of the Abuja Treaty. 
t Identify priority regional and continental programmes initiated by the AUC, implementation of which falls under 
the purview of national or regional authorities under the principle of subsidiarity. 
t Identify regional and continental projects in the AUC and the RECs, implementation of which is reliant on the 
principle of subsidiarity. 
t Strengthen current inter-REC economic cooperation initiatives, and identify measures likely to accelerate 
integration in specific priority sectors or areas. 
t Identify priority areas that require bold coordination and harmonization in each REC and among RECs. 
t Assist the RECs in identifying and implementing the priority activities they need to fulfil to move to the different 
stages of integration set out in article 6 of the Abuja Treaty. 
t Help the RECs to implement the MIP using a clearly defined timetable. 
t Develop and implement other support measures to help establish a single market in the priority areas. 
t Identify joint inter-REC programmes and projects. 
Prioritized sectors 
t Free movement of services, goods and capital; peace and security; infrastructure and energy; agriculture; 
trade; industry; investment; and statistics. 
t Each of these sectors has sub-sectors, which outline the objectives of the first phase (2009–2012) as well as 
initiatives to be undertaken in that time. 
t Financing MIP 
t The MIP is expected to be financed by internal sources, including statutory contributions; contributions from 
pan-African financial institutions; and cooperating partners. The formation of an African Integration Fund has 
been proposed. 
Policy harmonization—in minerals particularly—as part 
of enhancing integration and facilitating movement of 
goods and services has deep historical roots in Africa. !e 
development of the integrated road and rail infrastructure 
in Southern Africa, for example, which was designed to 
support and integrate mining activities both nationally 
and internationally, illustrates physical integration at 
an earlier stage. !e interconnected road and rail infra-structure 
from colonial times, linked to the extractive 
industries, still forms major channels for moving goods 
and services in many countries. Spatial development ini-tiatives 
and development corridors (see chapters 8 and 10) 
also seek to use natural resource exploitation as part of the 
continent’s overall infrastructure development strategy. 
!e Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development for 
Africa, adopted in 1980, reignited consciousness of the 
importance of sectoral cooperation in enhancing regional
Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 145 
integration. During the 1980s and 1990s, regional confer-ences 
of ministers responsible for mineral resources were 
held in attempts to develop mechanisms for coordinating 
the sector, with the United Nations Economic Commission 
for Africa (UNECA) a key player. !e Durban Declara-tion 
of 1997, emphasizing harmonization of policies and 
collaboration in the minerals and energy sectors, was 
one outcome. !ese meetings, while embracing bilateral 
collaboration from simple information networks to more 
complicated attempts at common policies and harmonized 
legislation, standards and procedures, also advocated an 
Africa-wide approach for minerals. 
Many of the meetings recommended strengthening 
sub-regional public institutions, allocating additional 
resources to the sector and promoting mineral-based 
industries to help ensure that the continent bene$ted from 
exploitation of its abundant resources. A major weak-ness 
of these pronouncements was the lack of detailed 
time-bound action plans for member states. !e pace 
of implementation was le to individual member states, 
invariably slowing progress. Yet the vision of integration 
for the industry is still alive among member states and 
remains a key rallying point for integration. 
!e decision by AU heads of states and government in 2009 
to merge the African Mining Partnership (AMP) with the 
AUC Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral 
Resources Development and Management transformed 
the AMP into a recognized technical institution within 
the structures of the AUC. !at demonstrated the belief 
that sectoral integration is important to regional integra-tion. 
!e AMP, launched in February 2004 by 21 African 
ministers for mining with the purpose of concretizing 
and implementing the minerals and mining objectives of 
NEPAD, played a coordinating role in building consensus 
on continental strategies in minerals. !e AMV, adopted 
in February 2009, was in fact born out of discussions under 
the AMP as part of the consultative process. 
Many other initiatives towards integration are based 
on collaboration in minerals. !ese include regional 
organizations such as the Southern and Eastern African 
Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), established in 1977 under the 
UNECA umbrella. It embraces the continent’s eorts to 
use the sector to promote socio-economic development 
and strengthen integration. !e overall mission of the 
centre, whose membership includes Angola, Comoros, 
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, is to pro-mote 
mineral development in Southern and Eastern Africa 
through establishing an independent and reliable centre 
of knowledge, research and development (RD), services 
and products, training and a hub for geo-information for 
the sub-region. 
SEAMIC’s objectives with continent-wide signi$cance 
include setting up sub-regional networks of programmes 
and services to promote regional collaboration; encourag-ing 
mineral-based industrialization; promoting the free 
#ow of capital, labour, goods and services for develop-ing 
the minerals sector; and facilitating sub-regional 
harmonization of mineral policies and legislation. !e 
Geo-science Data compilation in Eastern and Southern 
Africa (GEODESA) project under SEAMIC, in which 13 
countries took part, was designed to improve the quality 
and accessibility of geo-science and exploration infor-mation, 
and were executed using geological surveys. It 
created an inventory of regional exploration surveys and 
a geological information systems database. !e methods 
of sharing the standardized geo-scienti$c information 
among member states through GEODESA could be ex-tended 
to the whole of Africa. 
Similar collaborative initiatives include the Pan-African 
Network for a Geological Information System and PAN-FACT, 
which harmonizes data collection and storage 
methods. Networks such as the Communities and Small 
Scale Mining have also helped harmonize such methods, 
and the adoption of common positions. !e Yaoundé 
Declaration and the Harare Declaration are other Africa-wide 
approaches.
146 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Moves to harmonize sub-regional mineral policies 
African countries have pursued sub-regional policy har-monization 
through their RECs. Initiatives in SADC, 
ECOWAS, WAEMU, EAC and MRU reveal varying ex-periences 
in instigating or mapping out sectoral strategies 
for strengthening economic integration, including the 
many challenges involved. 
Strategies generally fall along three lines: policy alignment, 
the adoption of common standards and the enactment of 
common codes or common elements of mining legal and 
regulatory regimes. Many analysts have noted, however, 
that adopting these common codes or common elements 
is likely to be eective only aer policy has been aligned 
and common standards promulgated. 
Southern African Development Community 
!e Southern African Development Community mineral 
policy harmonization programme is anchored in the 
Protocol on Mining, adopted in 2000, which provides 
for a formal framework for cooperation and integration. 
!e protocol identi$es speci$c areas for cooperation in 
the region’s mineral industry, including harmonization 
of national policies, facilitation of the development of hu-man 
and technological capacities, promotion of private 
sector participation, and the observance of international 
standards for health, safety and environmental protec-tion. 
SADC ministers of mines approved a framework2 
in March 2006, followed by an implementation plan3 in 
October 2007 to operationalize it. 
A review of SADC national mineral policies in 2009 iden-ti 
$ed national action points for each member state, and 
national eort is targeted at closing the policy gap. Current 
work is on developing a framework for certi$cation and 
tracking of mineral products from the sub-region, from 
producing areas to export points. Policy harmonization 
has become urgent in the face of increases in illegally 
acquired and traded minerals entering the export chain, 
resulting in member states losing signi$cant revenue. 
!e SADC process may oer pointers for others. First, the 
framework and implementation plan have been developed 
through a participatory process. Second, despite the non-binding 
nature of the framework’s recommendations and 
plan, the long history of collaboration within the sub-region 
has cemented commitment to developing uniform 
operating conditions to promote sustainable mineral 
exploitation and as part of the Protocol on Mining. !ird, 
although progress tracking—sustained by technical as-sistance 
from UNECA’s Southern African O%ce through 
its multi-year programme4with the SADC Secretariat—has 
helped overcome the Secretariat’s human resource short-ages, 
in the longer term SADC needs to develop capacity 
to run the programme (even with continued participation 
by UNECA and other partners). 
Economic Community of West African States 
The ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonization of Guid-ing 
Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector, adopted 
in July 2009, outlines the sub-region’s objectives in the 
minerals sector. The aspirations of the Directive rein-force 
the Revised ECOWAS Treaty signed in Cotonou 
in 1993 which requires member states to “harmonize 
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of natural resources” and to “coordinate their programs 
for the development and utilization of mineral and water 
resources.” The objectives of the Directive as outlined 
in Article 2 are to; 
' provide guiding principles for policy harmonization 
in the mining sector of member states to ensure high 
standards of accountability for mining companies and 
Governments, promote human rights, transparency 
and social equity as well as provide protection for local 
communities and the environment in the sub-region: 
' provide a mining environment that is responsive 
to macro-economic circumstances and sustainable 
development imperatives, and balances the need to 
use appropriate incentives to attract investors with
Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 147 
that to protect the revenue base and the resources of 
member states; 
' improve transparency in mineral policy formulation 
and implementation, as well as in revenue collection 
and use, and to promote the participation, and en-hance 
the capacity, of mining communities, 
' provide for a harmonized mineral policy and legal 
framework for member states; and 
' ensure that harmonization takes into account the 
dierent stages of development of member states. 
Each Member State is expected to gazette the Directive 
and provide resources through the national budget for 
its implementation through National Action Plans. !e 
Directive empowers the ECOWAS Commission to su-pervise 
its implementation, provide member states with 
the necessary technical and $nancial support and report 
annually to the council of Ministers on progress. 
!e ECOWAS Commission has developed a strategy to 
implement the Directive, including developing the dra 
ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy (EMDP).5 !is 
was reviewed by stakeholders in April 2011, and an Ac-tion 
Plan to implement the Policy developed. !e EMDP 
consists of nine strategic axes/areas and programmes 
focused on the vision of harnessing mineral resource 
capital to facilitate sustainable economic growth and in-tegrated 
socio-economic development in the sub-region. 
!e Action Plan includes a monitoring and evaluation 
mechanism in which the ECOWAS Commission is the 
Champion. 
!e recent but fast-evolving ECOWAS experience under-lines 
the importance of designating a champion of the 
process (the ECOWAS president), of providing resources 
for supervision and assistance to member states, of setting 
a time frame to complete the process, and of consulting 
all critical stakeholders. 
West African Economic and Monetary Union 
!e policy harmonization eorts of WAEMU form part 
of the strategy in the sub-region for creating uniform 
operating conditions and promoting policy convergence 
within the customs union. !e harmonization eort is 
underpinned by the WAEMU Common Mining Policy 
adopted in 2000. !e speci$c objectives of the CMP in-clude: 
(i) the establishment of an enabling environment 
for mining investments; (ii) the diversi$cation of mining 
production; (iii) the processing of mineral products lo-cally; 
(iv) the co-existence of industrial mines and cottage-type 
mines; and (v) the preservation of the environment. 
!e CMP encompasses the following programmes: (i) 
the harmonization of regulatory frameworks; (ii) the 
promotion of the mining sector; (iii) the establishment 
of a sub-regional system on geo-mining information; (iv) 
the building of capacities of institutions and scienti$c 
research bodies; (v) the development of intra-African 
trade of mining products; and (vi) the protection of the 
environment. Under the CMP, the Council of Ministers 
speci$es through Regulations and Directives, the actions 
to be undertaken by Member States to implement these 
programmes. 
!e WAEMU Community Mining Code (CMC) gov-erns 
all the operations relating to the prospecting and 
exploration for, and the exploitation, possession, process-ing, 
transportation and marketing of mineral substances 
throughout the whole territory of the Union, !e enforce-ment 
of compliance with the CMC is underpinned by the 
WAEMU Constitutive Treaty of 1994. 
Harmonizing the WAEMU framework and the ECOWAS 
mining directive would be a key step in developing a uni-form 
operating environment among the 15 member states 
in the sub-region. Since harmonization of their sectoral 
programmes is already underway, this should be extended 
to the minerals industry as collaboration deepens.
148 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
East African Community 
!e treaty establishing the EAC emphasizes the commit-ment 
by member states towards: (i) creating an enabling 
environment for investment in the mining sector; (ii) 
establishment of databases, information exchange net-works 
and the sharing of experiences in the management 
and development of the mineral sector using electronic 
mail, internet and other means for the interactive dis-semination 
of mineral information; and (iii) harmonizing 
mining regulations to ensure environmentally friendly 
and sound mining practices. !e sub-region’s Protocol 
on Environment and Natural Resources management, 
through Article 18 on Management of Mineral Resources, 
re-emphasizes the commitment to develop and harmo-nize 
common policies, laws and strategies for access to 
and exploitation of mineral resources by member states. 
Further, one of the eight strategic intervention areas in 
the 3rd EAC Development Strategy also focuses on the 
management of mineral resources and commits to com-plete 
the harmonization of mineral policies and mining 
regimes within the sub-region. 
Although harmonizing mining policy in the EAC has yet 
to take root, member states show commitment, partly 
through the 3rd EAC Development Strategy. Sub-regional 
programmes and plans should incorporate the aspira-tions 
of the AMV. !e process should also be guided by 
enforceable commitments and implementable sanction 
mechanisms for non-compliance. 
Mano River Union 
!e re-launch of the Mano River Union (MRU) in 2004 
aer years of con#ict has re-energized member states to 
focus on strengthening cooperation, speeding up integra-tion 
and promoting sustainable development. Previously, 
member states had operated under dierent sectoral policy 
frameworks even though they have had aspirations of 
becoming a customs union since the launch of the MRU 
in 1973. In this renewed spirit of regional integration, and 
with countries having similar geological endowments that 
oen cross national borders, a sub-regional approach to 
exploiting these resources is imperative. 
!e MRU commissioned the World Bank in 2008 to study 
the sector and recommend strategies for a harmonized 
policy environment. !e dra report emphasizes the 
need for harmonizing laws and regulations, starting with 
artisanal mining, as part of overall integration moves. 
!e MRU action plan for policy harmonization, based on 
the World Bank review, should be informed by initiatives 
already under way in West Africa and continent-wide. It 
should also re#ect the ECOWAS mining directive and 
development policy, the AMV and the recommendations 
to emerge from the current review of African mineral 
regimes spearheaded by the AU. 
Lessons and policy options 
!e above features reveal the voluntary nature of compli-ance 
with these initiatives. Although some of these ap-proaches 
have time frames, most of the policy frameworks 
are non-binding and depend on the pace of member states 
in conforming, hence the dierences in pace in each sub-regional 
group. SADC, for example, has made reasonable 
progress towards policy harmonization mainly because of 
the sub-region’s historical linkages. !e SADC approach, 
bene$ting immensely from “community spirit”, has les-sons 
for other countries on the continent. Elsewhere, 
WAEMU has made the process smoother through the 
Common Mining Code. 
!e bene$ts of the ECOWAS approach, which empow-ers 
its president to supervise implementation, to provide 
member states with the necessary technical and $nancial 
support as well as to report annually to the council of min-isters 
on progress should be studied more carefully and 
possibly adapted by other RECs. !e time-bound nature 
of the ECOWAS framework makes for easy monitoring
Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 149 
and timely corrective action to ensure that all member 
states are on track. 
Turning to the future, the regional blocks should consider 
developing mechanisms to make compulsory the imple-mentation 
of the harmonization agenda, with penalties 
for non-compliance (if possible) and with a structure to 
monitor progress and oer assistance where required. 
On the other hand, making compliance to agreements 
mandatory might go against the spirit with which sub-regional 
communities and indeed the AU have operated. 
!is is largely intergovernmental in approach rather than 
supranational. 
As African integration deepens, the content, focus and im-plementation 
strategies of these regional approaches need 
to be harmonized to ensure that they are in conformity 
with the aspirations of the AMV. !e current initiatives 
towards the rationalization of regional economic com-munities 
and their programmes augur well for sectoral 
policy harmonization as embodied in the AMV. 
!e completion of these processes would eventually lead 
to a harmonized policy environment at the continental 
level, in which the minerals sector contributes to sustain-able 
development—as envisaged by the AMV. 
!e regional and continent-wide harmonization of poli-cies, 
laws, programmes and strategies oers other bene$ts. 
To cite just one example, harmonized approaches for at-tracting 
foreign investment would curtail the mutually 
destructive incentive competition to attract investors. It 
would also facilitate cooperation in developing mineral 
resources, especially where these run across borders. 
In addition, regional economic integration that creates 
larger markets, easing the movement of factor #ows and 
boosting intra-African cross-border economic coopera-tion, 
would greatly facilitate “the development of mineral 
resources (especially industrial minerals) for local pro-duction 
of consumer and industrial goods”—one of the 
goals of the AMV. Mineral-based industrialization in 
Africa will bene$t from the transformation of fragmented 
small economies, the expansion of national into regional 
markets, the overall widening of regional and continental 
economic spaces and the resultant economies of scale for 
both production and trade.6 
!e regional and sub-regional experiences are key building 
blocks for a continent-wide framework as they represent 
policy convergence at a lower level. Sharing experience 
is thus key to the overall process. Capacity to execute 
these initiatives will need to be developed at national, 
sub-regional and continental levels. 
Endnotes 
1 Article 6 of Chapter II of the Abuja Treaty on Mo-dalities 
of the Establishment of the African Economic 
Community provides for the following stages with 
varying time frames (Treaty Establishing the African 
Economic Community, 3 June 1991, Abuja, Nigeria). 
First stage: strengthening existing RECs, and where 
they do not exist creating new ones; second stage: 
strengthening sectoral integration, coordinating 
and harmonizing activities and gradually eliminat-ing 
tari and non-tari barriers; third stage: estab-lishing 
free trade areas and then customs unions; 
fourth stage: coordinating and harmonizing RECs 
to establish a continental customs union; $h stage: 
establishing an African Common Market; and sixth 
stage: establishing the African Economic Community 
through monetary and economic union. 
2 !e framework comprises a series of policy recom-mendations 
to facilitate alignment in key areas of 
SADC mining such as: mineral policy frameworks 
and mineral administrative systems; the $scal envi-ronment; 
mineral bene$ciation; environmental and 
social responsibilities; small scale mining; and human 
development, including RD. 
3 In October 2007, SADC developed a plan for the 
implementation of the harmonization framework. 
!e plan consists of eight thematic areas each with 
recommended activities and outcomes. !e areas
150 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
are: (i) Policy, Regulation and Administration; (ii) 
Geological and Mining Information Systems; (iii) 
Human Resource Development and Institutional 
Capacities; (iv) Safety, Health and Environment; (v) 
Investment Promotion; (vi) Value Addition and Re-search 
and Development; (vii) Artisanal and Small 
Scale Mining; and (viii) Social Issues and Gender. 
4 !e United Nations General Assembly in 2006 decid-ed 
to strengthen ECA’s sub-regional o%ces to promote 
integration and development. It recommended that 
the main vehicle for sub-regional technical coopera-tion 
should be a multi-year programme with the RECs 
that directly re#ects the priorities of their member 
states. 
5 !e strategic areas of the EMDP are: (i) improvement 
in geological and mineral information; (ii) improve-ment 
and management of mineral revenue; (iii) local 
content policy of mineral operations; (iv) building 
institutional, human, technical and $nancial capaci-ties; 
(v) improvement of the institutional, legal and 
regulatory frameworks; (vi) sustainable development 
and corporate social responsibility (vii) development 
of infrastructure for improved access to mineral sites; 
(viii) development of artisanal and small-scale min-ing; 
and (ix) strengthening regional cooperation in 
the mineral sector. 
6 UNECA,2010.
151 
Looking ahead: 
Key Challenges 
and Policy 
Messages 12 
CHAPTER 
THIS FRAMEWORK REPORT on Africa’s mineral 
development regimes has looked at African mining from 
dierent angles, includingits history, current features 
and the key arguments for driving the search for new 
directions based on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). 
!is chapter summarizes the main challenges confront-ing 
African mining, as well as the key policy messages. 
Africa’s mining legacy and the search for a new development approach 
!e paradox of African mining today lies in its historical 
structural de$ciencies.!e sector’s key characteristics— 
and challenges—are those of an enclave industry.Most 
of the industry has very weak links with the rest of the 
national economy, the mines’ ownership and operation are 
in the hands of foreign companies, most of the minerals 
are exported in raw form and the industry imports most 
of its inputs from abroad. 
!e report argues that the enclave mineral economy is 
a colonial legacy that post-independence resource na-tionalism 
(through new state mining enterprises) failed 
to redress. SubsequentWorld Bank reforms, which were 
designed to attract foreign private risk capital, eliminated 
the state’s direct role in production and further entrenched 
the enclave economy. 
Hence the search for a new mineral development approach, 
which accelerated aer the start of the commodity-price 
boom around 2002. !us some of the central premises of 
this report and the AMV are that mineral operations must 
constantly be re-evaluated for their contribution to broad 
and long-term development goals; that mineral operations 
need not and ought not to be enclave activities; and that 
restructuring African mining from its enclave nature is 
the fundamental task of African policymakers and those 
committed to having it play a transformative role. 
Optimizing mineral linkages needs a conscious policy approach 
!e AMV and this report argue that strengthening link-ages 
between mineral resource extraction and Africa’s 
industrial development is vital to enable these resourcesto 
play that transformative role. !e report $nds upstream, 
downstream, sidestream and lateral migration linkages 
are not well developed (apart from transport and energy), 
re#ecting the industry’s main orientation—extracting and 
shipping bulk minerals to overseas markets.
152 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
But obstacles prevent such linkage strengthening. !ey 
include large infrastructure de$cits, which impede move-ment 
of goods and services; weak African markets for 
mineral products, which re#ect the overall low level of 
Africa’s industrialization; technological de$ciencies; and 
wide skill gaps. 
Nor will linkages develop just because Africa has world-class 
mineral deposits. Strengthening linkages requires 
the right policies and strategies to leverage mineral ex-traction 
and processing operations into broader economic 
development outcomes. It requires, for example: 
' Greater attention to the minerals that oer greater 
possibilities for national and regional industrial de-velopment 
and integration. 
' Investment in economic infrastructure, particularly 
power and transport. Planning for such infrastructure 
needs to explore use by other economic sectors. 
' Government involvement in setting terms for ac-cess 
to mineral resources. Such terms must impose 
linkage conditions on mineral rights holders and 
provide incentives for investors to structure pro-jects 
in ways that deepen project integration into the 
broader national—and regional—economy. !ese 
terms could include provisions to ensure a high level 
of local content. 
' Investment in human resources and knowledge devel-opment, 
particularly to expand the higher technical 
skills required by the minerals industry. 
' Regional integration to foster intraregional trade and 
investment in infrastructure for the region. 
e global mining industry: opportunities still exist 
Demand for mineral commodities has surged since early 
this decade, cutting across many metals, particularly alu-minium, 
copper, zinc, lead, nickel and tin—all with huge 
global demand. !e demand surge comes mainly from 
huge growth in China’s voracious industrial appetite, as 
well as from industrial expansion in Brazil and India (as 
well as relatively sustained consumption in industrial 
countries). Many analysts view mineral commodities 
as being in a super cycle—a prolonged period of a trend 
rise in prices. 
Such a super cycle oers to governments opportunities for 
increasing tax revenue (at the very least), and for diversi-fying 
the mining value chain (at best). Although Africa 
has so far failed to bene$t much from the commodity-price 
boom, opportunities are still there. Geopolitical 
competition for the continent’s mineral resources—driv-en 
by concerns of long-term raw material security—are 
boosting the opportunities for governments of African 
mineral countries to negotiate more favourable licencing 
and tax regimes, at the minimum. More boldly, they could 
reconsider issues of equity participation in mining ven-tures 
or new state entities—if these operate commercially 
and in competition with private $rms. 
In restructuring African mining towards a more develop-ment- 
orientated regime, as sought by the AMV, Africa’s 
governments could usefully absorb lessons from Latin 
America. !at region’s recent and current initiatives are 
seeking to strengthen the role of state institutions in bet-ter 
structuring the relations between mining activity and 
national development priorities. 
Boosting the contribution from artisanal and small-scale mining 
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which is preva-lent 
in Africa, exploits a wide range of minerals. It sus-tains 
(oen poor) livelihoods and makes contributions to 
national economies, and has the potential to contribute 
much more.
Looking ahead: Key Challenges and Policy Messages 153 
Steps need to be taken to bring ASM into the mainstream 
of economic life, particularly in rural areas, and to oer it 
the $nancial and technical support that it conspicuously 
lacks. !e policy environment should encourage coop-eration 
between small- and large-scale miners, includ-ing 
converting ASM into viable operating enterprises. A 
pragmatic approach would distinguish potentially viable 
from marginal ASM operations. 
A cooperative regional approach could also bridge many of 
the technical and $nancial de$ciencies of ASM. Alongside 
wider international cooperation, it could address the chal-lenge 
of con#ict minerals. Locally, bans on transporting 
minerals that do not comply with tracking and certi$ca-tion 
systems need to be enforced, but capacity needs to 
be enhanced $rst. 
Finally, international norms prohibiting child labour in 
mining need to be enforced rigorously. Further work is 
required to explore and implement measures to redress 
discrimination against women in ASM, whether arising 
from legal regimes or operational practices. 
Preventing and managing mining impacts 
Poor management and regulation of the harmful envi-ronmental, 
social and human-rights impacts of mining 
have stoked critical and, in some cases, hostile attitudes 
among mining communities towards the industry and 
government. Yet these impacts can be reduced, if not 
eliminated altogether. More broadly, the eects on climate 
change of mining need greater attention from govern-ments 
and $rms. 
Governments should strengthen the frameworks that 
govern impact assessment, management and regulation. 
!ey should also enhance the capacities and eectiveness 
of regulatory agencies and improve the culture of how 
these institutions interact with citizens, especially those 
aected by mining. Improved impact assessment and 
better planning and coordination between governments 
and mining $rms in compensation, resettlement and re-location 
projects for alternative livelihood opportunities 
would help minimize con#ict with communities. 
Strengthening corporate social responsibility 
It is important to develop and implement corporate so-cial 
responsibility (CSR) for guiding mining companies’ 
responsibilities. CSR initiatives should complement gov-ernment 
development plans—beyond contributing to the 
socio-economic growth of mining communities—and 
should be carried out in a framework that is both fully 
consultative in conception and implementation and that 
is part of the broader social development agenda. Govern-ments 
should follow a CSR approach that makes their own 
and mining companies’obligations clear, and not leave 
CSR to adhoc decisions. 
Improving governance 
!e report endorses the normative implications of a 
democratic developmental state. It urges governments 
to recognize and harness the positive potential of state 
institutions while promoting democratic norms. 
Many African countries have made progress in boosting 
public participation in framing laws, and in increasing 
the space for community and civil society organizations 
to work in. Yet much more can be achieved—in enforcing 
existing laws, in pursuing accountability of institutions 
and more generally in protecting human and labour rights. 
Improving state and institutional capacities for mak-ing 
and pursuing policies and regulations is a pervasive
154 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
challenge, as is ensuring policy coherence and coordi-nation 
among institutions and sectors. !ese two chal-lenges 
go beyond nations to regional and other interstate 
frameworks. Indeed, it is important to create and maintain 
space for institutional arrangements nationally and sub-regionally, 
speci$cally to promote linkage development. 
Paying attention to implications of international trade and investment 
regimes 
At their meeting in Addis Ababa in October 2008, under 
the auspices of the African Union, Africa’s ministers re-sponsible 
for mineral resources called on “AU Member 
States to work together to ensure that international agree-ments 
that they enter into enhance rather than undermine 
Africa’s policy space for integrating mineral resources 
development into their economies”and urged “them and 
the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to ensure 
that the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) 
and World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations do not 
limit this space”. !ese words are as relevant today as they 
were three years ago. If the aspirations of the AMV are to 
be met, African countries will need to cultivate capacities 
to negotiate agreements that provide the margin of free-dom 
they need to pursue the AMV’s development goals. 
Harnessing the bene!ts of regional cooperation and integration 
Regional cooperation and integration provide opportuni-ties 
for sharing development capacities and abet the move-ment 
of factors of production across borders. In addition, 
policy harmonization provides resistance to, and can even 
reverse, the “race to the bottom”—a prominent feature 
of the competition to attract foreign mining investment. 
Such harmonization needs to be greatly accelerated. Slow 
progress so far stems partly from the non-binding nature 
of most frameworks. It may therefore be useful to explore 
whether elements of such frameworks could be made 
binding and time bound, and to monitor the processes 
of policy harmonization. National and regional processes 
will need to be aligned and brought into conformity with 
the aspirations of the AMV. 
Final words 
!e AMV envisages mining becoming “a key compo-nent 
of a diversi$ed, vibrant and globally competitive 
industrializing African economy”—without doubt, an 
ambitious long-term goal. Yet commitment to realizing 
the goal does not require Africa to ignore today’s realities 
or wish them away. Indeed, much is happening today that 
reveals not only challenges, but also the potential that a 
shi in focus—as recommended by the AMV—could oer. 
!e experience of the Lagos Plan of Action reminds us that 
policy design works best when instruments are available 
to carry it out. For much of Africa, that plan remains part 
of the rhetoric of o%cial declarations, dissociated from 
real policy. Such policy—discernible in budget statements, 
mining legislation and agreements as well as similar in-struments— 
has oen expressed either short-term re-sponses 
to immediate concerns or maintained a focus on 
extracting and exporting unprocessed natural resources. 
!e institution of mining as an enclave was the result of 
a particular phase of Africa’s history, but should not be 
taken as an inevitable part of its destiny. !e AMV and 
this report propose that the continent faces up to the chal-lenge 
of working towards its “new directions”. !is will 
require looking beyond the limiting horizon of its colonial 
and recent history and embracing the AMV as part of a 
planned process of sustainable long-term development.
155 
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169 
Appendices 
Appendix A: Members of ISG and principal contributors 
A) Members of the ISG 
Name Title Organization/Country 
Dr. Philip Paul Jourdan Consultant Republic of South Africa 
Ms. Ana Elizabeth Bastida Lecturer/ Mining Programme Director CEPMLP, University of Dundee, United 
Kingdom 
Prof. Bonnie Campbell Professor Faculty of Political Science and Law, University 
of Quebec in Montreal, Canada 
Dr. Frederick !omas Cawood Professor School of Mining Engineering, University of 
Witwatersrand, South Africa 
Mr. Mensan Lawson-Hechelli Director, Industry and Mines ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria 
Mr. Wilfred C. Lombe Chief, Infrastructure and Natural Resources 
Development, RITD 
Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia 
Mr. Oliver Maponga Economic Aairs O%cer Economic Commission for Africa, West Africa 
O%ce, Niamey, Niger 
Mr. Antonio Pedro Director Economic Commission for Africa East Africa, 
Kigali, Rwanda 
Mr. Olle Ostensson Formerly Chief, Minerals, Metals and Energy 
Section 
United Nations Conference on Trade and De-velopment 
(UNCTAD) , Geneva, 
Switzerland 
Mr. Magnus Ericsson Chairman Raw Materials Group, Sweden 
Mr. John Gara Formerly with Economic and Legal Section, 
Special Advisory Services 
Commonwealth Secretariat, United Kingdom 
Mr. Richard Goode Economic consultant Resource Based Technology Strategy, MESU, 
MINTEK, South Africa 
Dr. Yao Graham Executive Director !ird World Network Africa (TWN), Accra, 
Ghana 
Ms. Lois Hooge Senior Policy Advisor, Metals and Minerals 
Sector 
Natural Resources Canada, South Africa 
Mr. Desta Mebratu Deputy Director United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 
Mr. Fui S. Tsikata Consultant Accra, Ghana 
Mr. Patrick Mwesigye Industry Aairs O%cer United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
170 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Name Title Organization/Country 
Ms Nancy Kgengweyan Regional Advisor on Natural Resources De-velopment, 
RITD 
Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia 
Mr. Ayoup Zaid Senior Policy O%cer, Department of Trade 
and Industry 
African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia 
Ms. Claudine Sigam Project Coordinator in Minerals, Metals and 
Energy Sector 
United Nations Conference on Trade and De-velopment 
(UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland 
B) Principal Contributors 
Name Title Organization/Country 
Mr. Cheickna Seydi Diawarra Consultant, Former Minister of Mines Mali 
Ms. Evelyn Dietsche Lecturer CEPMLP University of Dundee, Scotland, UK 
Ms. Aster Gebremariam Research Assistant Economic Commission for Africa, Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia 
Ms. Tarik Kassa Consultant, RITD Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, 
Ethiopia 
Mr. Mkhululi Ncube Research Assistant, RITD Economic Commission for Africa, Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia 
Mr. Ousmane Cisse Technical Specialist UNOPS, Dakar, Senegal 
Mr. Benjamin Aryee Chief Executive Minerals Commission, Accra, Ghana 
Dr. Melaku Desta Senior Lecturer in Law CEPMLP University of Dundee, Scotland, UK 
Mr. Saul Kavonic Consultant Australia 
Dr. Marian Lydall Head: Regional Mineral Development, Mineral 
Economics and Strategy Unit 
MINTEK, South Africa 
Mr. Hudson Mtegha Senior Lecturer University of Witwatersrand, South Africa 
Mr. Nehrunaman Pillay Chief Economist MINTEK, South Africa 
Mr. Christopher David Rogers Director of PHD Programme CEPMLP, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK 
Prof. !omson Sinkala Lecturer University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 
Prof. John Ruggie Professor in Human Rights and International 
Aairs 
Harvard Kennedy School 
Prof. Salvador Mondlane Junior Chairman CASM Africa CASM - Africa, Maputo, Mozambique 
C) Former Research Fellows at UNECA 
Ms Yamrot Alemu Ethiopia 
Mr. Aniekan Ukpe Nigeria 
Ms. Constance N Wose King Cameroon 
Mr. Gebriel Bailetti Peru
Appendices 171 
Appendix B :Summary report on the Big Table meeting, 2007 
Managing Africa’s Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction 
1 February 2007 
Summary Report 
I. Background 
1. !e 2007 Big Table which was organized jointly 
by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the 
African Development Bank (AfDB) took place at the 
United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia on !ursday, 1 February 2007. !e Ex-ecutive 
Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, and the 
AfDB President, Mr. Donald Kaberuka jointly chaired 
the meeting. !e meeting brought together Ministers 
and senior o%cials from eleven African countries and 
high-level representatives from four Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) coun-tries, 
and regional and international organizations (ECA, 
AfDB, AUC, IMF, OECD-DAC, and World Bank). Also 
in attendance were representatives from research centres, 
the private sector, and NGOs. !e agenda for the meeting 
and the full list of participants are attached. 
2. !e 2007 Big Table sought to advance discus-sions 
on the challenges of eectively managing Africa’s 
natural resources for growth and poverty reduction on the 
continent. It also discussed an agenda for future action. 
3. A keynote presentation on “!e Challenge of 
Eective Management of Natural Resources for Growth 
and Poverty Reduction in Africa” was made, to set the 
stage for the discussion in the ensuing sessions. It pro-vided 
information on a number of issues pertaining to 
Africa’s mineral resources and production and their op-timal 
management. 
4. !e informal setting of the Big Table led itself to 
a frank and honest exchange of ideas on $ve main themes 
pertaining to natural resources: Governance; Ownership, 
Participation and Intergenerational Equity; Bargaining 
Power, Value and the Role of Emerging Global Actors; 
Environmental Stewardship; and Capacity, Partnerships 
and Regional Integration. 
II. Highlights of the discussion 
1. Natural Resources Governance 
5. !e meeting noted that natural resources ex-ploitation 
can contribute to growth and development in 
Africa. For this to happen, sound governance systems, 
capacity to administer and monitor the sector, and better 
linkages between the natural resources sector and other 
sustainable sectors of the local economy are required. 
6. Participants agreed that a concerted approach to 
address issues of transparency in the natural resources 
sector needed to be implemented under the African Peer 
Review Mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa’s 
Development (NEPAD/APRM). It was further recom-mended 
that APRM should be strengthened and expanded 
to incorporate natural resources governance (including 
revenue transparency) as a key governance performance 
indicator. It was found equally relevant to develop African 
codes of conduct and guidelines on natural resources 
exploitation, particularly on safety, health and environ-mental 
practices (SHE). !e Extractive Industries Trans-parency 
Initiative (EITI), the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines, the 
Equator Banks Principles, the Global Reporting Initiative 
(GRI), and other similar instruments could inform this 
process. 
7. Several natural resource-rich countries are also 
fragile States. Hence, it was underscored that tools such 
as the Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme, the OECD 
Guidelines, and EITI are important safeguards to ensure 
good practice by hosting governments and investors. 
Hence, the meeting underscored the importance of en-dorsing 
and expanding the EITI by addressing upstream 
and downstream issues (such as licensing, procurement,
172 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
ownership, corporate social responsibility, sustainable 
development, etc.). Participants therefore called for more 
countries to adhere to the EITI, and for the G-8 countries 
to endorse it. It was also noted that the Kimberley Process 
Certi$cation Scheme should be extended to other minerals 
such as gold, columbite-tantalite (coltan), etc. in order to 
break the link between con#ict/criminality and natural 
resources. 
8. It was further agreed that the existence of an 
oversight mechanism was crucial. To that eect, it was 
noted that non-state actors such as parliaments and civil 
society organizations (CSOs) should be empowered. 
2. Ownership, Participation and Intergenera-tional 
Equity 
9. !e concept of ownership of natural resources 
projects has evolved to include local communities as 
important stakeholders. It was underlined that local 
communities should participate in the planning and de-velopment 
of natural resources projects to ensure that a 
lasting social contract will operate. 
10. Furthermore, ownership and participation 
should also be evaluated in terms of local supply chains 
and employment of the local community in natural re-sources 
projects, as well as the stimulation of local com-panies 
to service the projects. 
11. Participants stressed the need for a new dispen-sation 
in contract negotiations and for the formulation 
of appropriate laws with regards to ownership and local 
participation. !ese would require government, compa-nies, 
and civil society representatives to be equipped with 
a new set of skills. 
12. !e Big Table further underscored that strate-gies 
such as the Mining Charter and Black Economic 
Empowerment mining (BEE) of South Africa could oer 
empowerment models for local participation that could be 
replicated elsewhere in Africa. In this regard, AfDB was 
requested to look at methods of stimulating the growth 
of African Junior Resource Companies (JRCs) in order 
to secure long-term socio-political sustainability. 
13. !e meeting observed that corporate social re-sponsibility 
is entrenched as a business practice of some 
natural resources companies. However, it also noted that, 
particularly in fragile states, some natural resources com-panies 
were not observing the highest corporate standards. 
To address these challenges, the meeting recommended 
that EITI, OECD, and apex bodies such as the Interna-tional 
Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) should 
deploy greater eorts in disseminating their conduct and 
enforcing their application. !e meeting also noted that 
the involvement of the AfDB in natural resources projects 
served as a tool to enforce adherence to international 
standards by project operators. It was recommended that 
this trend should be maintained. 
14. !e meeting also emphasized the importance 
of diversifying natural resources sectors throughout the 
value chain to ensure sustainability, particularly for $nite 
mineral resources. !is could be achieved through the 
promotion of local bene$ciation and value-addition, fo-menting 
the local inputs industry, and investing natural 
resources’ wealth in other sustainable activities, includ-ing 
$nancial assets, infrastructure and human resources 
development. 
15. With regards to the use of Stabilization Funds and 
Non-renewable Resource Funds (NRFs) including Future 
Generation Funds, the meeting noted that they had the 
potential to insulate economic activity from #uctuations 
in commodity prices, address inter-generational issues, 
encourage $scal discipline, and protect local economies 
against in#ationary pressures from windfalls (Dutch 
disease). However, the Big Table observed that the Funds 
are not a panacea, and that instituting an appropriate 
public $nancial management framework for savings and 
investment such as medium-term $scal planning could 
achieve the same objectives. 
16. !e meeting observed that in Africa, political 
pressure as well as the immediacy and enormity of the 
development challenges, including achieving the MDGs, 
could lead to such Funds being raided, thus defeating the 
purpose of their establishment. To reduce these risks, it 
was underlined that there was a need to establish inde-pendent, 
competent and accountable entities to ensure 
proper management and oversight of these Funds. !e
Appendices 173 
meeting also highlighted the need to divulge information 
about the Funds and exchange experiences on their ap-plication. 
To improve performance in the sector, it was 
further suggested that African countries could learn from 
positive experiences in managing natural resources wealth 
in Africa, notably in Botswana. Equally important are 
experiences from countries such as Norway and Canada, 
which have been successful in using natural resources 
funds to fuel their growth and development. 
17. It was also noted that there should not be a 
dichotomy between the interests of current and future 
generations. Instead, participants agreed that the issue 
should be how to invest wisely to balance both interests. 
Participants also recognized that it was important for 
Africa to strengthen its capacity to harness renewable 
resources with a view to preserving part of the stock of 
non-renewable resources for future generations. 
18. !e meeting also recognized the importance of 
addressing the interests of resource-poor and resource-rich 
regions within the same country, and of promoting 
gender equity in the use of the proceeds of natural re-sources 
exploitation. To reduce the potential for con#ict, 
there is need to develop a formula for the equitable distri-bution 
of bene$ts and wealth between resource-rich and 
resource-poor regions. !is can be informed by relevant 
experiences in Africa and beyond. 
3. Bargaining Power, Natural Resources Value, 
and the Role of Emerging Global Actors 
19. !e Big Table recognized that, historically, Af-rica 
had not gained the best possible bene$ts from the 
exploitation of its natural resources. In the 1990s, this was 
further compounded by African eorts to attract FDI to 
their natural resources sector, which led to the formula-tion 
of overly generous investment laws and regulations. 
!e meeting further observed that the scale of reforms 
in Africa did not have any historical precedent. 
20. However, the meeting noted that there has been 
a paradigm shi in the 2000s with a surge towards a 
more societal-oriented development. In addition, it was 
observed that the natural resources sector is witness-ing 
a commodity price boom, fuelled by global resource 
scarcity and the entrance in the commodity market of 
new global resource-demanding players such as China 
and India. Given Africa’s unique resource endowment, 
this oers a window of opportunity for African States to 
extract better terms from natural resources exploitation 
and to catalyze growth and poverty alleviation across the 
continent. For this to happen, the meeting emphasized 
the importance of building the negotiating capacity of 
African countries. In this context, it recommended the 
establishment of a facility to help African countries de-velop 
skills and expertise in such contract negotiations. 
21. !e meeting also underscored the fact that natu-ral 
resources companies were global, that the industry 
was cyclical, and that there was competition for capital, 
especially from equally endowed continents such as Latin 
America. !us, the need for the creation of an enabling en-vironment, 
modern legal and regulatory frameworks, and 
competitive $scal regimes was underlined. Additionally, 
the Big Table also recognized the importance of review-ing 
the current generation of natural resources laws and 
regulations to better accommodate the interests of African 
countries. !is could be informed by practices from the 
oil/gas sector, such as auctioning of blocks and product 
sharing agreements. !e international community and 
leading research centres in natural resources policy and 
law were called upon to help in this eort. 
22. !e meeting con$rmed that Africa’s highest 
short-medium term potential lies in its mineral resource 
endowment. It also observed that most African countries 
are poorly surveyed and do not have good information 
about their mineral resources potential. It was agreed 
that for Africa to extract better terms in its negotiations 
with partners and enter into equitable deals, it has to have 
a good geological database and inventory of its mineral 
resources. !is requires urgent and substantial investment 
in geological mapping and mineral inventory. African 
governments and the international community, in par-ticular 
regional and international $nancial organizations, 
are encouraged to fund this eort. 
23. !e meeting also noted that there are recent ex-amples 
in Africa where natural resources exploitation led 
to infrastructure development. It underscored that these 
practices should be replicated throughout the continent.
174 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
In this respect, the meeting endorsed NEPAD’s Spatial De-velopment 
Programme (SDP), where, due to their greater 
dierential rents, mineral and energy projects anchor 
infrastructure development in Africa, thus underpinning 
the viability of infrastructure projects, which could then 
underpin the development of other sustainable sectors 
such as agriculture, tourism, and resource-based manu-facturing. 
!e meeting urged the NEPAD Secretariat to 
raise awareness about the potential of SDPs and to scale-up 
their implementation. 
24. While recognizing that Chinese and Indian com-panies 
might not be subject to the same checks and bal-ances 
and corporate social charters as their counterparts 
from the West, the meeting underscored the importance 
of engaging with them; understanding their motivation, 
business practices, culture, and investment drivers. !is 
was considered important since these countries represent 
an alternative source of capital and are global players in 
their own right. !e meeting recognized that this should 
result in a better compact where development outcomes 
would be maximized. !e importance of strengthening 
the individual negotiating capacity of African States, as 
well as that of the continent as a block to achieve this was 
reiterated. 
25. !e Big Table observed that Africa’s traditional 
partners have not always supported the continent’s eort 
to promote local processing and value addition. !ey 
noted that tari and non-tari barriers imposed by the 
West curtailed Africa’s eorts in this direction. It was 
noted that this issue should be addressed during the Doha 
Round of negotiations and during the Economic Partner-ship 
Agreements (EPAs) negotiations. African Caribbean 
and Paci$c (ACP) countries were urged to place this issue 
high on their agenda for negotiations with EU. 
26. Overall, the meeting noted that it was impor-tant 
to integrate the natural resources sector in national 
development plans and strategies such as the Poverty 
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) if the sector is to bet-ter 
contribute to growth and development. !erefore, the 
meeting recommended that the natural resources sector 
should be mainstreamed in all the PRSPs. 
4. Natural Resources Exploitation and Environ-mental 
Stewardship 
27. !e meeting noted that environmental considera-tions 
were moving to the top of the political agenda and 
that they were now central to considerations in natural 
resource industries. It further observed that lending insti-tutions 
such as the AfDB, World Bank, and international 
industry associations such as the ICMM could play a role 
in enforcing environmental compliance in Africa. It was 
further noted that Africa should develop its own resource 
exploitation SHE codes, aligned with international best 
practice. 
28. !e meeting underscored that environmental 
issues were not solely the realm of governments and that, 
increasingly, local communities and other stakeholders 
should be involved in monitoring and enforcing envi-ronmental 
compliance. It was highlighted that there 
was need for more advanced and standardized systems 
to monitor compliance with rules and regulations. !is 
could be implemented through self-monitoring systems 
or by the creation of tripartite governance structures that 
would include governments, civil society organizations 
and private companies. In addition, information about 
the International Organization for Standarization (ISO) 
14000 standards for environmental compliance should 
be better disseminated and capacity built to ensure their 
wider application. 
29. !e meeting noted that the global market did not 
provide enough mechanisms to enforce environmental 
stewardship. It also observed that environmental trading 
systems and mechanisms such as the Carbon Trading 
System, the Clean Development Mechanism, and the 
Global Environment Fund were not widely known by 
African countries. !e meeting recommended that the 
international community, in particular the G-8, countries 
should step up eorts to disseminate information about 
these tools and build the capacity of African countries 
to use them. It was also stressed that capacity-building 
was needed for government institutions, NGOs and com-munity 
based organization (CBOs) to better monitor and 
enforce application of laws, regulations and environmental 
standards.
Appendices 175 
30. !e meeting agreed on the need to expand the 
mandate and scope of EITI to include environmental 
stewardship. 
III. Crosscutting Issues 
5. Capacity for Natural Resources Management, 
Partnerships and Regional Integration 
31. While acknowledging the various initiatives 
taken to build the capacity of African countries to man-age 
natural resources, the meeting identi$ed some gaps, 
including the lack of capacity to negotiate contracts. !e 
need to establish a facility to help African countries better 
negotiate contracts was reiterated. In addition, the estab-lishment 
of a peer learning group on natural resources 
management to promote capacity-building, exchange 
of experiences, identi$cation and dissemination of best 
practices, and creation of an appropriate knowledge base 
was considered a priority. 
32. !e meeting noted that AfDB was conducting 
a survey to identify capacity gaps in Africa. !is would 
be instrumental in designing tailor-made and targeted 
capacity-building programmes for government o%cials, 
oversight bodies such as Parliaments, Chambers of Mines, 
and other stakeholders. A special area of concern is the 
need to enhance understanding of $scal issues in natural 
resources contracts and accounting practices of interna-tional 
companies operating in the sector. !e meeting 
underscored that the AfDB survey could help map exist-ing 
capacity-building initiatives in the region to improve 
co-ordination and avoid duplication of eorts. 
33. !e importance of $nding ways to avert brain-drain, 
which aects the existing capacity, was also high-lighted. 
In this context, it was suggested that existing 
centres of excellence in Africa should be strengthened 
and more should be created. 
34. Regarding regional integration, the necessity of 
building the capacity of existing regional economic com-munities 
(RECs) and/or building them in dierent ways 
that take cross-border issues into account when resources 
and infrastructure are not wholly within one country was 
emphasized. Moreover, the importance of collaborating 
and creating partnerships for large projects in the region 
(e.g. SDPs) was underlined. 
35. !e meeting also noted that RECs should pay 
urgent attention to the harmonization of laws, regula-tions 
and standards in their respective sub-regions. !is 
was considered key to facilitating factor #ows, especially 
capital, human resources, goods and services. !e meet-ing 
also noted that some environmental problems are 
trans-boundary and require regional and sub-regional 
approaches to address them. 
36. Also recognized was the need to build or 
strengthen partnerships and coalitions at national, re-gional 
and international levels with the aim of strength-ening 
existing capacities, inducing change, and enforcing 
application of international treaties, agreements, and 
standards to promote good governance and an e%cient 
use of natural resources wealth, and to reduce the pos-sibility 
of con#icts. 
IV. Conclusions and Way Forward 
37. !e meeting agreed that Africa’s huge natural 
resources endowment could engender growth and mul-tiplier 
eects on the continent, if properly managed. !is 
hinges on ensuring Africa’s ownership of the development 
process, strengthening governance systems, reinforcing 
institutional capacity, investing natural resources wealth 
in the creation of knowledge for economic innovation, 
negotiating better terms with external partners, and 
integrating the natural resources sector into national 
development frameworks. It was recognized that many 
natural resources are $nite, and the wealth they generate 
should be invested in other forms of capital, particularly 
human, social and physical. !e potential of using natural 
resources rents to promote Africa’s infrastructure devel-opment 
was recognized. As a way forward, the following 
compact for future action was agreed: 
(a) Require G-8 endorsement of EITI and 
encourage more African countries to adhere to 
and implement the principles; 
(b) Expand the mandate and scope of EITI 
and beyond the oil and gas sectors and revenue
176 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
transparency to include other natural resources, 
upstream and downstream issues, and environ-mental 
stewardship. !e EITI Board should con-sider 
this; 
(c) Extend the Kimberley Process Certi$ca-tion 
Scheme to other minerals such as gold, coltan, 
etc.; 
(d) Expand the scope of the APRM process 
to include governance of the natural resources 
sector. It is proposed that the NEPAD Heads of 
State and Government Implementation Committee 
should consider this matter. 
(e) Encourage the establishment of inde-pendent 
oversight bodies to monitor implementa-tion 
of natural resources projects at the country 
level. !is could include representatives of NGOs, 
CBOs, and the private sector; 
(f) Mainstream the natural resources sec-tor 
into the second generation PRSPs in African 
countries. !is would require concerted action 
between national governments, the AfDB, World 
Bank, UNDP, and other stakeholders, ECA’s data-base 
from the PRSP Learning Group could inform 
this process; 
(g) Build Africa’s capacity to utilize envi-ronmental 
trading systems and mechanisms such 
as the Carbon Trading System, the Clean Devel-opment 
Mechanism and the Global Environment 
Fund. !e international community should help 
in this exercise; 
(h) Encourage AfDB and other regional and 
international $nancial institutions to participate 
in natural resources projects in Africa. !eir pres-ence 
serves as a guarantee that project operators 
will respect international standards; 
(i) Facilitate the development of African 
Junior Resource Companies, possibly through a 
dedicated $nance instrument under the AfDB. 
!is could contribute to an increase of local 
participation in and ownership of natural resources 
projects; 
(j) Strengthen Africa’s capacity to har-ness 
renewable resources as a means to preserving 
the stock of non-renewable resources for future 
generations; 
(k) Devise mechanisms for sharing bene$ts 
between regions in the same country based on 
tested formulae; 
(l) !e establishment of a study group 
to review Africa’s mining codes. !is could in-clude 
research centres in Africa and abroad, ECA, 
AfDB, ICMM, the Commonwealth Secretariat, 
and OECD-DAC; 
(m) An AUC/AFDB/ECA programme to 
elaborate Africa codes and standards for natural 
resources exploitation (To be informed by OECD 
Guidelines, EITI, Equatorial Banks Principles, 
Global Reporting Initiative, ISO, etc). !is could 
have an impact on AfDB’s lending guidelines; 
(n) !e establishment by AfDB of a grant 
facility to help Africa’s emerging oil and other nat-ural 
resources producers in contract negotiations; 
(o) !e establishment by ECA of a peer-learning 
group on natural resources management. 
!e work streams of this group would include 
seminars/workshops on oil/gas exploitation, man-agement 
of mineral wealth, natural resources and 
infrastructure development, Stabilization Funds 
and Non-Renewable Funds, compendia of best 
practices, policy briefs, e-discussion groups, etc.; 
(p) Tailor-made and targeted capacity-building 
programmes in the key areas of man-agement 
of natural resources funds and windfalls, 
monitoring and enforcement of environmental 
obligations, taxation, and accounting procedures 
of international natural resources companies. !e 
target group would include government o%cials,
Appendices 177 
oversight bodies such as Parliaments, Chambers 
of Mines, and other stakeholders; 
(q) Undertake better pro$ling of emerging 
global players such as China and India and engage 
them. !is could include research centres in Africa 
and abroad, ECA, AfDB, UNCTAD, ICMM, the 
Commonwealth Secretariat, and OECD-DAC; 
(r) Build or strengthen partnerships and 
coalitions at national, regional and international 
levels with a view to improving information shar-ing 
and dialogue, co-ordination and collaboration, 
and enforcing application of international trea-ties, 
agreements, and standards to promote good 
governance as well as an e%cient use of natural 
resources wealth; 
(s) Call on the international community to 
support Africa’s eort to map and create invento-ries 
of its natural resources. !is could impact on 
Africa’s capacity to obtain better terms and could 
lead to the establishment of an African Natural 
Resources Information Clearing-house. (!is 
would have information about Africa’s resources, 
production and consumption, market dynamics, 
etc); 
(t) Scaling-up awareness-raising pro-grammes 
on the potential of SDPs in Africa. !is 
could culminate in an international conference on 
infrastructure and natural resources development 
in Africa (2009). !e AfDB, the Infrastructure 
Consortium for Africa, AUC, NEPAD Secretar-iat, 
ECA, and the Regional Spatial Development 
Initiatives Programme (RSDIP)/Mintek could be 
involved in this process; 
(u) Maintain the momentum created by 
the 2007 Big Table through a co-ordinated series 
of follow-up events, including a discussion with 
Ministers of Finance during the next Annual Meet-ing 
of the AfDB; and 
(v) Develop a scorecard to measure impact and 
degree of implementation of recommendations agreed 
upon in these fora. 
Appendix C: Terms of reference of the ISG 
International Study Group to Review Africa’s Mining Regimes 
Background 
!e mineral wealth of a considerable number of countries 
of Africa and its potential as a stimulus to economic 
growth and development has been eloquently document-ed. 
Moreover, increased attention has been directed to 
the role which mineral wealth might potentially play, 
in the face of di%culties facing other potential leading 
economic sectors, notably agriculture (price instability, 
subsidies, etc). 
!e 2007 Big Table on “Managing Africa’s Natural Re-sources 
for Growth and Poverty Reduction” jointly organ-ized 
on 1 February 2007 by the Economic Commission for 
Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) 
recognized that, historically, Africa had not gained the 
best possible bene$ts from the exploitation of its natural 
resources. !e meeting noted that in the 1990s, many 
African countries embarked on a scale of reforms - which 
did not have any historical precedent - and formulated 
generous investment laws and regulations to attract for-eign 
direct investment (FDI) to their natural resources 
sector. !e meeting also observed that there has been a 
paradigm shi in the 2000s with a surge towards a more 
societal-oriented development. In addition, the Big Table 
noted that the natural resources sector is witnessing a 
commodity price boom, fuelled by global resource scarcity 
and the entrance in the commodity market of new global 
resource-demanding players such as China and India. 
Given Africa’s unique resource endowment, this oers a 
window of opportunity for African States to extract better
178 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
terms from natural resources exploitation and to catalyze 
growth and poverty alleviation across the continent. 
In view of the above factors, it appeared most appropri-ate 
and urgent to evaluate past experiences in natural 
resources development in Africa and put forward recom-mendations 
as to how mineral rich countries of Africa 
might best ensure that their natural resources contribute 
to the economic and social development of their societies 
in a sustainable and equitable manner. To achieve this, 
the Big Table recommended the establishment of a study 
group to review Africa’s mining regimes. 
Objectives 
!e overall objectives of the International Study Group 
(ISG) are to review the extent to which Africa’s current 
mining regimes promote sustainable development of the 
mining sector, including artisanal and small-scale mining 
as well as the broad national and regional economy, and 
to propose key elements for future change in the form of 
templates, toolkits and guidelines to formulate the next 
generation of Africa’s mining regimes. For the purpose 
of this review, a broad view is taken of the expression 
“mining regime”. It includes policy statements, legislation 
and regulations, contracts, guidelines, codes of conduct, 
standards, operating practices, and international agree-ments 
applicable to mineral operations. 
Key sustainable development objectives to be taken into 
account include the following: 
1. To secure national and regional policy space to 
develop regimes and options that advance developmental 
goals and are sensitive to national speci$cities; 
2. To develop governance institutional capacity to 
be able to customize mining regimes to suit local devel-opmental 
needs; 
3. To ensure that the minerals socio-economic link-ages 
into the local and regional economy are optimized; 
and 
4. To develop multilateral and regional governance 
and regulation through e.g. the African Peer Review 
Mechanism (APRM), the Extractive Industries Trans-parency 
Initiative (EITI), and the Regional Economic 
Communities (RECs). 
Issues to be covered 
To assist in the formulation of a framework for mineral 
resource development, the following issues, inter alia, 
will be considered. 
governance and institutional capacity in the mineral 
resources sector; 
' mechanisms for enhancing the integration of min-eral 
operations into the broader national or regional 
economy; 
' mechanisms for enhancing local bene$ts; 
' mechanisms for enhancing local and national 
employment; 
' managing and allocating mining revenue; 
' land and community rights and relations; 
' gender and child labour in the context of mineral 
operations; 
' global trade and other economic issues aecting the 
African mining sector; and 
' security of supply. 
!e study will evaluate and, where judged desirable, de-velop 
instruments regarding the following: 
' the types of licences required for mineral operations 
and their incidents; 
' the conditions to be satis$ed for obtaining each 
licence; 
' the processes by which these may be acquired or 
granted, including access to information, who makes
Appendices 179 
or participates in the decision to make a grant, who 
is consulted and how a decision is made; 
' speci$cally, when environmental permits or licences 
are required; of what sort; aer what processes; and 
what obligations they impose; 
' procedures for assessing and regulating social 
impacts; 
' land tenure: the relationship between the general 
regime and the mining regime; the impact of mining 
operations on other interests in land; 
' the various elements of the $scal regime; 
' $nancial regulations, including exchange control; 
' local retention of earnings from mining; 
' security of tenure provisions: their scope, formulation, 
location and implications; 
' dispute-settlement provisions; 
' agreements for selling, refining or processing 
minerals; 
' permits and processes for exporting minerals; 
' industry and State reporting requirements; 
' planning for mine closure including environmental, 
social and economic aspects of closure; and 
' regulatory and monitoring institutions: their respec-tive 
roles, responsibilities, powers, capacities. 
An organising map for the range of issues set out above 
is attached as Annex 1. 
Activities /Outputs 
From the perspective of sustainable development: 
' produce a comprehensive and up-to-date compilation 
and database of the principal elements of the regimes 
governing mineral operations in Africa; 
' provide an overview of the key elements of these 
regimes; 
' summarise any trends that they reveal; 
' make a comparison with developments in other min-eral- 
producing regions of the world and identify best 
practices; 
' identify evident weaknesses as well as best practices 
in the African regimes; 
' produce case studies and pro$les of selected African 
countries; 
' identify constraints from the international 
environment; 
' indicate major issues in controversy or of concern, 
known facts and positions on these issues and either 
make recommendations to resolve them or suggest 
what further work needs to be done to advance in-formed 
resolution; 
' develop a toolkit to assist policymakers and govern-ment 
negotiators involved in formulating, imple-menting, 
or monitoring a regulatory regime or in 
negotiating agreements for mineral operations;
180 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
' develop reporting requirements directly linked to 
scorecards for monitoring performance, and measur-ing 
progress and impacts: 
' produce a report synthesizing key $ndings of the 
study and recommendations for action; 
' dra a declaration on key policy positions to be con-sidered 
for adoption by African governments; and 
' draw up proposals for processes to disseminate the 
outcomes. 
Implementation strategy 
An international study group comprising of leading 
academics and practitioners of natural resources law, 
economics and management will conduct the review of 
Africa’s mining regimes. 
An inception meeting will be organized in October 2007 
to (i) agree on the project governance, methodology, 
theoretical or conceptual framework of the study (what 
should be the subject of study and research) and work 
streams, (ii) clarify what sustainable development and 
societal-oriented development means for the purpose of 
the study with a view to $rming-up the criteria for study 
and comparison, (iii) identify roles and assign responsibili-ties 
to the members of the group, and (iv) decide on the 
deliverables, expected outcomes, and timelines. Members 
attending the inception meeting will assure the overall 
quality control of the review exercise. 
!e review will be conducted through desk studies and 
bibliographic review, assessment of perceptions of key 
stakeholders on legal/regulatory, economic/$scal, envi-ronmental/ 
social, and institutional/governance issues 
aecting the sector, case studies, selected country pro- 
$ling including risk pro$le, governance in the sector, 
availability of detailed geological information, the status 
of the authorities involved in giving licenses, the geologi-cal 
surveys, etc. !e preliminary results of the review of 
Africa’s mining regimes will be subjected to peer reviews 
and validation exercises at national and sub-regional lev-els 
involving dierent stakeholders, including members 
of parliament (e.g. the e-parliament forum, NGOs, the 
private sector, industry associations, labour, international 
organizations, and academia. 
Guiding principles 
!e review exercise will be guided by the following 
principles: 
' Sensitivity to Africa’s aspirations and expectations; 
' Independent, fact-driven, and balanced evaluation; 
' Appreciation of concrete circumstances and features 
of particular countries; 
' Acknowledgement of the global and competitive na-ture 
of the mining industry; and 
' Need to engage in meaningful consultations with a 
wide range of stakeholders. 
Key milestones 
' “Commissioning” of studies: Start in mid- October 
2007-10-09 
' Brie$ngs on the work of the ISG: First African Union 
Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral 
Resources Development, which will be held in Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia from 19-23 November 2007. 
' Next Meeting of the ISG: 14-16 April 2008 in Addis 
Ababa, Ethiopia. 
' Sub-regional road shows and validation workshops: 
3rd Quarter of 2008 
' Conclusion of the review exercise: 30 June 2009 
Partners 
!is activity will be implemented in collaboration with the 
Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy 
(CEPMLP) of the University of Dundee, the Groupe de 
recherché sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA) 
of the Université du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), the
Appendices 181 
Witwatersrand University, the Commonwealth Secre-tariat, 
the Raw Materials Group and other partners who 
will be sought to provide resource persons and materials 
to develop case studies, guidelines and the toolkits. 
Expected accomplishments 
It is expected that this activity will generate a body of 
knowledge and practices on Africa’s mineral regimes that 
will contribute to the draing of a future generation of 
mining codes that promote broader-based growth and 
development of the mining sector on the continent. 
ISG ToR: Mind Map
182 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Appendix D: Extracts from the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic 
Development of Africa (1980 -2000) 
Preamble 
9. We view, with disquiet, the over-dependence of the 
economy of our continent on the export of basic raw 
materials and minerals. !is phenomenon had made 
African economies highly susceptible to external devel-opments 
and with detrimental eects on the interests of 
the continent. 
Natural resources 
76. !e major problems confronting Africa in the $eld of 
natural resource development include: lack of information 
on natural resource endowment of large and unexplored 
areas and the activities of transnational corporations deal-ing 
with natural resource assessments; lack of adequate 
capacity (capital, skills and technology) for the develop-ment 
of these resources; a considerable dependence on 
foreign transnational corporations for the development 
of a narrow range of African natural resources selected 
by these corporations to supply new material needs of the 
developed countries; the inadequate share in the value 
added generated by the exploitation of natural resources 
of Member States due to imperfect pricing and marketing 
practices; non-integration of the raw materials exporting 
industries into the national economics of the Member 
States thus impeding backward and forward linkages; 
extremely low level of development and utilisation of those 
natural resources of no interest to foreign transnational 
corporations; and disappointingly low general contribu-tion 
of natural resources endowment to socio-economic 
development. Because of these factors Member States are 
unable to exercise meaningful and permanent sovereignty 
over their natural resources. 
77. During the 1980s the strategy for the developing coun-tries 
of Africa in their natural resources development 
should aim at: 
(a) undertaking the assessment of their natural resources 
endowments and the use of the information on natural 
resource distribution and availability for national and Af-rican 
multinational socio-economic development projects 
intended to produce goods and services to meet the needs 
of Member States; 
(b) integrating natural resource development within na-tional 
and African multinational socioeconomic devel-opment 
programmes and projects, so as to encourage 
complementarity of dierent natural resources available 
in various Member States in the production process and 
to promote backward and forward linkages that the de-velopment 
of the natural resources can generate within 
the African economics; 
(c) undertaking comprehensive manpower, technology 
and capital needs surveys for natural resource develop-ment 
activities with a view to enabling the countries to 
pool their resources for the implementation of national 
and African multinational natural resource development 
programmes and projects; 
(d) strengthening existing national and African multina-tional 
institutions dealing with natural resource develop-ment 
and conservation activities at all levels including 
training, research, production, processing, fabrication, 
marketing, $nance, etc., and the establishment of new 
ones; 
(e) harmonising national natural resource development 
policies with a view to creating a favourable environment 
for co-operative eorts by the Member States in the devel-opment 
of their natural resources to meet socio-economic 
needs of their peoples; and 
(f) working closely with the international community and 
other non-African agencies involved in natural resource 
development in the region, so that external resources 
are directed principally to natural resource development 
projects which promote and sustain cooperative arrange-ments 
among Member States so as to enable the region to 
obtain the fullest possible development bene$ts #owing 
from regional linkages.
Appendices 183 
General proposals and recommendations 
78. 
(i) In recognition of the signi$cance of natural resources 
in providing a sound base for national socio-economic 
development, Member States should take early steps to 
acquire a thorough knowledge of their natural resource 
endowments. !ese include the establishment of a man-power 
development and institution building programmes 
for the conduct of $eld studies and preparation of inven-tories 
of natural resources. 
(ii) Member States whose economy essentially depends 
on production of raw materials should endeavour to co-ordinate 
and harmonise their positions in all interna-tional 
negotiations on raw materials so as to protect their 
interests. 
(iii) In particular measures should be taken by each Mem-ber 
State to ensure that all results and basic data, especially 
foreign transnational companies during their mineral 
prospection activities in the country, are handed over to 
the government. 
(iv) To ensure the best possible storage and utilisation of 
these data, a documentation centre (data bank) should be 
established at the national level. 
(v) To enable African governments to exercise sovereignty 
over their natural resources they should take all necessary 
measures through the development of relevant human 
and institutional infrastructure, to establish indigenous 
technological capabilities in the exploration, processing 
and exploitation of their natural resources. 
(vi) !e constant aim of African governments should be 
the rational development and utilisation of their natural 
resources, employing technologies that are appropriate 
to their local conditions, and paying due regard to such 
aspects as conservation of natural resources. 
(vii) At the sub-regional and regional levels measures or 
policies should be adopted to ensure eective intra-African 
co-operation among Member States, namely: 
(a) harmonisation of national development programmes 
for the use of mineral, energy and water resources; 
(b) establishment of joint facilities for applied research, 
specialised services and training; 
(c) participation in multinational projects and enterprises 
for the exploitation, production and processing of usable 
natural resources. 
Mineral resources 
79. !e main development objectives of the strategy for de-velopment 
of mineral resources during the 1980s would be: 
(i) Improved knowledge of African mineral resources 
through possession of an adequate inventory of existing 
and potential resources, better forecasting of consumption 
patterns and research towards rational use of known re-serves. 
Particular attention should be paid to those mineral 
raw materials with strategic importance for building up 
the basic industries making up intermediate products such 
as: iron and steel, aluminium, base metals, petrochemi-cal 
products and fertiliser, cement, etc. In the economic 
evaluation of the resources account should be taken of 
the structural changes which have occurred in the world 
due to the eect of the energy crises, the new technologies 
as well as the increased needs for local consumption of 
some raw materials. 
(ii) Creation, at the national and regional levels, of proper 
scienti$c, technical and industrial environment neces-sary 
for the development and expansion of the mineral 
extractive industries. To this end, the $rst eort should 
be directed towards the strengthening of the capabilities 
of the national geological surveys and mining depart-ments. 
In promoting the new methods and techniques of 
research the national capabilities have to be complemented 
by the multi-national African centres for development of 
mineral resources. 
(iii) Correlation of national programmes of geological re-search 
and mineral surveys at the subregional and regional 
levels in view of increased e%ciency and establishment of 
joint operational activities. Of particular importance will 
be co-operation among the Member States for exploitation 
of the resources of the sea-bed.
184 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
(iv) Training in all aspects of mineral resources devel-opment 
of high level specialized personnel as well as of 
medium level technicians from Member States in order 
to alleviate the shortage of quali$ed manpower and to 
reduce the dependence on overseas expertise and spe-cialised 
services. 
(v) Development of a system of transfer of know-how, 
and exchange of scienti$c, technical and economic data 
in geology, mining activities and mineral economics 
among Member States as well as with countries from 
other developing regions. 
Appendix E: Main mineral deposits of Africa 
COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and 
semi precious stones 
Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals 
Algeria Gold, silver Mercury, wolframite, lead, zinc, 
iron 
Phosphate, barite, kaolin, benton-ite, 
diatomite, feldspar, gypsum, 
pozzolana, salt, marble, rhyolite, 
sulphur, fuller’s earth 
Angola Diamonds, gold, silver, PGMs, Uranium, nickel, chromium, baux-ite, 
copper, lead, iron, zinc 
Phosphate, granite, marble, salt, 
gypsum, lignite, mica, peat, 
manganese 
Benin Gold, Marble, 
Botswana Diamonds, gold, platinum group 
metals, semi-precious gemstones, 
Copper, nickel, cobalt Coal, soda ash, salt 
Burkina Faso Gold, Lead, zinc, uranium Granite, marble, phosphate, pum-ice, 
salt, manganese 
Burundi Gold Tin, nickel, copper, cobalt, nio-bium, 
coltan, vanadium, tungsten 
Phosphate, peat 
Cameroon Gemstones, gold, diamonds Nickel, bauxite, iron., rutile, co-balt, 
uranium, tantalite, tin. 
Lignite, marble, mica, manganèse 
Cape Verde Gypsum, , pozzolana, salt, 
Central African Republic Diamonds, gold Copper, tin, iron, uranium Clay, graphite, ilmenite, kyanite, 
lignite, monazite, quartz, salt, 
manganese, rutile 
Chad Gold Salt, soda ash, 
Comoros 
Congo DR Diamonds, gold, silver Copper, zinc, tin, nickel, lead, 
coltan, cobalt, tungsten, niobium 
Coal, manganese 
Congo Brazzaville Diamonds, gold Copper, lead, zinc, iron, 
magnesium 
Phosphate, potash, manganese 
Cote d’Ivoire Gold, diamonds Cobalt, niobium coltan, nickel, 
copper, iron, bauxite, 
Manganese 
Djibouti Copper Salt, basalt, gypsum 
Egypt Gold Lead, tantalum, uranium, copper, 
tin , iron, zinc, magnesium, 
Granite, marble, phosphate, gyp-sum, 
sulphur, salt, soda ash, bar-ite, 
asbestos, bentonite, feldspar, 
#uorspar, kaolin, manganese, ver-miculite, 
coal 
Equatorial Guinea Diamonds, gold Bauxite 
Eritrea Gold, silver Copper, lead, zinc, magnesium, 
iron, nickel 
Asbestos, feldspar, potash, talc, 
basalt, granite, gypsum, kaolin, 
marble, pumice, quartz, salt 
Ethiopia Gold, silver, platinum, gemstones Tantalum Salt, diatomite, feldspar, gypsum, 
soda ash, granite, marble, pumice, 
rhyolite, silica sand, kaolin 
Gabon Gold, diamonds, PGMs, Uranium, niobium, iron Phosphate, manganese 
Gambia, !e Titanium Rutile, silica sand
Appendices 185 
COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and 
semi precious stones 
Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals 
Ghana Gold, diamonds, silver Bauxite Salt, manganese 
Guinea Gold, diamonds Bauxite, iron, uranium, copper, 
nickel 
Salt, graphite, manganese 
Guinea-Bissau Diamonds, gold Bauxite Granite, phosphate 
Kenya Gemstones, gold Lead, zircon, iron, titanium Soda ash, fluorspar, diatomite, 
salt, gypsum, mica, meerschaum, 
kaolin 
Lesotho Diamonds Uranium Dimension stone, bituminous 
shale, coal 
Liberia Diamonds, gold Iron 
Libya Iron Gypsum, salt, sulphur, 
Madagascar Gemstones, diamonds, PGMs, gold Chromium, nickel, bauxite, cop-per, 
cobalt, titanium, uranium, 
iron 
Coal, graphite, labradorite, quartz, 
agate, salt, gypsum, feldspar, mica, 
marble, zircon, beryl 
Malawi Gemstones Copper , nickel, titanium, uranium Coal, kaolin, phosphate, zircon 
Mali Gold, diamonds, palladium, silver, 
semi-precious stones 
Copper, lead, lithium, nickel, tin, 
iron, chromium, titanium, tung-sten, 
uranium, niobium, thorium, 
bauxite. 
Granite, gypsum, kaolinite, mar-ble, 
phosphate, salt, manganese, 
rutile, talc, zircon 
Mauritania Gold, diamonds, semi-precious 
stones, PGMs 
Iron, copper, chromite, titanium Gypsum, salt, sulphur 
Mauritius 
Morocco Gold, silver Lead, zinc, copper, nickel, tin, 
uranium, mercury, cobalt, anti-mony, 
iron 
Phosphate, coal, barite, #uorspar, 
bentonite, salt, talc, fuller’s earth, 
feldspar, gypsum, manganese 
Mozambique Gold, coal, gemstones, diamonds Bauxite, iron, niobium, tantalum, 
titanium, beryllium 
Diatomite, salt, quartz, Marble, 
bentonite, rutile, zircon, ilemenite 
Namibia Diamonds, gold, silver, gemstones Copper, lead, zinc, tin, uranium, 
tantalite, 
Salt, #uorspar, granite, marble, 
sodalite, wollastonite, manganese 
Niger Gold, silver, Uranium, tin Coal, gypsum, salt 
Nigeria Gold, , gemstones, diamondS Tin, bauxite, copper, zinc, lead, 
iron, tungsten 
Coal, barite, kaolin, feldspar, gyp-sum, 
granite, marble, soda ash, 
talc, zircon, phosphate, rutile, 
monazite, ilmenite, 
Rwanda Gold, gemstones Tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, 
columbium 
Pozzolana 
Sao Tome E Principe 
Senegal Gold Iron , titanium Phosphate, salt, silica sand, rutile 
Seychelles 
Sierra Leone Diamonds, gold, PGMs, Bauxite, titanium Gypsum, salt, ilmenite, zircon 
Somalia Gemstones, salt, gypsum 
South Africa Gold, PGMs, platinum, diamonds, 
gemstones, palladium 
Lead, zinc, bauxite, copper, nickel, 
iron, chromium, uranium, vana-dium, 
titanium, cobalt, antimony 
coal, phosphate, kyanite, vermic-ulite, 
#uorspar, ilmenite, silicon, 
cement, asbestos, bentonite, feld-spar, 
gypsum, kaolin, mica, man-ganese, 
rutile, zircon, 
Sudan Gold, silver, Chromite, Gypsum, marble, salt, mica, kaolin 
Swaziland Gold, diamonds Coal, kaolin, talc, soapstone 
Tanzania Gold, diamonds, gemstones, silver, 
PGMs 
Nickel, bauxite, copper, cobalt, 
uranium 
Coal, phosphate, gypsum, poz-zolana, 
soda ash, 
Togo Diamonds, gold bauxite, zinc, iron Phosphate, gypsum, marble, man-ganese, 
rutile 
Tunisia Silver Lead, zinc, iron Phosphate, #uorspar, zinc, barite, 
gypsum, lime
186 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and 
semi precious stones 
Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals 
Uganda Gold, diamonds Copper, tin, lead, nickel, cobalt, 
tungsten, uranium, niobium, tan-talum, 
iron 
Gypsum, kaolin, salt, vermiculite, 
pozzolana, marble, soapstone 
Zambia Gemstones, diamonds, gold, silver Copper, zinc, tin, nickel, cobalt, 
manganese, uranium 
Coal, sulphur, feldspar, barite 
Zimbabwe Gold, diamonds, PGMs, palla-dium, 
platinum, , silver 
Nickel, copper, iron, Chromium, 
cobalt, uranium 
Coal, lithium, vermiculite, phos-phate, 
feldspar, graphite, kyanite, 
perlite, mica, sulphur, talc, asbes-tos, 
barite 
Sources: 
US Geological Survey (Minerals Yearbook): http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/africa.html#ag 
Africa Atlas : http://www.unep.org/dewa/africa/AfricaAtlas/ 
MBendi Information Services : http://www.mbendi.com/indy/ming/af/p0005.htm 
UNECA: http://knowledge.uneca.org/community-of-practice/nepad-regional-integration-and-trade/natural-resources-managment/international-study- 
group-isg-to-review-africas-mining-codes/meetings-of-the-isg/fourth-meeting-of-the-isg-10-12-march-2009/presentations/!e%20_Min-eral% 
20_Law_%20Policy_Framework%20_Algeria_Mauritania_Morocco.pdf 
British Geological Survey 2009; World Mineral Production 2003 – 2007 
Appendix F: U.S. Mineral Materials Ranked by Net Import Reliance - 2010 
Commodity Percent Major Sources (2006-091) 
Arsenic(trioxide) 100 Morocco, China, Belgium 
Asbestos 100 Canada 
BauxiteandAlumina 100 Jamaica,Brazil,Guinea,Australia 
Cesium 100 Canada 
Fluorspar 100 Mexico, China, SouthAfrica,Mongolia 
Graphite(natural) 100 China,Mexico,Canada,Brazil 
Indium 100 China, Canada,Japan,Belgium 
Manganese 100 SouthAfrica,Gabon,China,Australia 
Mica, sheet (natural) 100 China, Brazil, Belgium, India 
Niobium(columbium) 100 Brazil,Canada, Germany, Estonia 
QuartzCrystal(Industrial) 100 China,Japan,Russia 
RareEarths 100 China,France,Japan,Austria 
Rubidium 100 Canada 
Strontium 100 Mexico,Germany 
Tantalum 100 Australia,China,Kazakhstan, Germany 
!allium 100 Russia, Germany, Netherlands 
!orium 100 United Kingdom, France, India, Canada 
Yttrium 100 China,Japan,France 
Gallium 99 Germany, Canada, China, Ukraine 
Gemstones 99 Israel, India, Belgium, South Africa 
Bismuth 94 Belgium, China, United Kingdom, Mexico 
Platinum 94 South Africa, Germany, United kingdom, 
Canada 
Antimony 93 China, Mexico, Belgium
Appendices 187 
Commodity Percent Major Sources (2006-091) 
Germanium 90 Belgium, China, Russia, Germany 
Iodine 88 Chile, Japan 
Rhenium 86 Chile, Netherlands 
Diamond (dust, grit and powder) 85 China, Ireland, Russia, Rep. of Korea 
Stone (dimension) 85 Brazil, China, Italy, Turkey 
Potash 83 Canada, Belarus, Russia 
Cobalt 81 Norway, Russia, China, Canada 
Titanium Mineral Concentrates 81 South Africa, Australia, Canada, Mozambique 
Silicon Carbide 77 China, Venezuela, Netherlands, Romania 
Zinc 77 Canada, Peru, Mexico, Ireland 
Barite 76 China, India 
Tin 69 Peru, Bolivia, China, Indonesia 
Vanadium 69 Rep. of Korea, Czech Republic, Canada, Austria 
Tungsten 68 China, Canada, Germany, Bolivia 
Silver 65 Mexico, Canada, Peru, Chile 
Titanium(sponge) 54 Kazakhastan, Japan, Ukraine, Russia 
Peat 59 Canada 
Palladium 58 Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Belgium 
Chromium 56 South Africa, Kazakhstan, Russia, China 
Magnesium Compounds 53 China, Austia, Canada, Brazil 
Beryllium 47 Kazakhastan, Kenya, Germany, Ireland 
Silicon (ferrosilicon) 44 China, Russia, Venezuela, Canada 
Lithium 43 Chile, Argentina, China 
Nickel 43 Canada, Russia, Australia, Norway 
Nitrogen($xed),Ammonia 43 Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Canada, Ukraine 
Aluminium 38 Canada, Russia, China, Mexico 
Magnesium Metal 34 Canada, Israel, China, Russia 
Gold 33 Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile 
Copper 30 Chile, Canada, Peru, Mexico 
Mica,scrapand#ake(natural) 27 Canada, China, India, Finland 
Garnet (Industrial) 25 India, Australia, China, Canada 
Perlite 25 Greece 
Salt 24 Canada, Chile, Mexico, !e Bahamas 
Vermiculite 22 China, South Africa 
Sulfur 17 Canada, Mexico, Venezuela 
Gypsum 15 Canada, Mexico, Spain 
Phosphate Rock 15 Morroco 
IronandSteelSlag 10 Japan, Canada, Italy, South Africa 
Cement 8 China, Canada, Republic of Korea, !ailand 
Iron and Steel 7 Canada, European Union, China, Mexico 
Pumice 7 Greece, Turkey, Iceland, Mexico 
Diamond (natural industrial stone) 3 Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, India 
Lime 2 Canada, Mexico 
Stone (crushed) 1 Canada, Mexico, !e Bahamas 
Note: Excludes mineral fuels. 1 In descending order of import share. 
SOURCE: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2011, Updated: February 2011
188 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Appendix G: State/private control of mining of selected minerals 1975-2006 
Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 
1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 
Bauxite MEC states 17.4 24.8 26.7 18.7 13.5 13.1 
CPEs 14.3 13.1 11.6 5.8 10.9 11.6 
Of which China 1.04 2.5 3.4 5.8 10.9 11.6 
State total 31.7 37.9 38.3 24.5 24.4 24.7 
MEC private 68.3 62.1 61.7 75.5 75.6 75.3 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Coal MEC states na 8.7 8.7 13.1 11.2 12.1 
CPEs na 55.4 54.2 29.1 38.5 39.0 
Of which China na 18.8 21.9 28.2 37.4 38.4 
State total na 64.1 62.9 42.2 49.7 51.1 
MEC private na 35.9 37.1 57.8 50.3 48.9 
State total + 
0 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Copper MEC states 26.7 35.2 30.6 22.4 20.3 18.4 
CPEs 22.0 23.5 21.9 5.3 5.2 5.9 
Of which China 2.0 2.9 3.3 4.4 4.4 5.0 
State total 48.7 58.7 52.5 27.7 25.5 24.3 
MEC private 51.3 41.3 47.5 72.3 74.5 75.7 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Gold MEC states 2.3 3.4 2.3 6.2 4.7 4.3 
CPEs 19.9 25.1 19.0 7.0 10.3 11.0 
Of which China 0.1 4.0 4.3 6.3 9.1 9.8 
State total 22.2 28.5 21.3 13.2 15.0 15.3 
MEC private 77.8 71.5 78.7 86.8 85 84.7 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Iron ore MEC states 19.5 23 22.5 27.1 10.3 9.5 
CPEs 33.9 44.5 42.4 10.9 15.0 18.5 
Of which China 5.7 7.4 8.3 10.8 15.0 18.5 
State total 53.4 67.5 64.9 38 25.3 28 
MEC private 46.6 32.5 35.1 62 74.7 72 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Lead MEC states 8.6 12.7 8.2 4.1 2.4 2.2 
CPEs 29.9 31.3 32.6 22.3 33.8 34.3 
Of which China 3.9 6.2 11.1 21.6 33.5 34.3 
State total 38.5 44 40.8 26.4 36.2 36.5 
MEC private 61.5 56 59.2 73.6 63.8 63.5 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Manganese MEC states 22.8 13.1 13.4 14.1 10.6 11.0 
CPEs 41.9 55.1 48.7 17.9 24.1 24.0 
Of which China 4.2 12.1 12.6 17.9 24.1 24.0
Appendices 189 
Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 
State total 64.7 68.2 62.1 32.0 34.7 35.0 
MEC private 35.3 31.8 37.9 68.0 65.3 65.0 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Entity Controlled share of world production % 
1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 
Nickel MEC states 2.8 14.2 12.2 8.7 7.9 7.7 
CPEs 23.4 31.1 32.8 10.1 9.9 10 
Of which China na 2.4 3.8 4.3 4.3 4.7 
State total 26.2 45.3 45 18.8 17.8 17.7 
MEC private 73.8 54.7 55 81.2 82.2 82.3 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Tin MEC states 22.1 24.0 15.7 17.4 15.7 19.8 
CPEs 16.6 18.9 22.0 40.5 35.8 36.4 
Of which China 9.2 8.9 14.8 38.8 34.3 34.8 
State total 38.7 42.9 37.7 57.9 51.5 56.2 
MEC private 61.3 57.1 62.3 42.1 48.5 43.8 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Zinc MEC states 10.6 14.0 11.7 9.5 4.2 4.1 
CPEs 27.4 25.9 29.2 20.9 25.9 28.4 
Of which China 2.2 4.3 9.2 20.2 25.2 27.7 
State total 38 39.9 40.9 30.4 30.1 32.5 
MEC private 62 60.1 59.1 69.6 69.9 67.5 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Sources: Ericsson and Tegen 1992, Raw Materials Data 2008. 
Note: na: not available 
MEC states: Market Economy Countries, state owned companies. 
MEC private: Market Economy Countries, private owned companies. 
CPE: Central Planned Economies, state owned companies. 
Appendix H: State/private control of re!ning of selected minerals 
1975-2006 
Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 
1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 
Alumina MEC states 9.6 17.5 18.6 13.6 9.8 9.7 
CPEs 16.6 18.2 19.8 8.1 13.1 19.0 
Of which China 1.5 3.4 3.4 8.1 13.1 19.0 
State total 26.2 35.7 38.4 21.7 22.9 28.7 
MEC private 73.8 64.3 61.6 78.3 77.1 71.3 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Aluminium MEC states 11.9 22.7 26.5 22.1 20.4 20.3
190 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 
CPEs 20.7 20.2 20.2 12.1 24.5 27.6 
Of which China na 2.8 3.9 12.1 24.5 27.6 
State total 32.6 42.9 46.7 34.2 44.9 47.9 
MEC private 67.4 57.1 53.3 65.8 55.1 52.1 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Copper MEC states 16.2 24.7 22.8 19.9 17.0 16.1 
CPEs 24.9 24.6 22.8 9.0 14.9 16.9 
Of which China 2.9 3.4 4.3 9.0 14.9 16.9 
State total 41.1 49.3 45.6 28.9 31.9 32.9 
MEC private 58.9 50.7 54.4 71.1 68.1 67.1 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Nickel MEC states 1.0 8.7 9.8 4.2 3.1 3.5 
CPEs 24.0 32.3 33.4 8.1 10.6 10.9 
Of which China na 2.4 3.1 4.6 7.6 8.0 
State total 25.0 41.0 43.2 12.3 13.7 14.4 
MEC private 75.0 59.0 56.8 87.7 86.3 85.6 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Tin MEC states 11.4 21.3 20.2 19.6 15.7 14.2 
CPEs 17.4 23.2 21.6 43.0 34.5 40.4 
Of which China 9.7 13.3 12.3 42.3 33.5 39.2 
State total 28.8 44.5 41.8 62.6 50.2 54.6 
MEC private 71.2 55.5 58.2 37.4 49.8 45.4 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Zinc MEC states 9.7 13.8 10.4 9.1 4.6 4.7 
CPEs 31.3 26.5 27.9 21.8 27.4 30.0 
Of which China 2.6 3.6 6.7 21.4 26.8 29.4 
State total 41.0 40.3 38.3 30.9 32.0 34.7 
MEC private 59.0 59.7 61.7 69.1 68.0 65.3 
State total + 
100 100 100 100 100 100 
MEC private 
Sources: Ericsson and Tegen 1992, Raw Materials Data 2008. 
Note: na: not available 
MEC states: Market Economy Countries, state owned companies. 
MEC private: Market Economy Countries, private owned companies. 
CPE: Central Planned Economies, state owned companies.
Appendices 191 
Appendix I: Environmental and Social issues in mining regimes in se-lected 
African countries 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are environmen-tal 
requirements 
integrated into the 
mining legislation? 
Yes, the Minister 
of minerals, energy 
and water resourc-es, 
before granting 
a prospecting li-cence 
must be sat-is 
$ed that that the 
proposed program 
of prospecting 
operations is ad-equate 
and makes 
proper provision 
for environmental 
protection. 
Yes Under the Mining 
Proc. No 52/1993, 
Article 26(3), min-ing 
right holders 
are required to 
observe the health 
and safety of their 
agents, employees 
and other person 
in their operations 
and to minimise 
environmental 
pollution. 
No Under the Miner-als 
and Mining Act 
2006, sec 18 and 
49(2)(d) the mineral 
right holder is re-quired 
to obtain the 
necessary approvals 
and permits required 
from the Forestry 
Commission and 
the Environmental 
Protection Agency 
for the protection of 
natural resources, 
public health and 
the environment 
before undertaking 
an activity or opera-tion 
under a mineral 
right. 
Yes. Mine and 
quarry operations 
must be carried out 
in such a way as to 
ensure environ-mental 
protection 
in accordance 
with the Environ-ment 
Code. Enter-prises 
are required 
to take all steps 
necessary to prevent 
pollution of the en-vironment, 
to treat 
wastes, emanations 
and e*uence, and to 
preserve the forest 
and water resources. 
Yes. See Mining 
Law 2002, Chap-ter 
V 
Are there manda-tory 
environmental 
pre-conditions to 
obtain exploration 
rights? 
Yes No. !e ap-plication 
for an Ex-ploration 
Licence is 
not subject 
to technical 
and envi-ronmental 
evaluations. 
No No !ere is no manda-tory 
environmental 
precondition set to 
obtain exploration 
rights. However, 
the mineral right 
holder is required to 
obtain the necessary 
approval required 
from the Forestry 
Commission and 
the Environmental 
Protection Agency 
before undertaking 
any activity. 
No No
192 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are there manda-tory 
environmen-tal 
pre-conditions 
to obtain mining 
rights? 
Yes, the applicant 
for a mining li-cence 
is required 
to submit a com-prehensive 
EIA as 
part of the project 
feasibility study 
report. 
Yes, an ap-plicant 
for 
exploita-tion 
licence 
is required 
to submit 
with his/ 
her appli-cation 
an 
Environ-mental 
Im-pact 
Study 
(EIS) and 
the Envi-ronmental 
Manage-ment 
Plan 
o f t h e 
Project 
(EMPP). 
Under the Mining 
Proc. No 52/1993, 
Article 46(2)(h) 
and the Mining 
Regulation, Article 
5(2)(d),applicants 
for large scale min-ing 
licences are re-quired 
to submit 
an environmental 
impact study before 
licence is granted. 
No Under the mineral 
and mining Act, 
there are no manda-tory 
environmental 
prerequisites that 
need to be ful$lled 
to get mining rights. 
Nonetheless, the EIA 
regulation requires 
any person before 
commencing any 
of the undertakings 
speci$ed in Schedule 
1 of the Regulation, 
to get the undertak-ing 
registered by the 
Agency and obtain 
an environmental 
permit. 
For any of the under-takings 
mentioned 
under Schedule 2 of 
this Regulation an 
EIA is required be-fore 
an environmen-tal 
permit is issued. 
No No 
Are there manda-tory 
environmen-tal 
prerequisites to 
maintain mining 
rights? 
Section 65 of the 
Mines and Min-erals 
Act puts an 
obligation on the 
holder of a mining 
licence to conduct 
his operations in 
such manner as 
to preserve in as 
far as possible the 
natural environ-ment, 
minimize 
and control waste 
or undue loss of or 
damage to natural 
and biological re-sources, 
to prevent 
and promptly treat 
pollution and con-tamination 
of the 
environment. 
No According to the 
EIA proc. 299/2002, 
Article 12,where 
one fails to imple-ment 
the project in 
compliance with 
commitments and 
obligations entered 
into or imposed, the 
relevant Authority 
has the power to 
suspend or cancel 
the licence issued in 
favour of a project. 
No Environmental re-quirements 
are not 
set as preconditions 
to maintain mining 
rights, however, the 
mining lease au-thorizes 
the holder 
of the lease to stack 
or dump a mineral or 
waste product as ap-proved 
in the holder’s 
Environmental Im-pact 
Statement. 
No Yes. Unless the 
holder of the 
mining conces-sion 
obtains an 
environmental 
permit within the 
speci$ed period, 
the concession 
will be revoked. 
Holders of min-ing 
certificate 
or pass are also 
required to ob-serve 
health and 
safety regula-tions 
as well as 
obligations for 
environmental 
protection.
Appendices 193 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Is there a re-qui 
rement for 
developing a n 
environmental 
management plan 
to obtain mining 
rights? 
Yes, according to 
section 65 of the 
Mines and Miner-als 
Act, an appli-cant 
for a mining 
licence is required 
to prepare and sub-mit 
a comprehen-sive 
EIA. !is EIA 
will be prepared as 
it is indicated un-der 
section 10 of 
the EIA Act. . 
Yes, the ap-plicant 
will 
be required 
to submit 
with his 
application 
an envi-ronmental 
manage-ment 
plan. 
!e licensing Au-thority 
requires the 
applicant for min-ing 
right to submit 
an EIA which is 
required to con-tain, 
among other 
things, measures 
proposed to elimi-nate, 
minimize or 
mitigate negative 
impacts (environ-mental 
manage-ment 
plan). 
No Submitting an en-vironmental 
man-agement 
plan is 
not a prerequisite 
to obtain mineral 
rights. However, the 
person responsible 
for an undertaking 
in respect of which 
a preliminary envi-ronmental 
report or 
an environmental 
impact statement 
has been approved 
shall submit to the 
Agency an environ-mental 
management 
plan in respect of his 
operations within 
18 months of com-mencement 
of opera-tions 
and thereaer 
every 3 years. 
No For activities cat-egorized 
as Level 
2 under the min-ing 
act, there is a 
requirement to 
develop an envi-ronmental 
man-agement 
plan 
which is subject 
to prior approval 
by the competent 
entity. 
Is there a require-ment 
for updating 
the information 
presented in the 
environmental 
impact study dur-ing 
the course of 
the development 
of the project? 
No No !e relevant envi-ronmental 
agency 
is required to pe-riodically 
monitor 
the implementa-tion 
of authorised 
projects to ensure 
compliance with set 
commitments and 
obligations. How-ever 
the agency 
during monitoring 
can require the EIA 
report to be revised 
or updated, where 
necessary. 
No In the event of occur-rence 
of fundamen-tal 
changes in the 
environment due to 
natural causes before 
or during the imple-mentation 
of the un-dertaking; 
and upon 
such change the en-vironmental 
assess-ment 
report and the 
environmental man-agement 
plan shall be 
revised on the basis 
of the new environ-mental 
condition. 
No No
194 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Which institutions 
or officials par-ticipate 
in or are 
consulted in the 
decision to grant a 
mineral right? 
The Minister of 
Ministry of Min-erals 
Energy and 
Water Aairs, the 
department of 
Geological Survey 
and department of 
Mines take part in 
decision-making 
with regard to 
granting/denying 
a mineral right. 
The Min-i 
s t e r i n 
charge of 
mines and 
quarries, 
Geological 
Depart-ment, 
Min-ing 
Regis-try, 
Head 
of the Pro-vincial 
Au-thority 
of 
Mines, De-partment 
in charge 
of the pro-tection 
of 
mining 
environ-ment 
and 
the Inter-ministerial 
Committee 
appointed 
by the Min-ister 
and 
Directorate 
of Mines. 
The Mines and 
Energy Bureau of 
national regional 
Self-Government 
is responsible for 
issuing artisanal 
mining as well 
as construction 
minerals mining 
licenses under-taken 
by domestic 
investors while the 
Ministry of Mines 
and Energy issues 
licenses for other 
mining operations. 
Under the Mines 
and Minerals 
Act sec. 137 
the Minister of 
mines or any 
other respon-sible 
Minister 
,mining com-missioner 
and 
the mining af-fairs 
board are 
responsible for 
the granting or 
denial of min-ing 
leases. 
Ministry of Lands, 
Forestry and Mines, 
on behalf of the 
President and upon 
receipt of recom-mendation 
from the 
Minerals Commis-sion, 
may negotiate, 
grant, revoke, sus-pend 
or renew min-eral 
rights in accord-ance 
with this Act. 
Minister of Mines 
and Center of Pro-motion 
and Min-ing 
Development 
(CPMD) are respon-sible 
for granting of 
mineral rights. 
The relevant 
authority is in 
charge of grant-ing 
or denying of 
mining titles and 
permits. !ere is 
no public par-t 
icipat ion i n 
decision-making. 
The Council of 
Ministers has 
the powers to 
re g u l ate t he 
mining law as 
well as approve 
environmental 
regulations for 
the mining activ-ity 
and those for 
technical mining 
safety. 
The National 
Council for Sus-tainable 
devel-opment 
has the 
power to propose 
mechanisms for 
the simpli$cation 
and e%ciency of 
the process of 
licensing activi-ties 
related to the 
use of natural 
resources. 
What about in 
monitoring and 
enforc ing t he 
environmental 
regulations? 
The Department 
of Environmental 
Aairs (the com-petent 
authority) 
is responsible for 
monitoring and 
enforcing the EIA 
Act. 
The De-partment 
in charge 
of the pro-tection 
of 
mining en-vironment 
!e Environmen-tal 
Protection Au-thority 
(EPA) and 
Regional Environ-mental 
Agencies 
as well as Environ-mental 
Inspectors 
to be assigned by 
EPA or by the rel-evant 
regional en-vironmental 
agency 
are responsible for 
the enforcement of 
the environmental 
regulations. 
!e Minister of 
Environment 
and Tourism or 
any other Minis-ter 
to whom the 
President may 
assign, Envi-ronmental 
Man-agement 
Board, 
the National 
Environmental 
Council, the 
Environmental 
Management 
Agency, offic-ers 
and inspec-tors 
and the 
Standards and 
Enforcement 
Committee 
are responsible 
for controlling 
and enforcing 
environmental 
regulations. 
!e Environmental 
Protection Agency is 
responsible to ensure 
compliance with and 
laid down environ-mental 
impact as-sessment 
procedures 
in the planning and 
execution of devel-opment 
projects, in-cluding 
compliance 
in respect of existing 
projects. 
Not Known The Council of 
Ministers, the 
National Coun-cil 
for Sustainable 
Development (a 
consultative or-gan 
of the Coun-cil 
of Ministers), 
civil society, local 
communities and 
associations.
Appendices 195 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
What are the main 
environmental le-gal 
compliance in-struments 
to which 
mineral operations 
have to adhere ? 
Environmental 
Impact Assess-ment 
Act 2005. 
Not Known !e Environmen-tal 
Impact Assess-ment 
Proclamation 
No 299/2002 and 
Environmental 
Pollution Control 
Proclamation No 
300/2002. 
Environmental 
Management 
Act [Chapter 
20:27] 
!e Environmental 
Protection Agency 
Act, 1994 and the 
Environmental As-sessment 
Regula-tions 
1999. 
Not Known Environmental 
Law of Septem-ber 
1997 
Are there prereq-uisite 
for obtaining 
an environmental 
permit? 
If the competent 
authority deter-mines 
that a pro-posed 
activity is 
likely to have a 
signi$cant adverse 
environmental 
impact, it shall 
require that such 
activity undergo 
an environmental 
impact assess-ment. 
Based on a 
review of the EIA 
the authority may 
approve and grant 
authorization to 
the applicant. 
Not Known If the proposed 
project falls in any 
category listed un-der 
the directive 
issued pursuant to 
the EIA proclama-tion, 
an applicant 
will be required to 
undertake an envi-ronmental 
impact 
assessment and 
submit the EIA re-port 
to the Author-ity 
or the relevant 
regional environ-mental 
agency. 
To implement 
the projects list-ed 
under First 
Schedule of the 
Act, the project 
developer re-quires 
a certi$- 
cate in respect 
of the project 
aer submitting 
an EIA report in 
accordance with 
sec. 99 of the 
Environmental 
Management 
Act. 
A person required 
by the regulations to 
register an undertak-ing 
and obtain an 
environmental per-mit 
shall submit the 
Agency an applica-tion 
in such form, as 
the Agency shall de-termine. 
!e Agency 
may also require an 
applicant to submit 
such other informa-tion 
on the under-taking 
as the Agency 
considers necessary 
for the initial assess-ment 
of the environ-mental 
impact of the 
undertaking. 
Not Known Yes, all activi-ties, 
which are 
susceptible of 
signi$cant envi-ronmental 
im-pact, 
are required 
to be licensed and 
registered. The 
issuance of the 
environmental 
licence is subject 
to the submis-sion 
of an envi-ronmental 
im-pact 
assessment 
of the proposed 
activity.
196 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are there pre-con-ditions 
for main-taining 
an envi-ronmental 
permit? 
The authorized 
person, while im-plementing 
the 
project, is required 
to avoid the occur-rence 
of adverse 
environmental im-pact 
and to comply 
with any terms or 
conditions author-ization 
was subject 
to. Otherwise, the 
authorisation may 
be revoked or 
modi$ed. 
Not Known !e environmental 
inspectors assigned 
by the Author-ity 
or the relevant 
regional environ-menta 
l agenc y 
have the power to 
ensure compliance 
with environmental 
standards and re-lated 
requirements. 
If the inspector 
suspects that any 
activity may cause 
damage to the en-vironment, 
he shall 
order the taking of 
corrective meas-ures 
up to the im-mediate 
cessation 
of the activity. 
The Authority or 
the relevant envi-ronmental 
agency 
has also the power 
to cancel or sus-pend 
the license 
in case where the 
license holder fails 
to implement the 
project in compli-ance 
with the com-mitments 
he has 
entered into. 
Every developer 
with a certifi-cate 
is required 
to take all steps 
to prevent or 
mitigate any un-desirable 
eects 
of the project 
on the environ-ment. 
Other-wise, 
the Direc-tor 
General has 
the right to can-cel 
or suspend 
the certi$cate. 
!e holder of the en-vironmental 
permit 
should take all the 
necessary measures 
so that his/her un-dertaking 
doesn’t 
pose a serious threat 
to the environment 
or to public health. If 
the Agency $nds out 
that a certain under-taking 
for which an 
environmental per-mit 
has been granted 
poses a serious risk 
to the environment, 
it may serve on the 
person responsible 
for the undertaking 
an enforcement no-tice 
requiring him/ 
her to take such steps 
as the Agency thinks 
necessary to prevent 
or stop the activities. 
!e Agency may also 
direct the immediate 
cessation of the of-fending 
activity. 
Not Known No
Appendices 197 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Which regulatory 
and monitoring 
institutions are in-volved 
in reviewing 
the environmental 
impact assessment 
report submit-ted 
by a mining 
project developer/ 
applicant? 
The Department 
of Environmental 
Affairs, relevant 
government de-partments 
and lo-cal 
authorities. 
Depart-ment 
i n 
charge of 
the Protec-tion 
of the 
Mining En-vironment 
within the 
Ministry of 
Mines is the 
organ deal-ing 
with the 
technical 
evaluation 
of the EIS, 
MRP and 
the EMPP 
presented 
by the ap-plicants 
requesting 
mining or 
quarry ex-ploitation 
rights. 
The Authorit y 
(EPA) is responsible 
for the evaluation of 
an environmental 
impact study report 
and the monitoring 
of projects which 
are subject to li-censing, 
execution 
and supervision 
by a federal agency 
or which is likely 
to produce trans-regional 
impact. 
its implementation 
when !e regional 
environmental 
agencies are re-sponsible 
for pro-jects 
which are not 
subject to licens-ing, 
execution and 
supervision by a 
federal agency and 
which are unlikely 
to produce trans-regional 
impact 
It is the General- 
Director of the 
Environmental 
Management 
Agency that is 
responsible to 
review the EIA 
reports submit-ted 
by the project 
developer. 
It is stated that the 
Forestry Commis-sion 
and the Envi-ronmental 
Protec-tion 
Agency are 
responsible organs 
to give approv-als 
and permits to 
mineral right holder 
before undertaking 
an activity or opera-tion 
under the right. 
!e Agency will also 
hold public hearing 
to solicit comments 
on the submitted EIA 
before approving it 
and give an environ-mental 
permit. 
Not Known For Level 2 min-ing 
activities, un-der 
Article 37 of 
the Mining Law, 
the competent 
entity is responsi-ble 
for approving 
the environmen-tal 
management 
plan. 
The National 
Council for Sus-tainable 
devel-opment 
may give 
recommendation 
with regard to as-sessment 
on an 
EIA submitted by 
a mining project 
developer.
198 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are there laid down 
rules to hold public 
hearings and con-sultation 
before 
project approval? 
!e competent au-thority, 
within 60 
days of receiving 
an EIA statement, 
is obliged to place a 
noti$cation in the 
Gazette and in a 
newspaper circu-lating 
at least once 
weekly, for four 
consecutive weeks, 
inviting comments 
or objections of 
those person who 
are most likely to 
be aected by the 
proposed activity 
and other inter-ested 
persons. 
!e competent au-thority 
may hold 
public hearing af-ter 
examining the 
EIA statement if 
it is of the opinion 
that the activity is 
of such a nature 
that the public 
should have the 
opportunity to 
make submissions 
or comments at a 
public hearing. 
NNo No The Authority or 
the relevant region-al 
environmental 
agency is required 
to make any EIA 
study available to 
the public and en-sure 
that the com-ments 
made by the 
public and in par-ticular 
by the com-munities 
likely to 
be aected by the 
implementation 
of a project are in-corporated 
into 
the environmental 
impact study re-port 
as well as in 
its evaluation. 
No No, there is no public 
hearing and consul-tation 
to grant min-eral 
right. However, 
before the issuance 
of an environmental 
permit, the Environ-mental 
Agency shall 
hold a public hear-ing 
in respect of an 
application where 
there appears to be 
public reaction to 
the commencement 
of the proposed un-dertaking; 
where 
the undertaking 
will involve the dis-location, 
relocation 
or resettlement of 
communities; or 
where the Agency 
considers that the 
undertaking could 
have extensive and 
far reaching eects 
on the environment 
No No 
Can potentially af-fected 
persons pre-vent 
the grant of a 
mineral right or 
an environmental 
permit? 
The competent 
authority, in its 
decision making to 
grant or deny au-thorization 
based 
on the EIA state-ment 
submitted, 
should consider 
the comments or 
objections raised 
by persons who are 
likely to be aected 
by the proposed 
activity and other 
interested person. 
No In case of the grant-ing 
of an environ-mental 
permit, the 
potentially aected 
persons will be giv-en 
the opportunity 
to comment on the 
EIA report submit-ted 
by an applicant. 
However, during 
the assessment of 
an application for 
mining license, the 
people likely to be 
aected by the min-ing 
project are not 
consulted by the 
decision making 
body. 
No Regarding the grant 
of mineral rights, 
potentially aected 
communities do not 
take part. In the case 
of the issuance of an 
environmental per-mit, 
at least a third 
of the panel members 
shall be residents of 
the geographical area 
of the proposed un-dertaking 
and shall 
re#ect representation 
of varying opinions, 
if any, on the subject 
of the hearing. 
No No
Appendices 199 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are there strate-gies 
for inspection 
and enforcement 
of compl iance 
with the EIA and/ 
or environmental 
standards that have 
been submitted by 
an applicant? 
!e relevant tech-nical 
department 
or local authority 
is under the obli-gation 
to monitor 
the implementa-tion 
of the activ-ity 
to determine 
compliance with 
the agreed miti-gation 
measures, 
both during and 
aer implementa-tion 
of an activity. 
!ey are also re-quired 
to carry out 
an environmental 
audit biennially 
and demand the 
developer to take 
specific mitiga-tion 
measures to 
address the envi-ronmental 
impact 
of their activities. 
No !e Authority or 
the relevant re-gional 
environ-mental 
agency and 
their environmen-tal 
inspectors have 
the responsibility 
to monitor the im-plementation 
of an 
authorized project 
in order to evaluate 
compliance with 
all commitments 
made by, and obli-gations 
imposed on 
the proponent dur-ing 
authorization 
The Director- 
General is re-quired 
to carry 
out environmen-tal 
audits of any 
project, in con-sultation 
with 
such authorities 
as he considers 
appropriate, to 
ensure that the 
implementation 
of the projects 
complies with 
the require-ments 
of this 
Act. 
As per the Environ-mental 
Protection 
Agency Act, one of 
the functions of the 
Agency is to ensure 
compliance with any 
laid down environ-mental 
impact as-sessment 
procedures 
in the planning and 
execution of devel-opment 
projects. 
Likewise, the envi-ronmental 
permit 
holder will be re-quired 
by the agency 
to submit an annual 
report in respect of 
his undertaking. 
No !ere is no par-ticular 
provision 
with regard to 
strategies for in-spection 
of com-pliance 
of the de-veloper 
with the 
EIA that he/she 
has submitted. 
Is there a docu-ment 
setting out 
social policy in the 
context of mineral 
operations? 
No No No No No No No
200 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are social provi-sions 
integrated 
into the mining 
legislation? 
Yes Yes License holders 
are required to 
give preference to 
Ethiopian nation-als 
when hiring 
provided that such 
persons have the 
required quali$ca-tions. 
They shall 
also provide train-ing 
and education 
necessary for min-ing 
operations and 
also provide them 
with appropriate 
clothing and pro-tective 
equipments, 
health and medical 
facilities. 
Yes Yes Under articles 18 
and 19 of the Min-ing 
Code, mine or 
quarry title holders 
and all enterprises 
working for them 
must give prefer-ence 
to Guinean 
enterprises for all 
construction, sup-ply 
or service con-tracts, 
provided 
that such enter-prises 
oer prices, 
quantities, quali-ties 
and delivery 
schedules that are 
at least compara-ble. 
Mine or quarry 
title holders and all 
enterprises working 
for them must give 
preference to Guin-ean 
workers where 
suitable. 
Yes, holders of 
reconnaissance 
licence, mining 
concession and 
mining certifi-cate 
are required 
to compensate 
the land users for 
damage caused 
to their land or 
property result-ing 
from their 
activities in the 
area. 
What social re-quirements 
must 
be satis$ed before 
a mining right is 
granted? 
The Mini s ter 
before granting 
minerals permit 
should ascertain 
whether the con-sent 
of the owner 
of the area ap-plied 
for has been 
obtained. 
An appli-cation 
for 
exploita-tion 
licence 
should in-corporate, 
among oth-er 
things, 
the plan as 
to how the 
project will 
contribute 
to the de-velopment 
of the sur-rounding 
communi-ties. 
!ere are no social 
requirements set 
as a precondition 
to get a mining 
concession. 
There are no 
social require-ments 
set under 
the mines and 
minerals Act. 
An application for a 
mineral right shall 
be submitted to the 
Minerals Commis-sion 
in the prescribed 
form and shall be 
accompanied with 
a statement provid-ing, 
among other 
things, particulars 
of the applicant’s 
proposals with re-spect 
to the employ-ment 
and training 
of Ghanaians in the 
mining industry. A 
detailed program for 
the recruitment and 
training of Ghanaian 
personnel is a condi-tion 
for the grant of a 
mining lease. 
No social precondi-tions 
are set in order 
to get mining right. 
!ere are no so-cial 
requirements 
set as precondi-tions 
in order 
to get mining 
concession. 
How are the rights 
and interests of the 
communities to be 
affected by min-ing 
be taken in to 
account? 
Section 60(a)(ii) 
of the Mines and 
Minerals Act puts 
a provision that 
restricts the holder 
of a mineral con-cession 
from ex-ercising 
any right 
bestowed upon 
him/her without 
the written con-sent 
of the owner 
or lawful occupier 
of the area. 
Nothing is 
mentioned 
under the 
mining 
code with 
regard to 
the pro-tection 
of 
rights of 
communi-ties 
likely 
to be af-fected 
by 
the mining 
activity. 
!e licensee has an 
obligation to take 
proper precaution 
not to interfere 
with legitimate 
occupants of the li-cense 
area, the land 
covered by the lease 
and adjacent land. 
Where occupants 
have to displaced, 
compensation shall 
be made payable. 
Under the Mines 
and Minerals 
Act, any owner 
or occupier of 
reserved ground 
who is injurious-ly 
aected by any 
mining opera-tions 
shall be en-titled 
to recover 
compensation 
!e Act entitles the 
owner or lawful oc-cupier 
of any land 
subject to a mineral 
right to get com-pensation 
for the 
disturbance of the 
rights of the owner 
or occupier. 
Mining titleholders 
must indemnify the 
eventual legitimate 
occupants of such 
land for all loss of 
enjoyment result-ing 
there from their 
activities. Any dam-age 
caused by a min-ing 
title holder to 
owners, usufructu-aries 
and legitimate 
occupants of the soil 
or their representa-tives 
gives right to a 
claim for indemnity. 
They will be 
entitled to com-pensation 
for any 
damage caused 
to their land or 
property as a re-sult 
of the mining 
activity.
Appendices 201 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are the mining 
companies re-quired 
to consult 
with the groups 
and communities 
to be aected by the 
project to get their 
free and informed 
prior consent? 
The companies 
are not obligated 
to consult the 
communities to 
be aected by the 
project in order 
to get a mining 
concession. 
No No No. However by 
sec 123 of the 
Mines and Min-erals 
Act, the 
owner or occu-pier 
has a right to 
lodge objections 
to the Board 
with regard to 
the grant of the 
application. 
No No No, the mining 
companies are 
not required to 
consult with the 
communities to 
be affected by 
project and get 
their informed 
consent. 
Is there any kind 
of support for dia-logue 
and negotia-tion 
of compensa-tion 
aer consent is 
granted by groups 
and communities 
directly affected 
by mining? 
No No No No With regard to the 
amount of compen-sation 
payable, it is to 
be determined by an 
agreement between 
the parties or by the 
Ministers in case 
they are unable to 
reach an agreement. 
Inhabitants who 
prefer to be compen-sated 
by way of reset-tlement 
as a result of 
being displaced by 
a proposed mineral 
operation should be 
settled on suitable 
alternate land. 
No No
202 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Is a plan for mine 
closure required? 
Does it cover en-vironmental 
and 
social aspects? 
Both holders of a 
prospecting and 
retention licence 
are required to 
remove any camp, 
temporary build-ings 
or machinery 
erected or installed 
by him, upon ex-piry 
or termina-tion 
of his licence, 
and repair or oth-erwise 
make good 
any damage to 
the surface of the 
ground occasioned 
by such removal, 
to the reasonable 
satisfaction of the 
Director of Geo-logical 
Survey. At 
the end of opera-tions 
in any mine, 
excavation, waste 
dump or bond, the 
holder of a mineral 
concession shall 
take all neces-sary 
measures to 
maintain and re-store 
the topsoil 
of aected areas 
and the land sub-stantially 
to the 
condition in which 
it was prior to the 
commencement of 
operation. 
During ap-plication 
for mining 
licence, the 
applicant 
is required 
to submit 
MRP along 
with his/ 
her appli-cation 
and 
submit it 
for approv-al. 
This is 
a plan for 
rehabilita-tion 
of the 
environ-ment 
after 
the mining 
activity. 
Licensees are re-quired 
to submit 
restoration plans as 
speci$ed by direc-tive. 
No directive 
is yet issued. !ey 
are to make safe all 
tunnels, pits and 
other installations 
of a potentially 
dangerous nature. 
!ey must, on sur-render 
of license, 
fence and safe-guard 
any pits and 
such other works in 
the health, life and 
property of persons 
may not be endan-gered. 
!ey should 
also completely re-store 
or reclaim the 
land covered by the 
license for bene$- 
cial future use. 
No A plan for mining 
closure is not a re-quirement 
during 
application, none-theless, 
the Act puts 
an obligation on the 
holder of a pros-pecting 
licence to 
remove within sixty 
days from the date of 
the expiration of the 
licence a camp, tem-porary 
building or 
machinery erected or 
installed and make 
good to damages to 
the surface of the 
ground occasioned 
by the removal. 
No !ough there are 
no mandatory 
environmental 
preconditions 
imposed on an 
applicant for 
mine closure, 
there are require-ments 
imposed 
on the holders 
of mining con-cession, 
mining 
certi$cate as well 
as mining pass to 
comply with the 
obligations for 
environmental 
protection and 
management 
during the life-cycle 
of the min-ing 
activity and 
restoration of 
the environment 
during mining 
closure. 
Does the law incor-porate 
rules, which 
oblige the mineral 
right holder to con-duct 
an assessment 
of the environmen-tal 
impacts of min-ing 
activity during 
mine closure? 
No An explora-tion 
licence 
holder is 
not re - 
lieved from 
his respon-sibilities 
with regard 
to environ-mental 
rehabilita-tion 
after 
the expiry 
of his title. 
No No No No No 
What about as-sessment 
of social 
impacts? 
No No No No No No No
Appendices 203 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Are there require-ments 
to post a se-curity 
bond upon 
issuance of mining 
authorization cov-ering 
reclamation 
and remediation of 
the environment? 
No As part of 
the MRP, 
an appli-cant 
for a 
mineral or 
quarry ex-ploration 
right or a 
temporary 
Quarry Ex-ploitation 
is required 
to provide 
a financial 
guarantee 
to cover or 
guarantee 
the mitiga-tion 
and re-habilitation 
costs of the 
environ-ment. 
The Licensing 
Authority may re-quire 
the applicant 
for renewal, trans-fer, 
assignment or 
encumbrance of a 
license to provide 
cash, bank or other 
guarantee to secure 
the applicant’s ob-ligations. 
One of 
the obligations of a 
miner is to restore 
the mining area 
prior to termina-tion 
of the license. 
No No No No 
If not what reme-diation/ 
rehabilita-tion 
requirements 
are prescribed for 
miners? 
The holder of a 
prospecting and a 
retention licence is 
required to make 
good any damage 
to the surface area 
of the grant oc-casioned 
by such 
removal to the 
satisfaction of the 
Director of Mines. 
- The holder of a 
small scale or 
large- scale mining 
license is required 
to progressively re-store 
or reclaim the 
land covered by the 
license so that prior 
to termination of 
the license, the area 
has been completely 
restored for bene$- 
cial future use. 
- !ere are no reme-diation 
or rehabilita-tion 
requirements set 
for miners under the 
Mineral and Mining 
Act. 
Holders of mining 
titles remain liable 
for any obligations 
incumbent upon 
them with respect 
to the environment 
and rehabilitation of 
the developed sites, 
even aer the sur-render 
takes eect. 
The different 
mining licence 
holders will be re-quired 
to comply 
with obligations 
for environmen-tal 
restoration. 
What about on 
holder of an envi-ronmental 
permit? 
The department 
of environment 
and conservation, 
aer carrying out 
an environmental 
audit, may require 
an applicant who 
has been granted 
an environmen-tal 
permit to take 
speci$c mitigation 
measures to ensure 
compliance with 
predications made 
in the statement or 
mitigation meas-ures 
to address 
environmental 
impacts not antici-pated 
at the time of 
the authorization. 
Not Known No rehabilitation 
requirements are 
imposed on the en-vironmental 
permit 
holder under the 
EIA proclamation. 
No rehabilita-tion 
requirement 
is imposed on 
the holder of a 
decision letter. 
An environmental 
impact statement 
for mining and other 
extractive industry 
shall include recla-mation 
plans. 
Not Known !e environmen-tal 
law of 1997 
does not impose 
any obligation on 
the holder of an 
environmental 
permit to post 
security bond or 
to come up with 
any rehabilita-tion 
measures 
upon issuance of 
the permit.
204 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Issues/Topics/ 
Questions 
Countries 
Botswana Democrat-ic 
Republic 
of Congo 
Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique 
Source Mines and Miner-als 
Act 1999 and 
Environmental 
Impact Assess-ment 
Act 2005 
L aw No 
007/2002 
of July 11, 
2002 relat-ing 
to the 
mining 
code 
Mining Proclama-tion 
No 52/1993, 
Mining (Amend-ment) 
Proclama-tion 
No 22/1996, 
Mining Regulation 
No 182/1994, 
Environmental 
Impact Assessment 
(EIA) Proclamation 
No 299/2000 and 
Environmental 
Pollution Control 
Proclamation 
No.300/2002 
Mining Law No 
005/2000, 
Environmental 
Management 
Act [Chapter 
20:27], 
Mines and Min-erals 
Act 
Minerals and Mining 
Act 2006, Environ-mental 
Protection 
Agency Act 1994 
and Environmental 
Assessment Regula-tions 
1999 
Mining Code 1995 Mining L aw 
2002, 
Environmental 
Law 1997 
Appendix J: Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Canadian 
Extractive Industries in Developing Countries 
!e Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Ca-nadian 
Extractive Industries in Developing Countries 
was developed in response to complaints against Cana-dian 
companies operating overseas in the areas of social, 
human rights and environmental responsibility. Trade 
unions, faith-based groups, environmentalists, human 
rights groups and other civil society groups were ac-tive 
in expressing these complaints. In June 2005, the 
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Aairs 
and International Trade issued a report titled Mining in 
Developing Countries—Corporate Social Responsibility, 
which called for the institution of a multi-stakeholder pro-cess 
to consider what policies and programmes needed to 
be strengthened and which new ones created in this area. 
A seventeen person Advisory Group was established for 
the process. It consisted of persons from academia, civil 
society, the extractive industries, the $nancial sector and 
labour. It worked with an inter-departmental committee 
made up of Canadian Government o%cials in establishing 
how the process would be conducted, what the agenda of 
the various components would be, the list of presenters, 
experts, etc. 
Meetings were held in four locations between June and 
November 2006 – in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and 
Vancouver. !ese were structured into (a) open pub-lic 
sessions where presentations were made by various 
organizations or members of the public and (b) issue 
focused sessions which involved more detailed discussions 
with particular experts. Over 100 written representations 
were also received as part of the process, which was also 
organized around $ve themes identi$ed by the report of 
the Parliamentary committee: 
' CSR Standards and Best Practices 
' Incentives Supportive of the Implementation of CSR 
Standards 
' Assistance to Companies to Implement CSR Stand-ards 
and Best Practices 
' CSR Monitoring and Dispute Resolution and 
' Capacity Building for Resource Governance in De-veloping 
Countries 
Civil society and mining sector focal points were estab-lished 
as channels for inputs and to contribute to the selec-tion 
of participants and the draing of reports. Civil so-ciety 
groups formed the Canadian Network on Corporate
Appendices 205 
Accountability (CNCA) to engage in the process. A report 
was produced to summarise the discussions at each of the 
four roundtables held. According to the Advisory Group, 
“[e]very Roundtable participant, both at the Open Sessions 
and the Issue Focus Sessions, was reminded that the focus 
of the process was on developing potentially actionable 
ideas to be carried out by government, industry and civil 
society to enhance the CSR performance of the Canadian 
extractive sector operating in developing countries.” (p.2 
of the Advisory Group Report.) 
!e Report of the Advisory Group was published in March 
2007. Its “central recommendation” is that “the Govern-ment 
of Canada, in cooperation with key 
stakeholders, … adopt a set of CSR Standards that Ca-nadian 
extractive-sector companies operating abroad 
are expected to meet and that is reinforced through ap-propriate 
reporting, compliance and other mechanisms.” 
It identi$es the main components and key attributes of 
a Canadian CSR Framework as follows, using the words 
of the Executive Summary: 
' !e Canadian CSR Standards, for initial application, 
based on existing international standards that are 
supported by ongoing multi-stakeholder and mul-tilateral 
dialogue. 
' CSR reporting obligations based on the Global Re-porting 
Initiative, or its equivalent during an initial 
phase-in period, at a level that re#ects the size of the 
operation. 
' An independent ombudsman o%ce to provide advi-sory 
services, fact $nding and reporting regarding 
complaints with respect to the operations in devel-oping 
countries of Canadian extractive companies. 
' A tripartite Compliance Review Committee to deter-mine 
the nature and degree of company non-com-pliance 
with the Canadian CSR Standards, based 
upon $ndings of the ombudsman with respect to 
complaints, and to make recommendations regarding 
appropriate responses in such cases. 
' !e development of policies and guidelines for meas-uring 
serious failure by a company to meet the Ca-nadian 
CSR Standards, including $ndings by the 
Compliance Review Committee. In the event of a 
serious failure and when steps to bring the company 
into compliance have also failed, government support 
for the company should be withdrawn. 
' A multi-stakeholder Canadian Extractive Sector Ad-visory 
Group to advise government on the imple-mentation 
and further development of the Canadian 
CSR Framework 
(p.iii of the Report.) 
On March 26, 2009, almost two years aer the Roundtable 
Advisory Group’s report was published, the Canadian 
government responded with a press release announcing 
new measures to help Canadian mining, oil and gas com-panies 
meet and exceed their social and environmental 
responsibilities when operating abroad. !e press released 
noted that the Canadian government wanted to provide 
tools, guidance and advise to Canadian companies in 
terms of their impact on mining-aected communities. 
!e measures supported by the Canadian government 
would assist companies to “meet and exceed their ob-ligations 
with respect to corporate social responsibil-ity”.( 
www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm. 
news-communiques/2009/38...) 
Initiatives announced include the creation of a new O%ce 
of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility 
Counsellor to assist in resolving social and environmental 
issues relating to Canadian companies operating abroad 
in this $eld; supporting a new Centre of Excellence to be 
established outside government to provide information for 
companies, non-governmental organizations and others; 
continuing Canadian International Development Agency 
(CIDA) assistance for foreign governments to develop 
their capacity to manage natural resource development 
in a sustainable and responsible manner; and promoting 
internationally recognized, voluntary guidelines for cor-porate 
social responsibility performance and reporting.
206 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Appendix K: Extracts from YAOUNDE VISION (Yaoundé, Cameroon, 
19-22 November 2002) 
STATEMENT 
Contribute to sustainably reduce poverty and improve 
livelihood in African Artisanal and Small-scale Mining 
(ASM) communities by the year 2015 in line with the 
Millennium Development Goals. 
GOALS: 
' Acknowledge and re#ect the ASM sectorial issues in 
national legislation, and codes; 
' Mainstream poverty reduction strategies into mining 
policy inclusive of ASM policies. 
' Integrate ASM policy into the Poverty Reduction 
Strategy Paper process with linkages to other rural 
sectors, and develop a strategic framework for PRSPs 
' Revisit existing thinking on ASM legislation (tradi-tional 
land rights, and modern land use legislation 
nexus) and role of central government; 
' Strengthen Institutions: 
' Improve the availability of appropriate technologies 
' Develop analytical  business skills 
' Undertake necessary reforms of the ASM sector: 
Improve policies, institutions, processes and the ASM 
stakeholders’ livelihood, develop partnerships, pro-mote 
sustainable use of natural resources, infrastruc-ture 
development and land use management. 
Appendix L: Auction systems for mineral licensing 
Introduction 
Transparency is one of the auction system’s strongest 
points. A properly designed auction system implies the 
licence is awarded according to relatively objective criteria 
made available in advance. 
Auction systems have not usually been applied in mining 
regimes. At the exploration stage, $rst-come $rst-served 
and discretionary procedures have been generally adopted, 
with an automatic entitlement to mine upon discovery of 
an economic resource subject to compliance with appli-cable 
mining regulations. !ey are, however, frequently 
applied for the award of petroleum exploration rights. 
Two main dierences between mining and petroleum 
operations which could impact the applicability of having 
an auction format are the relatively lower dollar values 
involved with mining, and also geological site informa-tion 
availability. Generally, mining projects involve lower 
dollar values than their petroleum counterparts. !is 
may mean that the costs associated with implementing 
an auction process are not justi$ed. Whether an area is 
prospective enough to warrant the cost of an auction 
procedure requires some preliminary geological data. 
!e success of an auction system is greatly enhanced 
with increasing geological information. At a minimum, 
enough information to de$ne the area for auction is re-quired. 
Auction systems are likely to function best when 
geological risk is relatively lower and bidders can base 
their assessment more on development, operational and 
market risk factors, with greater potential to attribute 
higher value on a risked basis. For existing mining sites, 
and high value highly prospective areas, the auction sys-tem 
has been used in a number of instances: in Liberia 
and India, as well as in privatization eorts in Zambia
Appendices 207 
and Ghana. When auctioning of exploration licenses 
was recommended in Australia (although ultimately not 
adopted), it was accompanied by recommendation for 
government investment in the acquisition and dissemina-tion 
of pre-competitive geological data. 
Di#erentiation of Resource Terrains based on Potential/Risk 
Within a jurisdiction, dierent areas based upon dierent 
geological risk will exist. Government can apply a dierent 
licensing regime to each dierent type of area. A country 
can be divided into dierent classi$ed areas, depending 
upon the geological information available, and the known 
value of any mineral deposits. !ese classi$cations can 
range from areas of low risk (existing/abandoned min-ing 
sites, well explored parts of the African Goldbelts, 
coal$elds, the Zambia/Congo Copperbelt etc), to areas 
of high risk (where no exploration activities have ever 
been carried out or where initial exploration work did 
not identify a deposit justifying further exploration). 
Classi$cation can also depend upon the type of mineral 
involved. Each classi$cation is then treated dierently 
for licensing allocation purposes: the low risk sites gener-ally 
being subject to auction, while the high risk sites are 
subject to more discretionary systems. 
A classi!cation system of this kind has recently been introduced in China. 
Auctions apply to areas where government funded explo-ration 
has resulted in a viable deposit being found; mining 
rights previously held by an entity have been extinguished; 
exploration rights have been extinguished, but explora-tion 
was taken to an advanced stage and a viable deposit 
is present; as well as other areas as the Ministry of Land 
and Natural Resources may determine. 
'HVLJQ$SSURDFKDQG3URGXFW'H¿QLWLRQ 
Preliminary 
!e success of auctions in achieving a variety of policy 
and $scal goals depends to a large extent on the design 
and the number of participants in the auction. Auction 
design involves a multitude of issues such as the need for 
pre-quali$cation and guarantees in addition to auction 
form and biddable factor. Before any auction (or licensing 
generally) can be considered, government policy objectives 
need to be in place. Primary objectives for an auction can 
include: maximizing long term government rent, raising 
short term cash as quickly as possible, increasing local 
employment, focusing on infrastructure investment etc. 
Site De!nition 
Before an auction can be administered, the licence to be 
auctioned must be de$ned. !is includes the physical or 
geographical aspect, and the license conditions. 
!e geographical de$nition of the site can vary. In cases of 
existing or expired mining sites, the previous site de$ni-tion 
could logically be used. At sites where mineral depos-its 
are known to exist but at least some degree of explora-tion 
would be required to fully appraise the resource, the 
site could be de$ned according to existing geological and 
geographical attributes, or more simply and practically 
as aggregates of graticular blocks (a graticular block may 
be 1km x1km or 1 min x 1 min or 5 min x 5 min). Sites 
of su%ciently large size and high value can be separated 
into a number of blocks, as done in the petroleum context. 
If necessary, to assist governments in de$ning areas most 
in demand, an “invitation for expressions of interest” 
could be oered to the investor market to gain an under-standing 
of which areas the investors consider the most 
appealing, as is oen done in the petroleum context. 
!is information would serve two purposes: it assists 
government in de$ning the areas to be auctioned, and 
it gives some guidance on the likely level of interest and 
competitive pressure in a future auction process. 
!e licence conditions include such factors as minimum 
work program requirements and the ‘$xed’ $scal regime 
including taxes which are not being subjected to auc-tion. 
Speci$c development conditions and targets can be 
incorporated.
208 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Approaching the Process 
An auction process begins with public advertisement 
of the auction. The procedure for awarding the license 
LVGHVFULEHGLQFOXGLQJSUHTXDOL¿FDWLRQSURFHGXUHV 
auction rules alongside the details of the license site and 
conditions. This should be done well in advance of the 
auction. A clear and complete statement of the auction 
process is essential to bidder participation. 
Conducting the Auction 
!e relevant mining department can conduct the auction 
itself. Alternatively, a specialized separate government 
body can undertake this task. Transparency and objec-tivity 
are crucial to the auction process, and su%cient 
government capacity is required to conduct the auction. It 
is quite possible to outsource the process itself to special-ized 
third party auction managers. !is can reduce the 
burden upon government institutions, as well as alleviate 
potential concerns that some prospective applicants may 
have regarding transparency. !ere exist commercial 
platforms for auctions to be conducted electronically and 
via the internet. 
Pre-quali!cation 
Mining operations require substantial technical and 
$nancial capability to conduct an e%cient operation, 
and thereby maximize the value of a nation’s resources. 
Furthermore, mining activity involves signi$cant envi-ronmental 
and health and safety risks. Many potential 
environmental and safety disasters can only be addressed 
by adequately $nanced and competent implementation 
of preventative measures, and are very costly or impos-sible 
to redress aer the event. Hence, governments may 
want to ensure that any company awarded a mining li-cence 
has met minimum technical and $nancial capac-ity 
requirements. !is is in order to safeguard against 
signi$cant damage being caused and society being le 
without redress, in the situation that a company may be 
unable to remedy the situation (either because the damage 
caused is unable to be $xed retrospectively, or because 
the company lacks funds to do so). Pre-quali$cation is a 
tool government can use to achieve this. (In addition, the 
imposition of a bond and perhaps an insurance premium 
can be considered.) 
It is better to have $nancial and technical capacity dealt 
with as a pre-quali$cation issue, rather than as a biddable 
factor. Other issues about the ‘character’ of a potential ap-plicant, 
such as national security concerns should be dealt 
with in pre-quali$cation. Such pre-quali$cation condi-tions 
should be stated up front. However, it is important 
that pre-quali$cation is used only in a limited way to set 
minimum hurdles and should be objective. Otherwise, it 
risks becoming a process lacking transparency, inviting 
corruption and ultimately mitigating against the bene$ts 
of an auction system. 
Reservation Price and Penalties for Default 
If bidding competition for licences is strong, reservation 
prices are usually unnecessary. But if bidding competi-tion 
for licences is not adequate, reservation prices at the 
auction can be used to simulate additional bidders, thus 
enhancing the prospect of increasing revenues. 
Reservation prices can be set in advance as an open mini-mum 
bid requirement, or remain withheld from auction 
participants. !e reservation price can also be determined 
only aer the bidding, so that it may be informed by in-formation 
garnered from the bidding process (as is done 
in the U.S for petroleum.) 
Experience has also shown that the success of an auction 
depends on the existence of penalties for bidders who 
default on their bids - such as requiring a deposit to ac-company 
a bid. In cases where the biddable factor does 
not involve an upfront cash payment, bank guarantees 
or letters of credit could be used to achieve this. Mini-mum 
work programme requirements (accompanied by 
penalties for default) also function similarly to a form 
of penalty. It is important to have penalties to prevent 
companies merely bidding for ‘options’, perhaps look-ing 
to sell rights later on if mineral prices increase. !is 
has occurred in spectrum and satellite television license 
auctions in the U.S and India, and Australia respectively,
Appendices 209 
and resulted in long delays in ultimately implementing 
socially desirable projects. However, the requirement for 
some kind of deposit can pose a small barrier to entry for 
less capitalized applicants. 
Biddable Factor 
!e biddable factor refers to the factor that is actually the 
subject of competitive bidding. Other factors exist but are 
not subject to bidding. (!ey are referred to as $xed in 
this sense. However this does not mean they are static. 
A $scal regime may not be subject to bidding but still be 
dynamic. For example, a tax could be pegged to mineral 
prices or other dynamic objective values). 
Potential biddable factors include: an up-front cash pay-ment, 
resource rent tax rate ($xed royalty, ad valorem, 
or pro$t share), corporate tax rate, state equity share, 
progressive resource rent tax rate/levels, level of capital 
investment and multi-user infrastructure investment, 
degree of linkages and CSR investment. Other factors 
could also be devised and used. Combinations of dif-ferent 
factors, with each assigned a speci$c weighting, 
can be used. !e $scal regime will contain a number of 
these factors as $xed, with the auction of only one (or a 
combination) as a biddable factor as a possibility. In the 
petroleum context, ad valorem royalty, pro$t share and 
pure cash bidding have been used internationally. 
Up-front cash payment 
Pure cash bidding has been put forward as a theoretically 
‘optimal system’ in terms of allocation e%ciency, rent 
capture and neutrality. It involves no ongoing adminis-trative 
costs (in terms of rent collection; there would still 
be for example environmental regulatory ongoing costs). 
Pure cash bidding also removes the need for some pre-quali 
$cation. It is also appealing to countries suering 
from an immediate budget short fall. 
However, pure cash bidding involves transfer of all the 
risk to the mining company. Assuming a state’s discount 
rate is lower than that of industry, then front-loading the 
rent in this way may not be optimal in that a higher risk 
premium will be factored into the bids made. !ere is 
also a signi$cant perceived ‘political risk’ that aer the 
upfront money is paid there will be pressure to tax again 
in the future. !is system also acts as a barrier to smaller 
entrants who may lack access to capital requirements to 
make the large up-front cash payments. Furthermore, 
as the money is paid up front, there is a concern that it 
will not be equitably distributed over a period of time to 
bene$t people over the life of the mine and into the future. 
Many of these problems can be partially overcome if the 
cash biddable factor is combined with a $xed resource 
rent tax. !is way much of the rent is back loaded and 
risk is shared, while the cash payment serves primarily 
to capture excess rent and allocate the license e%ciently. 
!is type of $scal regime was recommended in Australia 
two decades ago although ultimately not implemented. 
Resource Rent Tax 
A resource rent tax is used to denote three typical forms 
of taxation of minerals: the $xed royalty which is a $xed 
value per unit weight of extracted ore, the ad valorem 
royalty which is a percentage of the value of the extracted 
ore, and pro$t sharing which is a percentage of the pro$t 
made by the mining company from the speci$c ‘ring 
fenced’ resource. !ere are various ways of calculating 
these taxes, oen with provision for recouping capital 
investment and other costs at an accelerated rate. 
!e resource rent tax is back-loaded. !is shares the risk 
and ensures a more equitable disbursement of revenue 
into the future. However, without a signi$cant up-front 
cash component, signi$cant pre-quali$cation and work 
programme requirements would need to be mandated and 
monitored. !ere is also a risk that during mineral price 
downturns there will exist strong pressure to renegotiate 
the resource rent tax if it is not pro$ts related. (!is is 
a problem associated generally with resource rent taxes, 
regardless of whether they are auctioned or not). Having a 
reservation price or ‘#oor’ resource rent tax is particularly 
important to ensure government receives a fair minimum 
value from its natural resources.
210 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 
Capital investment and infrastructure 
investment 
Bidding on capital expenditure on multi-user infrastruc-ture 
could encourage infrastructure development. With 
appropriate conditions, this could lead to bene$ts for 
related and unrelated industries and in turn the pub-lic. 
!e relatively low incremental cost associated with 
increasing capacity for large infrastructure investment 
makes the focus on multi-user infrastructure an e%cient 
and synergistic mechanism to promote wider economic 
development. !is is especially so given the large con-straints 
the current inadequate levels of infrastructure 
pose across Africa. 
Auctioning this factor can lead to ‘gold plating’ and inef- 
$cient over investment in infrastructure. !us its potential 
should be analysed in the context of the speci$c site and 
likely infrastructure demand and associated synergies 
deemed present.
Minerals and Africa's Development
Printed by the ECA Documents Publishing Unit

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Minerals and Africa's Development

  • 1. Minerals and Africa’s Development The International Study Group Report on Economic Commission for Africa African Union Africa’s Mineral Regimes
  • 3. Minerals and Africa’s Development The International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Economic Commission for Africa African Union
  • 4. Ordering information To order copies of Minerals and Africa’s Development: !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes by the Economic Commission for Africa, please contact: Publications: Economic Commission for Africa P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: +251 11 544-9900 Fax: +251 11 551-4416 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org © United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia All rights reserved First printing November 2011 Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted. Acknowledgement is requested, together with a copy of the publication. Designed and printed by Publications and Conference Management Section (PCMS), Economic Commission for Africa. Cover photo: IC Publications/African Business
  • 5. iii Table of Contents Acronyms ix Foreword xiii Acknowledgements xiii Executive Summary 1 1. Introduction 5 2. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 9 Evolution of African mining 11 Mining on the eve of the colonial period 11 !e colonial creation of export mining 12 !e role of the colonial state in African mining 13 A"er the Second World War 13 !e early post-colonial decades 14 A more liberal space for foreign investment 15 What was needed in the 1990s? 15 Results of reform—mixed at best 17 From past results to renewed approaches 19 3. Global trends 21 Demand for mineral commodities 21 Global distribution of demand 21 Demand conclusions for the future 24 Supply of mineral commodities 26 Global distribution of supply 26 Supply conclusions for the future 29 Exploration and mine development 30 Pro!les and control of mining companies 33
  • 6. iv MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Prices and pro!ts 34 Leading global policy initiatives 36 !e China story 36 Old hands: !e United States, EU and Japan 38 India 40 Latin America 42 Policy implications 43 4. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 45 "e environmental and social impacts of mining 46 !e environmental impacts 46 !e social impacts 49 Regulating the environmental and social impacts of mining 50 Protected areas 50 Environmental and social impact assessments 52 Public participation 54 Access to information 57 Addressing the minerals and con#icts link 58 Mining and human rights 59 Mining and employment 61 Resource productivity 63 Policy implications 64 5. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 67 De!nition 67 "e global position 68 Pro!le in Africa 68 Challenges in Africa 70 Policy challenges 70 Technical capacity and access to appropriate technology 70 Lack of $nancing 71 Inadequate access to exploration and mining areas 72 Di%culties in accessing markets 72 Con#ict minerals 72 Women’s and child labour issues 74 Self-reinforcing nature of challenges 75 Addressing the challenges: Some country initiatives 75 Policy implications 79
  • 7. Table of Contents v 6. Corporate Social responsibility initiatives 81 Evolution of CSR as a tenet of sustainable development 82 Intergovernmental processes and frameworks 82 Other initiatives and frameworks 84 Government legislation 85 Promoting social and community development 85 CSR and development e#ectiveness 87 Policy implications 88 7. Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 91 Capturing revenue 91 Overview 91 Mineral revenue and tax instruments 92 Tax stabilization 95 Optimizing mineral revenue and linkages through price discovery 95 Managing revenue 96 Revenue impacts 96 Revenue transparency 97 Sharing revenue among local communities 98 Policy implications 99 8. Optimizing Mineral-based Linkages 101 Conceptualizing and quantifying mineral-based linkages 102 Types of linkages 102 Quantifying mineral sector impacts 107 Changing perspectives on mineral-based linkages in Africa 107 Constraints to developing linkages continent-wide 108 Poor resource infrastructure 109 Constraints to trade 109 Inhibitors to downstream value addition 110 Impediments to securing upstream inputs 110 Human resource de$ciencies 110 Spatial linkages 111 Policy implications 112 9. International Trade and Investment Issues 115 "e context 116 Tari#s 116 Non-tari# barriers 118
  • 8. vi MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Export taxes 119 Foreign investment regulation and domestic policy space 121 Performance requirements 122 Performance requirements and BITs 123 Performance requirements in EPAs 125 Expropriation provisions 126 Investor–state dispute settlement 126 Policy implications 127 10. Mineral Management: "e Power of Institutions 129 Rethinking the role of institutions to meet development objectives 129 Institutions promoting mineral-based linkages 130 Traditional institutional roles in mining 133 Negotiating contracts 134 Regulating government discretion in awarding mineral rights 136 Other governance challenges 137 Policy implications 138 11. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 141 "e integration landscape in Africa 142 Moves to harmonize sub-regional mineral policies 146 Southern African Development Community 146 Economic Community of West African States 146 West African Economic and Monetary Union 147 East African Community 148 Mano River Union 148 Lessons and policy options 148 12. Looking ahead: Key Challenges and Policy Messages 151 Africa’s mining legacy and the search for a new development approach 151 Optimizing mineral linkages needs a conscious policy approach 151 "e global mining industry: opportunities still exist 152 Boosting the contribution from artisanal and small-scale mining 152 Preventing and managing mining impacts 153 Strengthening corporate social responsibility 153 Improving governance 153 Paying attention to implications of international trade and investment regimes 154 Harnessing the bene!ts of regional cooperation and integration 154 Final words 154
  • 9. Table of Contents vii References 155 Appendices 169 Appendix A: Members of ISG and principal contributors 169 Appendix B :Summary report on the Big Table meeting, 2007 171 Appendix C: Terms of reference of the ISG 177 Appendix D: Extracts from the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa (1980 -2000) 182 Appendix E: Main mineral deposits of Africa 184 Appendix F: U.S. Mineral Materials Ranked by Net Import Reliance - 2010 186 Appendix G: State/private control of mining of selected minerals 1975-2006 188 Appendix H: State/private control of re!ning of selected minerals 1975-2006 189 Appendix I: Environmental and Social issues in mining regimes in selected African countries 191 Appendix J: Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Canadian Extractive Industries in Developing Countries 204 Appendix K: Extracts from YAOUNDE VISION 206
  • 11. ix Acronyms AfDB Africa Development Bank AICD Australian Institute of Company Directors AMP Africa Mining Partnership AMV Africa Mining Vision ANZCERTA Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Agreement APRM Africa Peer Review Mechanism ASM Artisanal and Small-scale Mining AUC Africa Union Commission BIT Bilateral Investment Treaty BMFOM Bureau Minier de la France d’Outre-Mer BNP Banque Nationale de Paris CARICOM Caribbean Community CARIFORUM Caribbean Forum CASM Communities and Small-scale Mining CDM Clean Development Mechanism CIC China Investment Corporation CMC Community Mining Code CMP Common Mining Policy CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa CRS Corporate Social Responsibility CSI Corporate Social Investment CSIS Centre for Strategic and International Studies CSN Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional DDI Diverging Diamond Interchange EAC East Africa Community EC European Commission ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States ECSC European Coal and Steel Community EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EMDP ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy EPA Economic Partnership Agreement FDI Foreign Direct Investment FTA Free Trade Area
  • 12. x MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes GATS General Agreement in Trade in Services GATT General Agreement on Tari&s and Trade GDP Gross Domestic Product GEODESA Geo-science Data Compilation in Eastern and Southern Africa HSRC Human Sciences Research Council ICEM International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union ICGLR International Conference on the Great Lakes Region ICMM International Council for Mining and Metals IFC International Finance Corporation IIED International Institute for Environment and Development ILO International Labour Organization ISG International Study Group IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources JNMC Jinchuan Group Ltd JOGMEC Japanese Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation JP John Pierpont KPCS Kimberly Process Certi$cation Scheme LDCs Least Developed Countries LSM Large-scale Mining MDGs Millennium Development Goals MIFERMA Societe Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie MIP Minimum Integration Programme MMSD Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development MRU Mano River Union NAFTA North America Free Trade Agreement NAMA Non-Agricultural Market Access NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development NGO Non-Governmental Organization ODI Overseas Development Institute OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PANFACT Pan-African Factual Database Management PGM Platinum Group Metal PMG Parliamentary Monitoring Group PTA Preferential Trade Agreement R&D Research and Development RBS Royal Bank of Scotland REACH Regulatory Framework for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals REC Regional Economic Community RMCs Regional Member Countries RRT Resource Rent Tax RSDIP Regional SDI programme SACU Southern African Customs Union SADC Southern African Development Community SARW Southern African Resources Watch SDI Spatial Development Initiative SEAMIC Southern and Eastern Africa Mineral Centre
  • 13. Acronyms xi SIA Social Impact Assessment SME Small and Medium Enterprises SRSG Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General TNC Trans National Companies TRIMs Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures UN United Nations UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development US United States USGS U.S. Geological Survey WAEMU West African Economic and Monetary Union WTO World Trade Organization ZCCM Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines
  • 15. xiii Foreword THE DEVELOPMENT OF mineral resources can have very di&erent implications, and consequences, for com-munities, governments, the mine developers themselves and even countries and regions in which mining activities taking place. A comparative perspective reveals not only the large divergence in the interests of various stakehold-ers, but the wide range of conditions under which mineral exploitation takes place, especially in Africa. !e many competing interests, and outcomes, suggest the importance of a shared vision to deliberately, and proac-tively, create the policy space which secures the interests of stakeholders at all levels. In Africa, for far too long, it has been taken as given that there are always losers and winners in mineral extraction processes. Certainly the broader interests of some stakeholders, notably communi-ties and perhaps even states, have been far from secure. Africa’s high levels of poverty, its severe infrastructural de$cits, and its continuing weak voice in negotiating mineral development contracts are ample evidence of this. !e Africa Mining Vision, adopted by the Heads of State and Government in February 2009, seeks to change all this. It advocates for “Transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development”. At the centre of the Vision is a developmental state that inte-grates the mining sector into broader social and economic developmental processes. !is is an attempt not only to address the sector’s isolation from mainstream social and economic activities, but to create win-win outcomes for all stakeholders. Among the many lessons to be learnt from the Nordic countries is that resource-based industrialization is pos-sible. But Africa’s socio-economic environment is very dif-ferent. Africa faces numerous entry barriers and a dearth of capacity. Yet fundamentally, Africa has to shi" focus from simply mineral extraction to much broader devel-opmental imperatives in which mineral policy integrates with development policy. !is is the central thinking in this report - that the continent’s vast mineral resources can play a transformative role in Africa’s development only if it builds appropriate social and economic development linkages that meet national and regional developmental objectives. Such linkages are of course diverse - whether this is with regard to improving equity and transpar-ency in revenue collection and distribution; integrating small scale mining into rural economies, thus improv-ing people’s livelihoods; or linking mineral extraction to infrastructure development and the manufacture of products that support societal needs. It is in this regard that the Africa Mining Vision is deliber-ately ambitious. !is is what is required to change the path and destiny of Africa’s industrialization and $ght against poverty. !e realization of the Vision hinges on strong political will and a commitment to developing strong capable mineral management systems and institutions; an astute understanding of Africa’s relative advantages in the global mineral value chain, maximizing the bene$ts of regional integration, and building robust partnerships.
  • 16. xiv MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !e circumstances for achieving the Vision are auspi-cious – minerals are experiencing a sustained surge in prices - demand for minerals has soared and this has created competition for Africa’s mineral commodities. Still purposeful ownership and leadership over policy actions remain key, particularly in creating fair and eq-uitable $scal and investment regimes that maximize the developmental bene$ts of mineral resources exploitation in Africa. We have no doubt in our minds that the ingredients and conditions needed to bring about the required structural change in Africa’s mineral sector are well identi$ed in this report. !e fundamental role of anyone of us keen to see Africa develop is to support the successful imple-mentation of the policy recommendations of the report. Unfortunately, just before this report went to print, Her Excellency Mrs Elisabeth Tankeu, the Commissioner for Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission, who provided visionary leadership, passion and commit-ment to the work of the ISG and would have been proud of this report passed away. We therefore wish to dedicate it to her memory. Abdoulie Janneh United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UNECA Jean Ping Chairperson African Union Commission
  • 17. xv Acknowledgements THIS REPORT WAS prepared by the International Study Group (ISG) under the overall leadership and guidance of Mr Abdoulie Janneh, the Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ECA and H E Dr Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC). !e work was supervised by the late H E Mrs Elisabeth Tankeu, then Commissioner for Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission (AUC), Abdalla Hamdok, former Director of the Regional Integration, Trade and Infrastructure Division (RITD) and current Deputy Ex-ecutive Secretary of UNECA, Joseph Atta-Mensah, also former Director of RITD and currently Director of the O%ce of Strategic Planning and Programme Manage-ment, Stephen Karingi, Director of RITD, Antonio Pedro, Director of the ECA Sub regional O%ce for East Africa (ECA-EA), Ayoup Elrashidi Zaid, Senior Policy O%cer at the AUC, and Wilfred C Lombe, Chief of Infrastructure and Natural Resources, RITD. !e names of the ISG members are indicated in Appendix A. Several members of the ISG participated in revising the report and deserve special mention. !ese are Fui Tsikata of Reindorf Chambers in Ghana, who also was the Chief Coordinator for the ISG work, Yao Graham the Coordina-tor of !ird World Network - Africa, Professor. Bonnie Campbell of the University of Quebec, Canada, Magnus Ericsson, Chairman of the Raw Materials Group in Swe-den, Lois Hooge Senior Policy Advisor, Natural Resources Canada based in South Africa, Paul Jourdan a Consultant from South Africa, Ms. Ana Elizabeth Bastida of CEPMLP University of Dundee, Nancy Kgengweyane, Regional Advisor on Natural Resources Development at ECA, Marit Kitaw from the ECA-EA O%ce, Oliver Maponga from the ECA-WA O%ce. Tarik Kassa, Aster Gebremariam, Mkhululi N’cube, and Saul Kavonic provided support to the ISG at various stages of the work and their assistance is acknowledged. A number of people contributed to the various chapters and these are also indicated in Appendix A. !eir inputs are gratefully acknowledged. !e report bene$tted from two consultative meetings, the $rst held in Accra Ghana, 25-27 November, 2009; and the second held in Kigali, Rwanda from 2-4 December 2009. !e report was fur-ther validated at a $nal workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 20-22 October 2010 at which partcipants made many useful suggestions and recommendations which enriched the $nal report. Participants at both the consultative and validation workshops comprised a broad range of stakeholders including regional economic com-munities (RECs), government policy makers, civil society, the private sector and academia. While the individual participants are too numerous to list, their individual and collective contributions are no less appreciated. !anks are also due to Bruce Ross Larson of Communi-cations Development Inc. in Washington and his team, who did a wonderful job of professionally editing the $nal
  • 18. xvi MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes report, Etienne Kabou, Marcel Ngoma-Mouaya and Henok Legesse of PCMS for organizing the translation for the French version of the report and to Charles Ndung’u and his team for the layout and printing the report. Finally, the preparation of the report bene$tted from the generous grant from the Swedish Government, whose $nancial assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
  • 19. 1 Executive Summary THIS REPORT ON Africa’s mineral development regimes was prepared by the International Study Group (ISG) established in 2007 by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It analyses African mining from a number of complemenary perspectives, driven by a search for new directions based on the African Mining Vision (AMV) which African leaders adopted in 2009. !e processes which led to this Report started in 2007, at the peak of the expansion in global demand and rise in the prices of minerals and metals before the onset of the global $nancial and economic crisis in 2008. Even as the surge in demand and prices fuelled the best period of growth in Africa for thirty years, the developments also provoked re#ections about the experiences of two decades of continuous expansion of mining across Africa. !e report is based on the central premise of the African Mining vision (AMV) that the structural transformation of African economies is “an essential component of any long-term strategy to ensure the attainment of the Millen-nium Development Goals (MDGs) …, eradicate poverty and underpin sustainable growth and development”, and that this requires “a strategy … rooted in the utilization of Africa’s signi$cant resource assets”. It recognizes that a central challenge which must be addressed by any long term strategy is how to overcome the historical structural de$ciencies of the mining industry. Mining’s contribu-tion as a supplier of strategic minerals to industrialized countries, the focus of policy on those minerals that play that role, the inadequate returns to the continent and the enclave nature of mining industries have, since colonial times, been and remain central features of the African landscape today. Early post colonial attempts to transform the colonial bequest of an enclave industry failed for a variety of reasons discussed in the Report. From the late 1980s, the inauguration of extensive liber-alizing reforms of regulatory and legal frameworks, on the basis of World Bank prescriptions, drew a line under the nationalist reform e&orts. Over the past two decades, the favourable environment the reforms created aided the revival of foreign investment in Africa’s mining industry. While foreign investment has regenerated and expanded mineral production and exports, its contribution to social and economic development objectives has been far less certain and has even been contested in many countries. In many mineral-rich African countries a very visible civil society movement, protesting about the costs and questioning the bene$ts of the revitalized mining sec-tors, has emerged. !e report examines the costs and bene$ts of Africa’s contemporary mining regimes and o&ers proposals about how to optimize the continent’s bene$ts from the exploi-tation of its mineral resources while reducing the direct and indirect costs and negative impacts. !ese issues are grouped and discussed in chapters on: the history of mining in Africa; current global trends and the oppor-tunities and challenges they pose; how best to manage the environmental, social and human rights impacts of mining; how to better support and integrate artisanal and small scale mining; the nature and status of corporate
  • 20. 2 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes social responsibility initiatives; capture, management and sharing of mineral revenues; the optimization of mineral-based linkages; the implications of international trade and investments rules for mineral-based industrialization; the important role of institutions and regional strategies for mineral policy harmonization. A number of chapters discuss a range of issues that have a bearing on how African countries approach the chal-lenge of moving the mining industry beyond a focus on extracting and exporting raw minerals and sharing the resultant revenue to it being a strategic part of a process of industrialization and structural transformation. A number of these issues are highlighted below: ' !e building of mineral-based linkages is central to the transformation of the mining enclave. However as the report makes clear there are a number of di%cul-ties such as trade and regional market constraints and the limited availability of requisite technical skills. Other challenges include limited access of domestic business sectors to capital, the centralized strate-gies of resource extraction multinational $rms and the poor state and stock of infrastructure across the continent. !e steps that can aid successful linkage development are also discussed. !ese include the creation of an enabling business environment and of capable public sector institutions. Also needed are policies that set conditions and provide incentives for investors to structure projects in ways that deepen the links between mining projects and the rest of national and regional economies; ' !e current international trade and investment re-gime constrains the ability of African countries to use the full range of instruments that were exploited by now industrialized countries as part of their in-dustrialization strategies. While pointing out what space still exists within the international trade and investment regime for policies that promote industri-alization, the report draws attention to the capacity challenges that African countries face in the negotia-tion of international agreements and how these can be addressed; ' Progress with African regional integration and the creation of regional and continental economic spaces out of the many small economies will remove some of the intra-African barriers to mineral-based indus-trialization. Regional markets will also facilitate the development of linkages based on minerals capable of domestic and regional use by enhancing the viability of enterprises producing for national and regional markets; ' !e AMV recognizes Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs) through natural resource-based Development Corridors (DCs) as representing a particular regional approach to mining linkages development with the region de$ned by economic potential rather than political boundaries. Preliminary studies have identi- $ed thirteen possible DCs, such as the Gulf of Guinea Coastal, Maghreb Coastal and Bas Congo, which could link a number of countries through invest-ment focused in integrated economic development projects which encourage value added processing and optimize the utilization of infrastructure and which can also catalyse other sectors; and ' !e global trends of growing investment in Africa’s mining industry and demand for Africa’s minerals from Asian and other countries, particularly China and India, is seen as an opportunity which could be exploited by African countries for more development-oriented partnerships in mineral production and value added processing, development of infrastruc-ture as well as the establishment of related industries. Favourable outcomes are however not guaranteed and much depends on how clearly African coun-tries de$ne their interests and replace competition for investments with cooperation in the face of the new “scramble for Africa”. !e importance of creat-ing a level playing $eld in the sector anchored on a development-oriented minerals sector is emphasized in the report. !e social and environmental impacts of mineral exploi-tation have been the focus of protests and the #ashpoint for con#icts between mining $rms and communities in mining areas. !e report acknowledges that while pro-gress has been made in environmental impact assessment,
  • 21. Executive Summary 3 major weaknesses and de$ciencies still persist, particularly in evaluating and regulating less visible environmental impacts while strategic impact assessment is at a rudi-mentary phase across the continent. !ere is usually a mismatch between the expression of public participation rights in formal instruments and its implementation. !ere is a need to redress the weight of existing power relations, especially for marginalized and vulnerable groups, to address deep-seated authoritarian elements of local cultures and some public institutions and reduce the resource constraints (human and material) of public institutions and those a&ected by or actively pursuing public participation. Revenue transparency is an issue on which all stakeholders are agreed in principle. !e portion of revenue obtained by African governments from mineral exploitation is however a matter of controversy. However, since the be-ginning of the current mineral commodity price boom the sense that African countries have not been obtaining commensurate compensation from the exploitation of their mineral resources has intensi$ed and become more widespread across the continent. !e Report emphasizes that development options should be one of the factors that should inform $scal policy in the mining sector. It o&ers proposals about how African countries can cap-ture more mineral revenue through the use of a variety of measures. !ese include: the application of methods for price discovery to set a fair market value for mineral resources, in appropriate circumstances; the use of vari-ous tax instruments including windfall taxes; caution in the use of stability clauses; the closing o& channels for the abuse of $scal incentives by $rms; and vigilance on issues as transfer pricing and the use of tax havens. !e Report takes the view that the allocation of mineral revenues to communities in mining areas should be designed to ensure lasting bene$ts beyond the life of the mine. !e quality of minerals sector governance is an issue which runs through the Report – the quality and role of institutions; the capture, management and sharing of mineral revenue; policy coherence within countries and coordination among countries are some examples. Others are negotiating capacities; the management of and support for artisanal and small scale mining and the management of impacts. !e importance of the quality of institutions and of the requisite governance is underlined by the report which highlights an all round need across the African continent for capacity enhancement in many areas. It also suggests that the promotion of linkages between mining and other sectors must be a critical part of national and regional institution building. !is Report and the African Mining Vision propose that Africa face up to the challenge of working for new direc-tions founded on not taking the enclave nature of mining as an inevitable part of the continent’s destiny but rather as a product of a particular phase of history; as something which can be overcome. !e Report sets out some of the most important issues that have to be addressed and suggests they can be approached in striving towards the realization of the AMV.
  • 23. 5 Introduction 1 MORE THAN 30 years ago the Organization of African CHAPTER Unity, the precursor to the African Union (AU), adopted the Lagos Plan of Action for the economic development of Africa. !e Plan presented a strategic review of Africa’s development challenges and potential paths for economic growth and development (appendix D). Its identi$cation then, of “the major problems confronting Africa in the $eld of natural resource development” rings familiar today: “Lack of information on natural resource endowment of large and unexplored areas …; lack of adequate capac-ity (capital, skills and technology) for the development of these resources; a considerable dependence on for-eign transnational corporations for the development of a narrow range of African natural resources selected by these corporations to supply raw material needs of the developed countries; the inadequate share in the value added generated by the exploitation of natural resources of member States …; non-integration of the raw materi-als exporting industries into the national economies of the member States thus impeding backward and forward linkages; the extremely low level of development and uti-lization of those natural resources of no interest to foreign transnational corporations; and the disappointingly low general contribution of natural resources endowment to socio-economic development”. Concerned about these continuing challenges, the “Big Ta-ble” met in February 2007 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). !e theme of the Big Table was “Managing Africa’s Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction”. It was attended by ministers and senior o%cials from 11 mineral-rich Afri-can countries and representatives of the African Union Commission, among others. !is directly led to the First AU Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Re-sources Development in October 2008. At this Conference, the ministers adopted the Addis Ababa Declaration on the Development and Management of Africa’s Mineral Resources, re-a%rming their “commitment to prudent, transparent and e%cient development and management of Africa’s mineral resources to meet the MDGs, eradicate poverty and achieve rapid and broad-based sustainable socio-economic development”. To achieve this, the minis-ters adopted the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), advocating for “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources” to achieve the envisaged “broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development”. At their meeting held in Addis in February 2009, the AU Heads of State and government welcomed the AMV and requested the “AU Ministers in charge of Mineral Re-sources Development to develop a concrete action plan for its realization”, acting in partnership with UNECA, AfDB, regional economic communities and other stakeholders. !ey further called on the international community and Africa’s development partners to support the e&orts of member States “towards enhancing the contributions of the mineral resources to the achievement of the MDGs,
  • 24. 6 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes the eradication poverty and the promotion of sustainable economic growth and development”. Against this backdrop of concerns and commitments, the International Study Group (ISG) was established by UNECA in September2007, pursuant to the recommen-dations of the Big Table meeting of the same year. !is recommendation was one of 22 proposed to address the above challenges to the mineral and other natural re-sources sectors in Africa. !us a key objective of the ISG was to explore how mineral regimes in Africa might be made to contribute to the broad development of the con-tinent. (A list of members of the ISG and of the principal people who provided research inputs into the ISG work is attached as appendix A.) !e Big Table acknowledged that “sound governance systems, capacity to administer and monitor the sector, and better linkages …[with other] sectors of the local economy” were pre-requisites for resource exploitation to contribute to growth and development. !e pressures arising, particularly in the 1990s, from e&orts to attract foreign direct investment into the sector and their conse-quences for the regimes that were put in place, as well as changing global conditions and norms, were signi$cant in the context of calling for a fresh set of actions. (A sum-mary report on the Big Table is attached as appendix B.) At its inception meeting held in Addis on 4–6 October 2007, the ISG agreed on the terms of reference (appendix C). It subsequently decided to separate formulating a framework report setting out fundamental perspectives from developing detailed tools dealing with particular aspects of mineral regimes. !is is that framework report. Previous dra"s of the report have been discussed at two stakeholder consultative workshops held in Accra and Kigali and at a $nal validation workshop held in Addis October 2010. !us the report has substantially bene$ted from diverse stakeholders. !e framework report seeks to contribute to the elabora-tion of an updated strategic policy framework for devel-oping Africa’s minerals as called for by the Lagos Plan of Action, the Big Table and the subsequent meeting of African Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources De-velopment, as well as the Heads of State and Government. It is based on the central premise of the AMV that the structural transformation of African economies is “an essential component of any long-term strategy to ensure the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) …, eradicate poverty and underpin sustain-able growth and development”, and that this requires “a strategy … rooted in the utilization of Africa’s signi$cant resource assets”. !e report is organized as follows. Chapter 2 sets out cur-rent features as well as the historical context of mining in Africa and its key drivers. It argues that the colonial construct of mining was based on supplying raw materi-als especially to Europe, thus creating enclave African mineral economies. !rough the post-colonial period, dominated by an under-performing state-led mineral industry, and subsequent reforms led by the World Bank, the African mineral sector continues to be an enclave, leading to increased calls for its re-orientation to better meet the continent’s development needs. Chapter 3 summarizes global demand and supply trends and the underlying factors, including the emergence of China as a world player. It argues that demand is going through a super cycle and agrees with the projection that mineral commodity prices will be sustained at least in the near term. Together with the current geo-political compe-tition for Africa’s mineral resources, this provides a good opportunity for re-orienting Africa’s mineral industry to play a more developmental role. Chapter 4 explores the challenges arising from the en-vironmental, human and social impacts of mining. It reviews the principal mechanisms for regulating them and provides a broad evaluation of their operation in Africa. It notes the need to better incorporate the burdens mining imposes in economic assessments that focus on the bene$ts derived from mining. Chapter 5 recognizes the economic and social signi$cance of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Africa. It not only presents well-known di%culties that the sector faces, but also indicates examples of initiatives to address them. It recommends or endorses several policy propos-als for better supporting ASM and integrating it into national economies.
  • 25. Introduction 7 Chapter 6 discusses the scope and drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Africa’s mining industry and its application. It examines the bene$ts and limits of CSR as well as the challenges that the practice of CSR by mining companies in Africa faces in state capacity and societal expectations of development. Chapter 7 looks at mineral revenue issues, noting the con#icts between the revenue capture objectives of govern-ments and investors. It identi$es the principal tax instru-ments deployed in the mining sector and considers some of the mechanisms reducing or limiting the taxes paid by companies. !e chapter also discusses issues relating to public sector management of mineral revenue, the basic elements of a regime for revenue transparency (including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) and mechanisms for enabling communities a&ected by or close to mining operations to obtain a share of revenue generated. Chapter 8 focuses on the framework for moving from mining as an enclave to mining as a promoter of indus-trialization and development. It reviews experiences of link development in Africa, identi$es constraints to be overcome and proposes a strategy for promoting mineral resource-based linkages. Chapter 9 turns to international trade and investment re-gimes, focusing on elements that could impose signi$cant constraints on Africa’s capacity to realize its development objectives. !ese elements, which could undermine the project of using the continent’s mineral resources for its industrialization, are particularly noteworthy. Chapter 10 considers the implications for institutional policy of the proposal to change the focus of mineral policy. It seeks to rea%rm the legitimacy and potential of public sector institutions, particularly in view of the assaults many su&ered in the course of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. It presents examples of institutional arrangements to promote mineral-based linkages and suggests some to encourage them in a regional context as well as others for enhancing capacity and reviewing governance. Chapter 11 reviews the e&orts of promoting mineral policy harmonization by regional and subregional institutions within Africa. Chapter 12 seeks to summarize the key challenges and policy messages that could transform the African mineral sector into a tool for broad socio-economic development, as called for by the AMV. !e ISG hopes that this framework report contributes to the implementation of the AMV. In line with its broad aim of assembling a pool of knowledge and experiences, the expectation is that it will guide the implementation of the AMV through a subsequent phase which develops toolkits, templates, guidelines, brie$ng notes and other instruments for use in the formulation or revision of mineral regimes in Africa. It is also expected that the framework report will contribute to the development of the Action Plan, by the AUC, the AfDB, and UNECA, as called for by the AU Heads of State and Government at their Summit in February 2009.
  • 27. 9 Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 2 “Africa’s e"orts to transform CHAPTER the mining sector away from its colonially-created enclave features have so far met with very limited success. !e Africa Mining Vision o"ers a framework for integrating the sector more coherently and #rmly into the continent’s economy and society” — !e Africa Mining Vision MINERALS OF POTENTIAL value for a range of ap-plications are found in most African countries (appendix E). More than half the countries on the continent regard mining as an important economic activity and are produc-ing minerals for an international market outside Africa. Africa’s reserves and production of some minerals are signi$cant in world terms. Examples include bauxite, chromium, cobalt, gold, manganese, phosphate, platinum group metals (PGMs) and titanium, as well as diamonds. In some instances (chromium, cobalt and PGMs, for ex-ample), reserves and production are concentrated in a few countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Zambia), but more usually reserves are spread among many. Some volumes of minerals produced and exported from Africa are also signi$cant for world industrial consump-tion, such as copper and iron ore, even though these do not represent a large proportion of global production.1 Given that large tracts of the continent have not been geologically surveyed systematically at appropriate scale, it is likely that Africa has a much larger mineral base than is known. !e paradox of Africa’s mineral (and indeed, natural resource) wealth, on the one hand, and the pervasive poverty of its people, on the other, remains a deep and o"-noted feature of its economic landscape (table 2.1).
  • 28. 10 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Table 2.1 Percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day (2005 purchasing power parity) 1990 1999 2005 Developing Regions 45.5 32.9 26.6 Northern Africa 4.5 4.4 2.6 Sub-Saharan Africa 57.4 58.2 50.7 Latin America and the Caribbean 11.3 10.9 8.2 Caribbean 28.8 25.4 25.8 Latin America 10.5 10.2 7.4 Eastern Asia 60.1 35.6 15.9 Southern Asia 45.5 42.2 38.6 Southern Asia excluding India 44.6 35.3 30.7 South-Eastern Asia 39.2 35.3 18.9 Western Asia 2.2 4.1 5.8 Oceania - - - Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 2.7 7.8 5.3 CIS, Asia 6.3 22.3 19.2 CIS, Europe 1.6 3.0 0.3 Transition countries in South-Eastern Europe 0.1 1.9 0.5 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 63.3 60.4 53.4 Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 49.1 50.7 42.8 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 32.4 27.7 27.5 1/ High-income economies, as de#ned by the World Bank are excluded. 2/ Estimates by the World Bank, April 2009. Source: MDG Report Statistical Annex 2009 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Data/2009%20Stat%20Annex.pdf Dumett (1985) concludes a study of the place of Africa’s minerals in the Second World War with the following: “A wide range of African metallic and non-metallic ores played a vital—and in some cases an indispen-sable— role in the Allied victory in 1945. But for the African peoples and countries most directly involved, the wartime upsurge had an uneven im-pact. Wage increases were in no way commensurate with the increased workloads nor with the pay scales for European miners. Except in the Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, where greater agricultural and industrial diversi$cation was already in train, the expansion of the mining industries perpetuated enclave development”. Mining’s contribution as a supplier of strategic minerals to industrialized countries, the focus of policy on those minerals that play that role, the inadequate returns to the continent and the enclave nature of mining industries remain central features of the African landscape today. !is chapter sets out the processes by which these features became entrenched—a central part of the experience in which the colonial state had a strategic role. It describes some of the attempts by post-colonial governments to respond to the limitations of the mining regimes that they inherited as well as the outcomes of the radical changes in policy that dominated the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s. It is these outcomes that form the immedi-ate backdrop to how the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) highlighted at the end of the chapter, was formulated and adopted in 2009.
  • 29. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 11 Evolution of African mining Mining on the eve of the colonial period As late as the beginning of the 19th century, despite the many years of direct contact with European traders and the in#ux of European goods, most African societies still produced their own iron and its products or obtained them from neighbouring communities through local trade. !e quality of iron products was such that, despite competition from European imports, local iron production survived into the early 20th century in some parts of the continent. !is was the case at Yatenga in modern day Burkina Faso, where in 1904 there were as many as 1,500 smelting furnaces in production.2 !e production process covered prospecting, mining, smelting and forging. Di&erent types of ore were available all over the continent and were extracted by shallow or alluvial mining. A variety of skills was required for building furnaces, producing charcoal, smelting and forging iron into goods. Iron production was generally not an enclave activity but a process that ful$lled the totality of socio-economic needs as well as $tted the gender division of labour within communities. Copper production and use have a longer genealogy than iron in some parts of Africa. From ancient Egypt through parts of modern Niger, Mauritania and central and south-ern Africa, African societies have been mining and using copper and its alloys for centuries. Today’s major copper-producing areas in Africa, notably the Copper belt, were sites of indigenous production for many years before the takeover by colonial foreign mining companies. According to Zeleza (1993: 183) “there have hardly been any copper producing areas in the twentieth century in Africa that were not worked before”. In most places, copper was pro-duced through open-cast as well as underground mining. In addition to utilitarian objects such as wires, rods, vessels and other utensils, copper smiths produced jewellery and ornaments and cast art pieces such as statues. !e patterns of indigenous artisanal and small-scale min-ing exhibited in pre-colonial copper mining are not dis-similar to that in the gold mining industry—which also had a long history—in north-eastern, west and southern Africa. In the millennia preceding colonialism, west and southern Africa were major exporters of gold to the rest of the world. More than 4,000 ancient gold workings have been found in southern Africa alone. Production by foreign companies during the colonial era in many cases initially used generations of indigenous knowledge about the location of the precious metal and appropriate local mining sites. While prospecting methods varied among societies, gold mining involved panning of allu-vial deposits, as well as surface or underground mining.3 Across Africa, modern artisanal gold mining retains strong continuities with pre-colonial practices. Despite the allure and status of gold, salts were the most important commodities in parts of pre-colonial Africa. Trade in salts was the most important regional commer-cial activity in several areas, including the Sahel and the Sahara, especially the Western Sahara, central Sudan (west of Lake Chad) and the northern section of the western Ri" Valley and its plateau borderlands, and the Great Lakes area around the modern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.4 Salts were extracted from a range of sources with dif-ferent processes. !e most important sources in the Sa-hel and the Sahara were rock salt deposits, mined from pits and saline ponds, on the top or edges of which salt crusts accumulated, thanks to high rates of evaporation. Several thousand tons of these salts—sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate, potassium chlo-ride, calcium carbonate, sodium phosphate, potassium sulphate and calcium sulphate, in various combinations and concentrations—were each produced and gave rise to a far-#ung export trade that served diverse consump-tion and industrial purposes. !is trade reached as far as present-day Benin, Ghana, the Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and parts of Burkina Faso and Mali, and as far south of the Congo River basin.
  • 30. 12 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes "e colonial creation of export mining !e competition to $nd and control sources of raw ma-terials, including minerals, was one of the main drivers of European penetration and eventual colonial partition of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century. Between 1870 and the Great Depression of 1929 the pre-colonial patterns of production and consumption of minerals, where these activities were $rmly located and integrated in the local economy, were radically altered and replaced by a colonially-induced pattern, in which foreign-owned min-ing enclaves dominated most colonial African economies. !e British, Belgian and Portuguese colonies were promi-nent in the emergence of Africa’s colonial mining industry, re#ecting their generous resource endowments and colo-nial mining policies— and for Britain, its leading place in the global economy. German ambitions were thwarted with its defeat in the First World War. !e considerable mineral resources of its South-West Africa colony (modern Namibia) became available to British and South African capital, but German $nanciers were active in the South African mining industry. Although French investors were important players in southern African mining before the First World War, French colonial mining policy and activity picked up late, from the 1930s. !ese mineral-based opportunities attracted heavy Euro-pean migration to the colonies where most policies dis-criminated in favour of the new immigrants over Africans, both in terms of access to mineral rights and employment in the mining industry. Africans were usually relegated to low-skilled, low-wage and dangerous work. Initially, the development of the colonial mining economy centred on high-value minerals such as gold and diamonds. !is changed, however, as the processes of industrial and technological advancement in the world’s dominant economies led to demand for hitherto unused or under-exploited minerals and to the discovery of new uses for known minerals. Between 1870 and 1939 technological advances and industrial development boosted demand for copper and worldwide copper production grew 20-fold. By the 1930s the Central African copper belt colonies of Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo were among the top exporters of copper. Cobalt was an important associated mineral and the copper belt, mainly the Belgian Congo, quickly became its biggest source. Manganese was discovered in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) in 1914, and under the pressure of wartime re-quirements and the cessation of Russian exports the colony rapidly became a major exporter to the United Kingdom and its allies, principally the United States. By this time European gold mining had $nally taken o& in the colony a"er the false starts of the late 19th century. From 1909 British $rms took over tin mining in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau and that country’s production became crucial during the Second World War, a"er the Japanese expul-sion of British forces from Malaya. From the 1870s Africa, starting with South Africa and subsequently the Congo, the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone, came to dominate world diamond production, a position strengthened from the 1930s by growth in the industrial use of diamonds. !is changed the centuries’ old situa-tion where only gem diamonds had value, and gave great importance to the industrial diamond production in the Belgian Congo and the Gold Coast. By the turn of the 20th century South Africa had emerged as a major producer of diamonds and gold and its consider-able and diverse mineral wealth became globally impor-tant. By 1910 minerals accounted for more than 80 per cent of South Africa’s exports, and more than 40 per cent of those from Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Gold Coast and the Belgian Congo, and a signi$cant part of those from Angola, Sierra Leone and South-West Africa. Most of the private foreign capital invested in Africa from 1870 to 1935 went into mining and much colonial public investment was intended for developing mining. South Africa received the bulk of the investment and the subsequent re-investment of the considerable pro$ts from its diamond and gold mines, fuelling the expansion—and transformation—of the wider economy as well as the country’s emergence as a racially-segregated country and the dominant economy in Southern Africa, with the other economies in its orbit.
  • 31. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 13 "e role of the colonial state in African mining !e centrality of mining o"en in#uenced the way in which the colonial state developed. !at state was active in creat-ing the political and legal security for mining investment;5 providing political and legal support to mining $rms for acquiring and controlling the requisite African labour;6 and developing the necessary transport infrastructure.7 In all cases, the regimes that colonial governments estab-lished around mining ensured the obliteration of African enterprise, even where the geological conditions favoured small-scale producers and where African tradition and experience were considerable, as in the Gold Coast and Southern Rhodesian gold industries.8 How to procure, retain and keep down the cost of African labour, then a scarce commodity, posed challenges in which state intervention proved crucial. Apart from forcible dispossession of natives of their lands, the methods used to compel African males to work for (o"en down) the mines, as well as how they were treated by mining companies, represent the darkest aspect of the history of colonial mining in Africa. !is was especially so in the settler colonies where it became the symbol of racial segregation, of which apartheid in South Africa was at the lowest point. Africans were subjected to a poll tax, which was arbitrarily scrapped in times of labour abundance, or increased during lean periods of labour, simply to force them from their villages to seek work in the very poor conditions of the mines. More than half the public infrastructure investment in sub-Saharan Africa in the decades before the Second World War went into transport, especially railways con-nected with mining. !e main e&ect of the rail investment was to reinforce the mines’ enclave status and facilitate their externalize integration. For Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Kariba Dam, which formed the largest arti$cial lake in Africa, was constructed to supply power to the large copper mines in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. A$er the Second World War With the war over, Britain and France (as well as Por-tugal and Belgium) changed their colonial development strategies, adopting policies that gave the state a more interventionist economic role to secure resource require-ments for reconstruction. Britain established the Colonial Development Corporation, which became an important vehicle for public/private partnerships in the colonies, of which mining formed a signi$cant part.9 France set up the Fonds d’Investissement et de Dével-oppement Economique et Social in 1946, and gave the development of colonial mining resources an important place in post-war planning. !is was re#ected in a 10-year development plan and institutionalized by the creation of the Bureau Minier de la France d’Outre-Mer (BMFOM) in 1948. BMFOM, which had a 700 million franc capital injection, was tasked with promoting prospecting and mineral development.10 In 1947 the French Government took a majority holding in SOGUINEX, a subsidiary of the Consolidated African Selection Trust, engaged in diamond mining in Guinea. It was also instrumental in creating the MIFERMA consortium in 1952 by European steel $rms for the exploitation of Mauritania’s vast iron-ore resources. !e process was greatly aided by the readiness of the French Government to provide a quarter of the $rm’s equity and to guarantee loans for the project. !e late colonial period in West Africa also witnessed exploration activities that led to the establishment of Niger’s uranium mines. Geological surveys initiated by the French Commissariat for Atomic Energy in 1955 re-sulted in the discovery of uranium concentrations north of Agades in 1966. !e Société des Mines de l’Air, a joint venture between Niger’s Government, the French Com-missariat and French, German and Italian $rms was set up in 1968 to exploit the deposit. !e immediate post–Second World War decades have been characterized as “the hey-day of mining companies in Africa. New mines were developed in all corners of the continent, and existing ones were expanded”.11 !e last days of colonialism witnessed an upsurge in prospecting
  • 32. 14 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes activities and the start of new mining projects in many colonies and countries. Some of the resulting projects came to de$ne the post-colonial economic structure of African mining countries. Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Sierra Leone became major iron-ore exporters; Gabon, the Niger and South Africa started exporting uranium; and Guinea, which would soon become a major global source, saw the open-ing of its $rst bauxite mine in 1952. !e development of iron ore and production of bauxite in West Africa were the most important mining trends of the late colonial period. On the eve of Ghana’s independence in 1957, African production of minerals—not just iron ore and bauxite, but also copper, rock phosphates, manganese, lead, zinc, uranium, chromites, cobalt and asbestos—had hugely expanded from just prior to the Second World War. !e most spectacular increases were in manganese, phosphates and iron-ore, output of which had doubled; copper, which had risen by more than 150 per cent; and cobalt production, which had jumped by 350 per cent. "e early post-colonial decades On independence, the political economy of mining epito-mized the limits of the political power and economic control gained by newly sovereign African nations. In economies dominated by mineral exports, this most im-portant sector was an externally-oriented enclave only narrowly linked with the rest of the domestic economy through the taxes paid to the state by the mining com-panies and their small pool of mainly lower level African workers. !is disarticulation had several features: ' Ownership and operation of the mines was in the hands of foreign companies; ' Mining operations had very weak links with the rest of the economy, because most of the minerals were exported in raw form or a"er only basic processing; ' Firms imported most of their inputs and repatriated all their pro$ts, except what was reinvested in min-ing operations; ' Export trade $gures were dominated by mineral ex-ports, but this painted a false picture of how much the country was bene$ting from minerals given the import dependence of the mines, the free repatriation of pro$ts, technical fees charged and the incomes of expatriate employees; ' Mining was a substantial, o"en the biggest, source of public revenue; and ' !e most important skills involved in running the mines came from expatriate employees thanks to the racist division of labour under colonialism that kept Africans in low-skill, low-wage jobs. When Zambia attained independence in 1964, copper accounted for 40 per cent of GDP, 93 per cent of exports, 68 per cent of public revenue and 15 per cent of em-ployment. For the Belgian Congo (which unlike Zambia exported a clutch of minerals), minerals accounted for 67 per cent of export earnings—copper alone 51 per cent of export earnings, 45 per cent of public revenue and 18 per cent of GDP, but only 2 per cent of employment. African governments took policy steps straight a"er inde-pendence alongside steep drops in investment by mining companies in exploration and development at existing mines, and huge increases in dividend repatriation by foreign shareholders. For many governments, vesting min-erals in the state, setting up state mining enterprises and taking substantial shares in existing mining companies were the principal instruments for enhancing their share of returns from the nation’s mineral resources. Yet the performance of the state mining enterprises then established has been mixed. !e new management and procurement arrangements simply meant that basic con-trol of running the business remained unchanged, though new avenues for repatriating revenue took on increased signi$cance.12 Most state mining companies functioned poorly, starved of investment in plant and machinery, and denuded of exploration activities. !ey also su&ered from
  • 33. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 15 a general lack of research and development to keep mining and processing operations competitive. Especially in base metals, unit mining costs soon outstripped metal prices.13 Another burden was that revenue from mining compa-nies became part of the national cake that had to be used to $nance other priorities—another factor in the lack of investment and ultimate demise of the state mining companies. Adedeji (1993: 395) notes, in relation to the $rst decade of the post-colonial era, that some countries set themselves the objective of achieving “fundamental change … in the colonial economic structure by developing the do-mestic processing of primary products and by pursuing an import-substitution industrialization strategy”. !e reality, however, was that domestic minerals were seldom processed locally and converted into industrial products. Local value addition was not the name of the game. A more liberal space for foreign investment Many African countries in the early 1980s were severely indebted, leading the World Bank to become increasingly involved in designing reforms that were introduced into Africa’s mining industry. In 1992, a"er the impact of the early to mid-1980s’ glut of base metals that reduced prices and hence state revenue, the World Bank set out in its Strategy for African Mining, the $rst systematic pres-entation of reforms that it considered necessary to tackle Africa’s poor performance in minerals. !e World Bank saw that African mining was attracting only 5 per cent of global exploration and mining development expendi-ture. In view of the continent’s huge mineral potential and the signi$cance of mining to some economies, it felt that mining could provide “important bene$ts in terms of exports, foreign exchange earnings and tax receipts to support economic recovery in Africa”.14 !e study argued that African mining’s poor performance was rooted in two factors. First, the industry by the 1990s was in rapid decline, as evidenced by its falling share of world mineral output for most of those it produced (except for bauxite, rutile and uranium). Second, new geological information was in serious de$cit, because of very little exploration activity. As a result, Africa succeeded less well than other regions in attracting new investment to exploration, which amounted to only 1 per cent of mineral production—compared with 10 per cent in other regions. !e World Bank’s study concluded that the African min-ing industry could not take advantage of the growing demand projections of mineral commodities during the 1990s to the same extent as Latin America and Asia. Africa had simply not adapted well to the needs of the industry in the new international context. !e study proposed a series of policy, regulatory and institutional reforms. What was needed in the 1990s? According to the study, the future development of the mining industry would “largely depend on attracting new high risk capital from foreign mining companies”15 be-cause historically, it was “international mining companies which provided the management and technical capabilities and mobilized the necessary $nancing for mining”.16 To adapt to modern conditions of mining, it argued, African countries would have to avoid state ownership and attract private investors to mining. In the study, the World Bank had surveyed 80 mining companies, including “juniors” and “majors”. !e results revealed that, a"er mineral potential and existing infra-structure (that is, key decision criteria), potential investors looked for a stable legal and $scal framework, contractual stability, a guaranteed $scal regime, assured pro$t repa-triation and easy access to foreign exchange. Signi$cantly, they also showed that macro-economic performance was less important because mining was greatly isolated from other sectors of the national economy (apart from features such as exchange rates). Investors also looked for a larger and a faster return on equity in Africa than in developed countries because they required higher risk premiums for projects there. !e study also reasoned that investors
  • 34. 16 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 2.1 A brief account of post-colonial mining activity in Mali Shortly after independence from France in 1960 Mali’s government created several state mining enterprises. Many regional geo-chemical surveys were conducted in the country between 1960 and 1980. The period between 1965 and 1975 was decisive for identifying all the indices and other occurrences in Mali of gold and diamonds, ferrous and base metals, building materials, phosphate and rare earths. This period saw small gold production at the Kalana mine and the establishment of cement factories, ceramic, tiles, brick and crushed phosphate rock. Mali developed its first national skills and its initial technical and administrative bodies in mining. Many Malian students were then trained with assistance from bilateral and multi-lateral partners, both abroad and in local training centres, for the needs of the mining industry and administration at all levels. There was relative success in satisfying most of the rather small, local demand for industrial material and a relative boom in exploration work by state-owned companies. By the mid-1980s Mali’s mining industry was still embryonic, consisting of few construction material plants such as cement, marble, brickworks, phosphates, fertilizer and a small and poorly operated underground gold mine. The overall economy was under-performing (with hyper-inflation, a very poor balance of payments, a huge public internal debt and collapsing public enterprises), thus forcing the government to join sub-Saharan countries that implemented structural adjustment programmes favouring short-term fiscal redress and incentives to attract potential investors. Mali then embarked, with other members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, on a programme of privatizing, restructuring or liquidating state-owned enterprises, including those in the mineral sector. It devalued its currency by half in 1994, with the aim of reducing the fiscal deficit and attracting foreign direct investment to rehabilitate the economy, including mining. The government also developed new legal, regulatory and administra-tive frameworks more favourable to private investors. These reforms helped to diversify potential sources of foreign funding for mineral surveys. The goal was to encour-age export mining through projects of interest to large foreign mining companies with the know-how and financial and technical capacity required. Many exploration activities were financed by the United Nations Development Programme, the European Commission and Belgian and French cooperation bodies, and led to large-company involvement in developing world-class industrial gold mines. The inventory and systematic monitoring of all resources by a well-staffed and well-performing geological survey department, as well as the development of side-stream and downstream activities, which had prevailed in the first decade of independence, are no longer seen. The bulk of geological work, including grass-roots initial data acquisition and inventory are now done by junior gold-exploration companies, which hand over their resources to the larger gold-producing companies. Source: Cheickna Seydi Diawara.
  • 35. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 17 preferred to keep majority ownership should state partici-pation be required. Finally, it noted that investors were concerned about corruption and political risks. In short, “Perceived mineral endowment, infrastructure, political stability, investment policies, and institutional framework, are all key determinants of exploration and investment decisions”.17 Since mineral potential in Africa was not in doubt, the study argued that the perception of political risk was a major factor in determining investment #ows into its mining industry. To reduce investment risks to private mining companies, the World Bank prescribed recommendations in four main areas: the regulatory framework; economic and $scal policy; institutional reforms and infrastructure; and environmental considerations. !e key elements of African mineral policies that emerged during this period may be summarized as follows. African governments: ' Reduced or eliminated state participation in mining enterprises; ' Provided a wide range of incentives, causing foreign direct investment (FDI) into the industry to surge; ' Made tax regimes more competitive relative to those in other developing regions, particularly Latin America; ' Liberalized exchange controls and exchange rate policy; and ' Introduced investment-protection assurances, includ-ing those on the stability of the $scal regime for a speci$ed length of time (the “stabilization period”), dividend repatriation and non-expropriation. Results of reform—mixed at best Although the extensive reforms of regulatory and le-gal frameworks introduced during the 1980s and 1990s helped to create a more favourable environment for for-eign investment in African mining, their contribution to social and economic development objectives has been far less certain—even contested in many countries. Within the past decade a very visible civil society movement, protesting about the costs and questioning the bene$ts of the revitalized mining sectors, has emerged in many mineral-rich African countries. !e example of Mali (box 2.1) may show why. !e following appraisal of those reforms may be taken as illustrative of widespread uncertainty over their bene$ts: “Certainly from the corporate perspective, the outcomes of the recent reforms in the mining sector in Africa have been positive, as re#ected in the signi$cant increases of FDI in the sector. From the host country perspective, in order to assess the outcome of these reforms, governments would need to consider whether the increasing incentives provided to foreign investors have been o&set by the de-sired outcomes …. Already some observers have described the incentive competition as a “winner’s curse” for host countries, whereby investment competition among host countries can trigger a “a race to the bottom” not only in the more static sense of forgone $scal earnings but also in terms of giving up policy options necessary to organize a more dynamic long term growth path”.18 In 2007 a “Policy Big Table” organized by the United Na-tions Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank, which brought together o%cials from the two bodies and the African Union (AU), African countries and international organizations, noted that the scale of the reforms in African mining since the 1990s “did not have any historical precedent”. It concluded that Africa had not traditionally gained the best possible bene$ts from the exploitation of its natural resources, a situation exacerbated in the 1990s “by African e&orts to attract FDI to their natural resources sector, which led to the formulation of overly generous investment laws and regulations”. !e Big Table urged African countries to seize the “win-dow of opportunity o&ered by the boom in demand for
  • 36. 18 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 2.2 !e Africa Mining Vision t A knowledge-driven African mining sector that catalyses contributes to the broad-based growth develop-ment of, and is fully integrated into, a single African market through: ■ Down-stream linkages into mineral beneficiation and manufacturing; ■ Up-stream linkages into mining capital goods, consumables services industries; ■ Side-stream linkages into infrastructure (power, logistics; communications, water) and skills technology development (HRD and RD); ■ Mutually beneficial partnerships between the state, the private sector, civil society, local communities and other stakeholders; and ■ A comprehensive knowledge of its mineral endowment. t A sustainable and well-governed mining sector that effectively garners and deploys resource rents and that is safe, healthy, gender ethnically inclusive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible and appreciated by surrounding communities; t A mining sector that has become a key component of a diversified, vibrant and globally competitive indus-trialising African economy; t A mining sector that has helped establish a competitive African infrastructure platform, through the maximisa-tion of its propulsive local regional economic linkages; t A mining sector that optimises and husbands Africa’s finite mineral resource endowments and that is di-versified, incorporating both high value metals and lower value industrial minerals at both commercial and small-scale levels; t A mining sector that harnesses the potential of artisanal and small-scale mining to stimulate local/national entrepreneurship, improve livelihoods and advance integrated rural social and economic development; and t A mining sector that is a major player in vibrant and competitive national, continental and international capital and commodity markets.
  • 37. Africa’s minerals: history and search for direction 19 minerals and metals and the accompanying price surge to extract better terms from natural resources exploitation and to catalyse growth and poverty alleviation across the continent”. It proposed that existing natural resource laws and regulations be reviewed “to better accommodate the interests of African countries”. From past results to renewed approaches !e conclusions of the Big Table were an important cata-lyst for Africa’s Heads of State and Government in 2009 to adopt the AMV (box 2.2). !e Vision seeks to shi mineral policy beyond a focus on extracting minerals and sharing revenue. It relates such policy to the demand for structural transformation of Africa’s economies and, premised on the abundance and signi$cance of its miner-als, proposes (or re-a%rms) an industrialization strategy anchored on minerals and other natural resources as critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, eradicating poverty and securing sustainable growth and development on the continent. !e Vision was draed by a technical task force set up by the AU and UNECA, which had representatives from the African Mining Partnership, the African Develop-ment Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Develop-ment Organization (UNIDO). It was endorsed by the $rst ordinary session of the AU Conference of Ministers Re-sponsible for Mineral Resources Development in October 2008. It is informed by the outcomes of several initiatives and eorts made at subregional, continental and global levels to formulate policy and regulatory frameworks to maximize the development outcomes of the exploitation of mineral resources. !e AMV provides an important step towards developing a continental mineral strategy tailored to the African context and emanating from a focus on its interests and situation as the originating source of policy. A central premise of the AMV is that mining in Africa must be constantly re-evaluated by its contribution to broad and long-term development goals. It insists that mineral operations need not—and should not—be activi-ties of an enclave. !e Vision acknowledges the governance challenges that must be overcome for Africa’s minerals to contribute to sustainable development. However, unlike several other proposals for exploiting the mineral resources and collecting and managing the revenues of the continent, it recognizes governance as only part of the range of challenges that have to be addressed in formulating a comprehensive framework of policy to nurture a devel-opment- oriented sector. !e goal of a “vibrant … industrializing African economy” emphasizes the role of industrialization and industrial policy if the continent’s development possibilities are to be realized. In the words of UNIDO, “Industrialization is integral to economic development. Scarcely any countries have developed without industrializing and rapidly grow-ing economies tend to have rapidly growing manufactur-ing sectors”.19 It is now no longer fashionable to discount the active interventions required of the state to articulate industrial policy and promote industrialization.20 Several references in the AMV implicitly acknowledge the limits posed by the size of states and the global context in which they have to operate. !e importance of a harmo-nized continental approach in creating a development-oriented policy framework is implicit in the Vision. !e Vision also highlights the desire for well-managed engagement of stakeholders, including industry and the private sector, international and regional $nancial, govern-ment and social institutions, local communities, dierent government agencies and non-governmental organiza-tions. Engagement and empowerment of marginalized stakeholders, including artisanal and small-scale min-ers, women and local communities remain underlying features that need to be addressed within mineral policy development. In its reference to gender inclusiveness, the AMV seeks to apply to mining principles that are widely ar-ticulated in African and international legal and policy instruments.21!e context is that mineral operations will reproduce or even exacerbate gender disparities if no eort is made to address them.
  • 38. 20 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !e implications of the Vision for developing African min-eral policy may be summarized in the following objectives: ' Enhancing retained value by promoting linkages; ' Obtaining an adequate share of mineral revenue; ' Improving public participation and accountability; ' Pursuing an integrated view of rights of various stakeholders; ' Valuing environmental resources; ' Using mineral revenue e%ciently; ' Promoting local development; ' Encouraging regional cooperation and harmoniza-tion; and ' Strengthening institutions: building capacity and developing networks. !ese themes form the framework for the rest of the book. Endnotes 1 See Taylor et al., 2009; USGS, n.d. 2 Zeleza, 1993. 3 Phimister, 1976; Zeleza, 1993; Allen, 1958; Macdon-ald, 1902. 4 Good, 1972; Lovejoy, 1978; McDougall, 1990. 5 Greenhalgh, 1985; Hodder, 1959; Illegbune, 1976; Radmann, 1978; Slinn, 1979. 6 Crisp,1984; Lanning and Mueller,1979; !omas,1973; Zeleza, 1993; Derksen, 1983, Greenhalgh,1985. 7 Lanning and Mueller, 1979,72; Hailey, 1957; Fell 1939. 8 Silver,1981; Phimister,1976. 9 Hailey,1957. 10 Hailey 1957. 11 Lanning and Mueller, 1979. 12 See Lanning and Mueller, 1979. 13 Asante,1979; Libby and Woake, 1980; Greenhalgh, 1985; Yachir, 1988. 14 World Bank, 1992: x. 15 World Bank, 1992: 10. 16 World Bank, 1992: xi. 17 World Bank, 1992: 18. 18 UNCTAD, 2005: 45. 19 UNIDO, 2009: 4. 20 See Hausman et al., 2008a, 2008b; Rodrik, 2004; Amsden, 2009. 21 Such as article 13 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 2003; article 4 of the African Union Constitutive Act; and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, 2004.
  • 39. 21 Global trends 3 “It is important to learn from the CHAPTER experiences and best practices of other regions. !e current global competition in the demand for mineral resources, particu-larly with increased activity from China, India and Brazil, presents opportunities for Africa” — !e Africa Mining Vision !is chapter sets out the global context in which Africa’s mining regimes are evaluated. It identi$es global market trends as well as activity and thinking in the important mineral producing and consuming regions. !e objectives are to set the African mining industry into the global scene, give policymakers an understanding of long-term trends in metal markets and in investment behaviour and present a brief overview of recent policy perspectives from Europe, the Americas and Asia. Demand for mineral commodities Global distribution of demand Demand for mineral commodities has increased dramati-cally since the turn of the century. Although use of most metals increased by 1–2 per cent a year in the 1980s and 1990s, growth rates aer 2000 were much higher. For instance, world crude steel production rose by 1 per cent a year from 1990 to 2000, but by 6.8 per cent a year from 2000 to 2007. Most of this rapid growth was due to in-dustrial expansion and urbanization in China, where raw materials demand surged as that economy accounted for an ever-growing share of the world’s manufactured products. From 1995 to 2005 China’s contribution to world industrial production doubled to 12 per cent. Table 3.1 shows that from 2000 to 2007, China more than doubled its share of global demand for aluminium, copper and zinc, tripled that for lead and quadrupled that for nickel. During the period, its share of iron-ore imports tripled, from about 16 per cent to 48 per cent, accounting for 32 per cent of total world crude steel demand.
  • 40. 22 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Table 3.1 Chinese inuence on world demand for re#ned metals demand, 2000–2007 Re!ned use, 2007 Share of China, 2007 (per cent) Share of China, 2000 (per cent) Aluminium (kt) 12,267 32.5 13.0 Copper (kt) 4,800 26.2 11.8 Zinc (kt) 3,750 32.1 14.9 Lead (kt) 2,548 30.6 10.1 Nickel (kt) 345 24.9 6.0 Tin (kt) 150 39.9 18.6 Crude steel (Mt) 437 32.3 16.3 Iron-ore seaborne imports (Mt) 379 48.2 15.6 Source: Ericsson (2009) citing Chinese statistics and metal forecasting, Macquarie Commodities Research, Macquarie Capital Securities (2008). kt = !ousand tons ; Mt = Million tons. India and Brazil also experienced high growth rates in metal use, while the United States remained a substan-tial consumer of minerals produced both from domestic sources and imports. (Appendix F shows the principal minerals of which the United States imports more than it produces, and the major sources.) !e uneven distribution of global metal demand is illus-trated in map 3.1. Africa accounts for only a very small part of the total. Growth in African metal demand has risen quickly, albeit from a low base, during the recent boom years. Steel demand, for example, grew by 4.5 per cent between 2000 and 2007 in Africa, faster than in Latin America (3 per cent) but slower than in Asian countries ex-cept China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (7.5 per cent). For the period up to 2020 African steel demand is expected to increase by 4 per cent a year, once again higher than Latin America (2 per cent) and catching up a bit on Asian countries except China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (6 per cent). Map 3.1 Global metal consumption Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
  • 41. Global Trends 23 Figure 3.1 Metal concentrates and ores: EU net imports as share of apparent consumption (per cent) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 % Antimony Cobalt Molybdenum Niobium Platinum Rare earth minerals Tantalum Titanium minerals Vanadium Manganese ore Iron ore Bauxite Tin Zinc Chromium ores and concentrates Copper Source: Ericsson (2009), citing European Commission. Metal consumption in the European Union (EU) repre-sents about 20 per cent of the global total. For more than half the metals shown, it imports all of its consumption ($gure 3.1). Demand for metals is strongly linked to general economic development. Per capita use of most metals grows slowly until a GDP per capita of $5,000–10,000 a year and then #attens out above that level ($gure 3.2). Most metals and countries exhibit a similar pattern of growth or similar changes in the metals intensity of their economies. !e absolute level at which per capita use #attens depends on the structure of the economy and industry. With a larger share of industry, use is normally higher than when services dominate. Figure 3.2 Per capita use of copper vs GDP India China 2009 China 2004 Germany Japan Korea Taiwan 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 USD (PPP adjusted) Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
  • 42. 24 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !is is the basis for the strong demand of the Chinese economy—it is currently passing through that stage of its economic development. Demand is further strengthened by the sheer size of the economy, its population of more than 1 billion and strong, centrally planned oversight in which state capital plays a large role in investment allocation. Some evidence suggests that Chinese demand for met-als has three main drivers: ' Fixed capital formation: Growth in $xed capital for-mation (investment in economic infrastructure) has increased to around 40 per cent of GDP, a seemingly unsustainable rate; ' Urbanization: Urban migration is a strong driver of $xed capital formation. In China 10 million people a year are moving from the countryside to the cities, and this could increase fourfold if restrictions on the movement of labour are relaxed; and ' Domestic consumption: Use of metal-intensive kitchen appliances, housing and vehicles has grown sharply. Some estimates suggest that as much as 75 per cent of China’s copper demand is for domestic consumption. Copper is a major input for such goods. Demand conclusions for the future China’s insatiable demand for metals has led many market observers to believe that metal prices are currently in the early phase of a “super cycle” driven by its industrialization and urbanization. Heap (2005: 1–2) de$nes a super cycle as a “prolonged (decades or more) trend rise in real commod-ity prices driven by urbanization and industrialization of a major economy”. He contends that there have been two super cycles in the last 150 years: from the late 1800s driven by the United States, and from 1945 to 1975 driven by post-war reconstruction in Europe and subsequently by the Japanese economic renaissance. Figure 3.3 Copper super cycles nominal price 2004 real price 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 US!/lb 1885 1890 1895 1900 USA 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Source: USGS; Platts; US Department of Labor (Cited from Heap, 2005) Japan , EU Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011.
  • 43. Global Trends 25 Other long-term projections of copper prices further support the thesis of a prolonged price rise of up to 40 years from about 1933 to 1975 ($gure 3.4). A super cy-cle, or prolonged trend rise in prices, is driven by high, materials-intensive economic growth. !is is re#ected in a high and rising intensity of use—the amount of metal consumed per unit of economic activity, such as GDP. A super cycle is thus demand-driven and does not arise from supply-side constraints. Although there are business cycles within a cycle, prices rise on a trend basis. Declin-ing intensity of use brings super cycles to an end as the economy evolves from material-intensive infrastructure and manufacturing and becomes more service-oriented. Cuddington and Jerrett (2008) argue that if super cycles are indeed demand-driven, their components in individual commodity prices should be positively correlated. !ey used an econometric approach to test the co-movement of aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc—all crucial inputs in residential and other construction activity, trans-port and other infrastructure, and heavy manufacturing. !ey found that super cycles in the six metal prices were highly correlated, providing further evidence that super cycles are caused by prolonged demand expansion as major economies move through rapid economic development processes. !ey, too, argue that commodity prices are currently in the early phase of a super cycle. China is the main driver of global economic growth at present, but many other countries are both populous and at a similar stage of development, such as Brazil, Russia, Turkey and several South-east Asian countries. All these countries are growing fast economically and are undoubtedly signi$cant contributors to the current high demand for metals. Figure 3.4 Long-term copper prices 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 a3000 2000 1000 0 USD/t (2005) 29 years -3.5%pa 40 years 2.3%pa 33 years -3.5%pa 1900 1903 1906 1909 1912 1915 1918 1921 1924 1927 1930 1933 1936 1939 1942 1945 1948 1951 1954 1957 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 Source: Raw Materials Group, 2011. At current high levels of demand for copper, there is no stopping the present super cycle or the demand boom from continuing at least for another $ve years, and most likely the rest of the decade, unless global economic disaster hits. Although history does not repeat itself mechanically, it may well provide unforeseen events, such as the recent global $nancial and economic crisis that temporarily upset the growth pattern of metal demand. !e crisis hit the continent’s mineral exporters, especially those in southern Africa. !e sharp decline in commodity prices saw mines either close or put on maintenance regimes, with attendant job losses. About 346,700 jobs were lost in 2008 in the Southern African Development Community region alone.1
  • 44. 26 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Table 3.2 Metal prices, December 2008–December 2009 Zinc Lead Copper Aluminium Nickel Tin Platinum Silver Gold ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/Mt) ($/oz) ($/oz) ($/oz) Year-end Price, 2008 1,121 949 2,902 1,455 10,810 10,355 899 11 865 Year-end Price, 2009 2,570 2,395 7,346 2,208 18,480 16,725 1,461 17 1,098 Per cent Increase 129.4 152.4 153.1 51.8 71.0 61.5 62.5 57.5 27.0 Source: London Metal Exchange, except for Pt (Johnson Matthey). !e swi rebound in prices of many metal commodities suggests, however, a super cycle. Table 3.2 shows metal prices at end-December 2009, with copper leading the dra-matic year-on-year recovery at 153 per cent, the strongest since 2000. Both lead and zinc also posted price recoveries of more than 100 per cent. Some academic economists remain sceptical that we are in a super cycle.2 Still, the evidence of a sustainable long-term demand upswing, possibly of 10–35 years according to super cycle proponents, oers some basis for a carefully-formulated strategy to use metals and minerals as levers for economic development in Africa. An emerging super cycle, or indeed any long-term trend rise in commodity prices, has important implications for pro$table capacity expansion by both private and government mining companies. With an increasing li-quidity in the $nancial markets, a key message for African mining economies is to position themselves for green$eld or brown$eld capacity expansion of mining projects. Another implication is the use of resource revenues. Many African mineral economies rely heavily on them, either from direct equity participation in mining companies or tax receipts. A possible super cycle oers African mineral economies the opportunity to establish mutually- ben-e $cial (government–mining company) long-term tax regimes, as well as the opportunity to extract development bene$ts from minerals. Unfortunately, most African min-eral economies fail to exploit commodity export booms, such as the last one to about 2007. To achieve these ben-e $ts, they will need to be strategic in how they position this crucial sector for investment (see chapters 7 and 8). Supply of mineral commodities Global distribution of supply China does not only have a large demand but it is also an important producer of metals and minerals. It is thus the most important mining country in the world. It is by far the largest producer of coal; it is also the largest producer of gold, zinc, lead, tin and manganese. It is the second-largest producer of iron ore. Its import depend-ency is high for copper and nickel, and growing for iron ore and many other metals. China is the sole supplier of rare earths and other metals and minerals used in highly-specialized technical applications for which there is no possibility of substitution. Europe was an important mining region in the mid-19th century, but mineral production has declined since. !e EU now accounts for only some 3 per cent of global metal output. It remains self-su%cient in construction minerals and is a major producer of dimension stone. Although Europe is a large producer of several types of industrial minerals, it is a net importer of most of its requirements (see $gure 3.1). Map 3.2 shows the global distribution of mine production for eight important minerals or mineral groups in 2008.
  • 45. Global Trends 27 !e proportion by value from dierent regions of the world is Africa, 11.5 per cent; Asia, 28.8 per cent; Europe (exclud-ing Russia, Belarus, Armenia, the Ukraine and Georgia), 2.6 per cent; European Commonwealth of Independent States, 8.1 per cent; Latin America, 23.7 per cent; North America, 11.3 per cent; and Oceania, 14.0 per cent. Map 3.2 Global distribution of mineral production, 2008 Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010.
  • 46. 28 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Table 3.3 gives the three largest producers of various metallic minerals. Table 3.3 Top three mining regions for selected metallic minerals, 2006 Metal First % Second % ird % Cum. % Rare Earth concentrates China 95 USA 2 India 2 99 Niobium-Columbium Brazil 90 Canada 9 Australia 1 100 Antimony China 87 Bolivia 3 South Africa 3 93 Tungsten China 84 Canada 4 EU 4 92 Gallium China 83 Japan 17 - 100 Germanium China 79 USA 14 Russia 7 100 Rhodium South Africa 79 Russia 11 USA 6 96 Platinum South Africa 77 Russia 11 Canada 4 92 Lithium Chile 60 China 15 Australia 10 85 Indium* China 60 Korea 9 Japan 9 78 Tantalum** Australia 60 Brazil 18 Mozambique 5 83 Mercury China 57 Kyrgyzstan 29 Chile 4 90 Tellurium Peru 52 Japan 31 Canada 17 100 Selenium* Japan 48 Canada 20 EU 19 87 Palladium Russia 45 South Africa 39 USA 7 91 Vanadium South Africa 45 China 38 Russia 12 95 Titanium Australia 42 South Africa 18 Canada 12 72 Rhenium** Chile 42 USA 17 Kazakhstan 17 76 Chromium South Africa 41 Kazakhstan 27 India 8 76 Bismuth China 41 Mexico 21 Peru 18 80 Tin China 40 Indonesia 28 Peru 14 82 Cobalt Congo D.R.C 36 Australia 11 Canada 11 58 Copper Chile 36 USA 8 Peru 7 51 Lead China 35 Australia 19 USA 13 67 Molybdenum USA 34 China 23 Chile 22 79 Bauxite Australia 34 Brazil 12 China 11 57 Zinc China 28 Australia 13 Peru 11 52 Iron ore Brazil 22 Australia 21 China 15 58 Cadmium China 22 Korea 16 Japan 11 49 Manganese China 21 Gabon 20 Australia 16 57 Nickel Russia 19 Canada 16 Australia 13 48 Silver Peru 17 Mexico 14 China 13 44 Gold South Africa 12 China 11 Australia 11 34 Source: Ericsson (2009), citing World Mining Data (2008). * = World re#nery production (USGS, 2008). ** = USGS, 2008).
  • 47. Global Trends 29 Table 3.4 African production and consumption of selected metals in 2009 (per cent of world) Aluminium/ bauxite Gold Copper Iron ore Nickel Lead Tin Zinc Consumption 2.0 1.2 1.1 0.5 3.3 1.0 0.4 1.3 Production 8.0 19.6 7.9 4.1 5.3 2.5 4.8 2.5 Source: WBMS, Raw Materials Data, 2010. Table 3.4 compares Africa’s production and consumption as a share of total world $gures for selected minerals. It supports the well-known fact that Africa does not consume the min-erals it produces owing to its low levels of industrialization. Supply conclusions for the future !e locus of the world’s mining industry has gradually moved. It was once in Europe but with the growth of the US economy in the 19th century mining moved across the Atlantic. In the latter part of the 20th century most mining took place south of the equator, where Africa, with Latin America, hosts large amounts of untapped mineral riches despite at least one century of resource misuse, particularly in Africa. Africa and Siberia are now the two largest remaining under-explored frontiers. Global mine supply is largely controlled by big, trans-national companies. !ey are the ones with the $nancial and technical capacity to handle large mining invest-ments, and the technology to operate big mines. Oen they, along with investment banks, have the power to in#uence mineral commodity markets. !e mining in-dustry has seen much consolidation ($gures 3.5 and 3.6). More is foreseen with easy credit and the strength of large mining companies’ strong balance sheets. !is bodes well for African mineral producers who need to strategically position themselves to attract mining investment. Figure 3.5 also shows the market capitalization of the top ten mining companies in the world. Figure 3.5 !e Top 10 by market capitalization ($billion at 31 December, 2010) 250 200 150 100 50 0 BHP Billiton Vale Rio Tinto Shenhua China Zstrata American Anglo Freeport- McMoRan Barrick Gold PotashCorp 2009 2010 Coal India Source: Capital IQ, cited from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (2011).
  • 48. 30 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Figure 3.6 Largest companies’ shares of global mining output (per cent) 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Largest 3 Largest 10 Largest Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. Figure 3.7 Largest companies’ global control of selected metals, 2009 Lead Zinc Gold Iron ore Copper Nickl Platinum 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Largest 3 Largest 10 Largest Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. Exploration and mine development In 2008, total commercial exploration in the world stood more than $ve times as high as in 2000, at $13.8 billion compared with $2.6 billion. Africa’s share of that expendi-ture increased from 12 per cent (more than $300 million) to 15 per cent ($2,050 million). !ough declining in 2009, primarily because of the global $nancial and economic crisis, exploration activities have recovered well, and should bounce back to 2008 levels according to the Raw Materials Group. !e total project pipeline, including all known projects for which cost estimates exist and which have at least an inferred resource de$ned, was more than $465 billion at the end of 2009. Of this, some $350 billion (roughly
  • 49. Global Trends 31 75 per cent) was for green$eld projects, but only $50 bil-lion represented projects at the construction stage. !e majority of projects, with a total investment cost of $175 billion, were at early and pre-feasibility stages, and those at the feasibility stage were estimated at $135 billion. Capital expenditure in the mining industry worldwide fell sharply in 2009 due to the tight conditions created by the crisis ($gure 3.8). Given recent strong metal demand in China since these estimates, the 2009 forecast will probably be surpassed and investment in 2012 might even approach that for 2008. !e quick recovery of exploration and mine investment is consistent with the super cycle observations that they are not associated with persisting supply shortfalls. Figure 3.8 Global mining industry capital expenditure, 1995–2012 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010e 2011e 2012e 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. !ree metals account for between half and two-thirds of the total value of all mined metals: iron ore, copper and gold ($gure 3.8). In 2008 the value of all metals, uranium and diamonds at the mine stage was $465 billion.
  • 50. 32 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Figure 3.9 Value of global mine production, 2009 Others 9% Platinum Silver 2% 2% Diamonds 3% Molybdenum 4% Manganese ore 4% Nickel 5% Zinc 5% Gold 14% Copper 18% Iron ore 34% Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. Gold projects are oen smaller than copper projects, averaging just above $200 million versus more than $500 million in 2009. !is is because it is still possible to $nd small but high-grade gold deposits that can be mined pro$tably by junior or mid-sized companies, while most new copper projects are huge, low-grade, open-pit op-erations, typically far away from existing infrastructure. Project costs can therefore shoot up if infrastructure costs are included in mine development. Further, given the structure of the gold sector with many juniors and small producers, there is a tendency towards smaller projects, which are easier to $nance. !e average iron-ore project is even bigger than its copper counterpart, at $750 million in 2009. !e share of mining projects in Africa was fairly constant over the $rst eight years of the 21st century. Australian- and Canadian-based companies are by far the biggest spenders on exploration.3 !ey are listed on stock exchanges in those countries, which have well-developed sources of funds for juniors. !ey are smaller and have a bigger appetite for high-risk exploration programmes. European-based companies are on the other side of the risk pro$le—more conservative, with a preference for large projects. Historically, exploration and development expenditure exhibits geographical patterns: Canadian and US companies tend to do more business with Latin America, Australian companies in the Paci$c and Euro-pean companies in Africa.4 !e emergence of China as a source of exploration and development $nance in Africa has broadened choices. !e China-Africa Development Fund, set up in 2007, symbol-izes wider possibilities for $nancing African projects. !e China Development Bank provided initial funding of $1 billion. !e fund aims to support Chinese enterprises when investing in Africa, including mineral resource development.5
  • 51. Global Trends 33 Table 3.5 Mining project investment by region, 2009 Investment ($ billion) Share (per cent) Africa 68 14.6 Asia 65 13.9 Europe 50 10.8 Latin America 134 28.8 North America 77 16.6 Oceania 71 15.3 Total 465 100 Source: Ericsson and Larsson, Raw Materials Group Data, 2010. Pro!les and control of mining companies A 2006 estimate of metal mining companies suggested that there were more than 4,000.6 Most of them were junior companies engaged in exploration only, not ex-traction, selling their discoveries to bigger and better resourced companies for development. Junior exploration companies are risk takers compared with the larger mine developers and operators, and thus usually precede their larger counterparts. Indications are that that the decline in exploration spending in 2009 was steeper for juniors than for the bigger companies. State control of global mine output has varied over the years and from metal to metal but was, up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, generally 40–60 per cent. It has de-clined considerably since 1990 to perhaps 25 per cent, but is certainly not a thing of the past (table 3.6). Table 3.6 State share of global metal mine output by value, 2008 Total production, 2008 (Percentage of total value of global metal production) State control, 2008 (Percentage of total value of global metal production) State share, 2008 (per cent) State share, 2006 (per cent) Rank, 2006 China 14.8 14.8 100 100 1 Chile 7.7 2.0 26 32 2 India 5.7 1.6 28 39 4 Iran 0.9 0.9 100 100 5 Poland 0.8 0.8 100 100 3 Uzbekistan 0.7 0.7 100 100 6 Indonesia 2.1 0.6 30 16 7 Venezuela 0.6 0.5 87 80 8 Sweden .7 0.5 78 50 9 Mauritania 0.3 0.2 75 100 na Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. Note: !e state share represents the total value of all metal produced at the mining stage. It varies with the produced volumes and with the relative value of the metals produced in each country. na = not available.
  • 52. 34 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes As seen in the table, by far the most important state mining country is China, and the state companies in Chile, India, Indonesia and Sweden (for many years run in the same manner as their private competitors) form the second most important group of state enterprises. State share holdings among the top 10 producers vary widely. (appendix G and appendix H show the extent of state enterprises in the min-ing and re$ning of selected metals between 1975 and 2006.) Prices and pro!ts !e period between the Second World War and the mid- 1970s was one of unprecedented growth in mineral pro-duction and metal prices. !e rebuilding of Europe and Japan and the continued industrialization of the Soviet Union created huge demand for mineral commodities. But for 30 years from the mid-1970s, the mining industry saw nearly continuous decline in demand and prices. Metal prices experienced another boom from 2003–2004 ($gure 3.9). As indicated earlier, the super cycle literature takes this to be an early stage of a cycle that is expected to continue for some years yet, despite the decline in 2008. Available evidence suggests a highly successful 2010 in which aggregate net pro$t for the mining industry increased by 156 per cent to $110 billion, total assets approached $ 1 trillion and overall revenue grew to $400 billion, a 32 per cent rise.7 !e composition of revenue by mineral commodity, in order of magnitude, was coal, copper, iron ore gold and bauxite. !e $gure below presents the global distribution of ben-e $ts between mining companies and governments. For Africa, actual government shares of pro$ts are much lower than these as unlike in Australia, for example, African mining countries have not imposed super pro$ts taxes on mining operations, neither do they participate in min-ing operations (with a few exceptions eg diamonds in Botswana and Namibia), unlike in Latin America. It can safely be concluded, therefore, that the super pro$ts have disproportionally accrued to mining companies and that pro$t sharing remains a major policy challenge for Africa. Figure 3.10 Average returns by top ten companies, 2005–2010 ($billions) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Company Government Employees Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011. Iron ore and coking coal are by value two of the most important internationally-traded mineral commodities. In the last couple of years both commodities have moved away from a negotiated benchmark price where prices were $xed annually. Instead, prices are set based on spot prices, quarterly. !e trend is hence towards much more #uctuation in prices, which will create new problems for producing countries. !is probably demands new strategies and policies to stabilize tax revenue and export income.
  • 53. Global Trends 35 Figure 3.11 Mineral commodity prices, nominal and real (#rst quarter 1960–second quarter 2008; 2000=100) 400.0 350.0 300.0 250.0 200.0 150.0 100.0 50.0 0.0 MNoresMetals real min 1Q1960 3Q1961 1Q1963 3Q1964 1Q1966 3Q1967 1Q1969 3Q1970 1Q1972 3Q1973 1Q1975 3Q1976 1Q1978 3Q1979 1Q1981 3Q1982 1Q1984 3Q1985 1Q1987 3Q1988 1Q1990 3Q1991 1Q1993 3Q1994 1Q1996 3Q1997 1Q1999 3Q2000 1Q2002 3Q2003 1Q2005 3Q2006 1Q2008 Source: UNCTAD, 2007. !e capital cycle typically lags the commodity price cycle ($g-ure 3.10). !e global capital expenditure required for staying in business (the base load) is around $15 billion a year.8!e peaks above this base re#ect spending on new projects. !e 1990s saw excess capital expenditure at a time of a prolonged depression in commodity markets from the mid-1990s until 2004, though a capital cycle has been under way since about 2004 on the back of improved prices. What is not in doubt therefore is that both exploration and development expendi-ture, and pro$tability, are on the upswing.9 Figure 3.12 Metals and mining capital expenditure and base metal price lag 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 250 200 150 100 50 0 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 Capex (US$bn) Base Metals Real Price Index Metals Mining Capex (Real 2004) Base Metals Real Price Index (2004=100) Source: Heap, 2005.
  • 54. 36 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Leading global policy initiatives e China story Despite strong growth in domestic production, Chinese import dependence has been growing fast, prompting the formulation of a “two-way strategy” predicated on ex-panded investment in exploration and production capacity in China; and on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in mine production and, failing that, long-term supply contracts. !e following discussion provides examples of Chinese investment abroad. In the $rst half of the 1990s a Chinese group invested in the Dilokong chrome mines in South Africa, in one of the $rst ventures from that country into African mining. From the mid-2000s Chinese direct investment abroad has increased hugely (see table 3.6). Most investments have been in Australia (table 3.7), with very few in operating African mines. Table 3.7 Selected Chinese acquisitions in Australian mining Chinese partner Australian partner Mineral Valin Iron Steel Fortescue Iron ore Citic Paci$c Mineralogy Iron ore Ansteel Gindalbie Metals Iron ore China Metallurgical Cape Lambert Iron ore Baosteel Rio Tinto Iron ore Yanzhou Felix Resources Coal Citic Resources Macarthur Coal Coal Hunan Non-ferrous Compass Resources Base metals CST Mining Group Lady Anne Copper Guangdong Kagara Copper Jinchuan (JNMC) Albidon Nickel Jinchuan (JNMC) Allegiance Mining Nickel Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Herald Resources Lead/zinc Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. Among minerals worldwide, its focus has been iron ore, followed by copper and nickel. !e Belinga project in Gabon operated by China National Machinery Equip-ment Import Export Co. and a bid for the Gara Djebilet deposit in Algeria by Bao Steel are two recent examples of Chinese investment in Africa. Still, Chinese mining investments abroad are small rela-tive to those from other countries. Less than 1 per cent of total world mine production outside China is controlled by Chinese companies. (Despite rapid growth in recent years, it was from an almost zero base). It will take years before Chinese companies and China become powerful global players in international mining. Chinese investors are not homogeneous. !ey include small $rms earning quick pro$ts in the Congolese copper industry to major companies (like Chinalco) cooperat-ing with the leading mining multi-nationals such as Rio Tinto (table 3.8).
  • 55. Global Trends 37 Table 3.8 Selected Chinese acquisitions abroad Buyer Share (per cent) Target Metal Value ($ million) Chinalco 9.3 Rio Tinto Diversi$ed 14,000 Yanzhou 100.0 Felix Resources Coal 3,200 CIC 17.0 Teck Diversi$ed 1,500 Shandong Iron Steel 25.0 Tonkolili Iron ore 1,500 Chinalco 47.0 Simandou project Iron ore 1,350 China Mineral 100.0 Itaminas Iron ore 1,220 Valin Iron Steel 17.0 Fortescue Iron ore 939 Chinese investors 51.0 Wesizwe Platinum 877 Chalco 100.0 Peru Copper Base metals 800 CRCC-Tongguan 97.0 Corriente Copper 595 Sino Uranium na Somina mine Uranium 300 CST Mining Group 54.0 Chariot Resources Copper 240 Jinchuan group (JNMC) 100.0 Tyler Resources Copper 214 Citic Paci$c 100.0 Mineralogy/Korean Steel Iron ore 200 Xiamen Zijin Tongguan 100.0 Moterrico Metals Copper 168 JNMC 100.0 Crow#ight Nickel 150 Jinduicheng/Northwest 100.0 Yukon Zinc Zinc 113 Citic Resources 8.4.0 Macarthur Coal Coal 96 CNMC 80.0 Luanshya Copper 50 Source: Raw Materials Data, 2010. na = not available. !e strong demand for metals from China—and concomi-tant worries in the traditional industrialized countries of Europe, North America and Japan over threats to future supply—present opportunities to African and other min-eral- rich economies from greater demand competition. But to take full advantage, these countries must have the infrastructure capacity, skills and $nancial resources to manage their mineral capital and the rents it generates. !e number of investment projects in Africa indicates a growing Chinese presence, but progress is oen slow. Chinese $rms have yet to acquire the experience of large projects that many companies from industrialized coun-tries have. Informing Chinese policy objectives in Africa is the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China’s most prominent development initiative in this $eld. Since 2000 it has organized high-level meetings every three years with African governments. At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at Sharm-el-Shaikh in Egypt in November 2009, China declared $ve intentions: increasing the China- Africa Development Fund, which then stood at $1 billion, to $3 billion; establishing an African commodities trade centre in China to promote export of African commodi-ties to China; making available $10 billion in preferential loans for infrastructure and social development in Africa; assisting in raising “the value added of the energy and resource products of African countries and enhancing their capacity for intensive processing”; and progressively reducing taris on imports of African goods into China.
  • 56. 38 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Old hands: e United States, EU and Japan Base metals—including copper and ferro-alloys such as vanadium and ferro-chrome, which are used mainly in specialty steels for weapons—were traditionally considered strategic. In recent years focus has shied to elements such as gallium, indium and rare earths, used in integrated circuits, cell phones, semi-conductors, coatings, magnets and many other applications. !ey are nothing like as widely used globally as copper for example—15 million tonnes of copper a year compared with 125,000 tonnes of rare earths—but they are necessary for a high-technology society to function smoothly. In recent years, the term “criticality” has been coined to express the dependency of industrialized countries on certain metals and minerals, rather than the traditional term “strategic”. A 2008 study de$ned the newer term, for the United States, as the outcome of two components: importance in use and availability (box 3.1). !e United States, Japan and other global powers have traditionally sought to secure long-term supply of stra-tegic resources, including minerals, through long-term planned political and economic cooperation with key supplier countries, and by strategic stockpiles. !e United States started a programme of strategic stock-piling shortly aer the Second World War to supply the needs of US national defence. !e stockpile contained large volumes of major metals such as nickel as well as metals of less economic importance but of particular signi$cance for producing war material, such as alloying metals. During the 1990s, aer the end of the cold war, the government decided to dispose of the stockpiles and started selling some of the metals. But the Department of Defense was recently instructed to review the process aer reported shortages of metals such as titanium. !e Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act calls for research to develop new domestic sources from ores found in the United States, and the technology needed to process them, and to invest eort in $nding substitutes. Like the United States, the Japanese government has main-tained a strategic stockpile for many years. !e stockpile has seven metals: chromium, cobalt, manganese, mo-lybdenum, nickel, tungsten and vanadium. !e stocks are intended to cover 60 days of demand by Japanese industry. !e stockpile is managed by the Japanese Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), set up in 2004. !e aim of the Japanese stockpiling policy is not as militarily focused as US policy, but de$nes criticality as metals that are essential to industry and subject to supply instability. Updating the aims and methods of JOGMEC, in early 2008 the Japanese government published “Guidelines for Securing National Resources”. JOGMEC will use both Japanese development assistance funds and its own budget to support key projects abroad to secure stable future supply of mineral resources. !e countries in the EU that held strategic stockpiles, such as Finland, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have, since the 1990s, disposed of them. Some have replaced them with systematic monitoring of metal markets, in-cluding metal supply issues, allowing them to take action if supply is threatened. A number of studies have been published but no concerted action has yet been taken. At present there is no single EU policy in this area.
  • 57. Global Trends 39 Box 3.1 US critical minerals study A study conducted under the auspices of the US National Research Council by its Committee on Critical Mineral Impacts on the US Economy was prompted by concerns about the adequacy of government support “both to understand the non-fuel minerals that are important to the nation’s economy and functions, and to collect non-fuel mineral data for making informed policy decisions that help to avoid restrictions in … supply” (p. x). (Although focusing on the United States, the report suggests an approach useful for other countries.) Among conclusions from previous studies that the authors found “most compelling” (p. 25) are the following: t The United States is a major user and producer of mineral commodities, and the economy could not function without minerals and the products made from them; t The federal government has a responsibility to conduct and support research and to gather and disseminate information on minerals and metals; t Market forces alone are insufficient to meet challenges of sustainability, so the federal government should help to facilitate activities that sustain mineral supplies, including exploration, development, technology, recycling and appropriate environmental protection; and t The federal government should maintain core competence in the knowledge of mineral deposits and related environmental research, as well as information collection, to respond to future national needs. The study report draws a distinction between “strategic” and “critical” minerals. A mineral is strategic if it is required to satisfy national security and military needs and the demands of national emergencies. Criticality, on the other hand, covers a broader range of circumstances: it seeks to identify minerals that are important in significant uses in the US economy and society, and the chances of supply constraints having a substantial adverse impact. Criticality is a dynamic concept in that what was critical yesterday may not be critical today, and what is not today can become critical tomorrow. In determining the importance in use of a mineral, the report proposes, analysis should consider three main factors: the demand for products in which it is used; the physical and chemical properties that make it useful for the key products in which it is used; and how easy it would be to provide a substitute source or an alternative material in the production process for those key products (in performance and cost). On availability and reliability of supply, five main areas need to be investigated: geological, technical, environmental and social, political and economic. In applying the method proposed to various minerals, the report concludes that, although copper is widely used and its substitutes do not perform as well in key products, it cannot be characterized as critical because it is available from diverse sources and the risks of supply disruption are low. Three of the platinum group metals (platinum, palladium and rhodium), though used in smaller quantities, are high in importance. The probability of a supply restriction is also rated as high, partly because production is controlled by a few companies in a few countries and partly because the jurisdictions in which they operate do not discourage anti-competitive behaviour. “Inventories tend to be low, because of their high value and significant price and other risks. North American production would be inadequate to supply critical needs if the supply of platinum and rhodium from South Africa was interrupted” (p. 142). The report thus assesses them to be critical to the United States. Source: National Academies Press, 2008.
  • 58. 40 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes For several decades towards the end of the 20th century, metal supply for Europe held no interest for politicians. Metals and minerals were freely available on the world market at attractive and falling prices, and industry could import all it needed from abroad more cheaply than from European mines. But with the boom that started in late 2003, a paradigm shi occurred arising from its potential to undermine European metal supplies. !e boom will have a profound impact on African countries, and the EU will attempt to gain maximum advantage in securing its raw material supply from its former African colonies. African governments need to monitor carefully the eects on African mineral-rich countries of the actions suggested under the EU Raw Materials Initiative (box 3.2). One avenue through which they can do this is the series of College to College African Union Commission–European Commission meetings. !e fourth meeting, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2010, issued a declaration to “develop a bilateral cooperation in the $eld of raw materi-als and work together, taking fully into account the AMV of February 2009 and the EU Raw Materials Initiative of December 2008, to the elaboration of further progress and initiatives, in particular on issues such as governance, infrastructure and investment and geological knowledge and skills”. EU interest in Africa’s mineral endowment is no longer a non-issue. India !e recent scale of India’s trade and investment #ows with Africa is unprecedented:10 India–Africa trade grew rapidly from $3.4 billion a year in 2000 to $30 billion a year in 2007, for example. India’s historic business inter-ests in Africa were largely driven by small and medium enterprises and traders, but it is the Indian multi-nationals that have shown increasing interest recently in Africa, re#ecting India’s increasing outward FDI generally. Most of these companies have made large investments in ex-traction. A large proportion of Indian FDI has also gone into infrastructure. Vedanta Resources, for example, a publicly-traded metals conglomerate founded in Mumbai in 1976, has invested more than $750 million in Zambian copper mines. In Sen-egal a joint public–private Indian group has invested $250 million in exchange for a stake in a colonial-era enterprise, Industries Chimiques du Senegal, with rock phosphate mines and plants to produce phosphoric acid for agricul-tural uses. Indian companies such as Tata Steel invested 650 million rand in a ferro-chrome project in Richards Bay, South Africa in 2006,11 and Taurian Resources has recently invested in exploration for manganese in Côte d’Ivoire and for Uranium in the Niger.12 !e sustained increase in commodity prices coupled with increasing demand for energy and raw materials in India seem to be the major driving forces for these companies. Particularly for oil and energy companies, the quest for energy security is one of the major factors for investing in Africa.13 India is the $h-largest consumer of energy in the world, accounting for about 3.8 per cent of global consumption. With rapid economic growth and indus-trialization, it is expected to double its energy consump-tion by 2030, overtaking Japan and Russia to become the world’s third-largest consumer (aer the United States and China).14 !e security of Indian Ocean sea lanes is also an area of concern for India, which has traditionally seen the Indian Ocean as its strategic backyard. !is also drives India’s desire to strengthen its presence in Africa.15 India does not appear to have formulated as strong a policy as China to promote and engage strategically with Africa,16 perhaps because Indian initiatives have until recently largely been driven by private companies.17 Still, the $rst India–Africa summit in New Delhi in April 2008 indicated a serious push from the government to strengthen its ties with Africa.18 !e Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) provides lines of credit to Indian businesses investing in Africa. It also works with the African Development Bank. !e Confederation of Indian Industry, with the government and Exim Bank, runs an annual Conclave on India–Africa, which provides a plat-form for business and government meetings.
  • 59. Global Trends 41 Box 3.2 Extracts from the EU’s Raw Materials Initiative, 2008 Raw materials are essential for the sustainable functioning of modern societies. Access to and affordability of mineral raw materials are crucial for the sound functioning of the EU’s economy. Sectors such as construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery and equipment sectors which provide a total value added of 1,324 billion EUR and employment for some 30 million people all depend on access to raw materials. … The EU is highly dependent on imports of strategically important raw materials which are increasingly affected by market distortions. In the case of high-tech metals, this dependence can even be considered critical in view of their economic value and high supply risks. At the same time, a significant opportunity exists for securing material supplies by improving resource efficiency and recycling. Securing reliable and undistorted access to raw materials is increasingly becoming an important factor for the EU’s competitiveness and, hence to the success of the Lisbon Partnership for growth and jobs… … It is proposed that the EU should agree on an integrated raw materials strategy. Such a strategy should be based on the following 3 pillars: t Ensure access to raw materials from international markets under the same conditions as other industrial competitors; t Set the right framework conditions within the EU in order to foster sustainable supply of raw materials from European sources; and t Boost overall resource efficiency and promote recycling to reduce the EU’s consumption of primary raw materials and decrease the relative import dependence. … The EU should actively pursue raw materials diplomacy with a view to securing access to raw materials… In particular: t With Africa, by reinforcing its dialogue and actions in the area of access to raw materials and on natural resources management as well as transport infrastructure, within the implementation of the Joint Strategy and Action Plan 2008–2010; t With emerging resource-rich economies such as China and Russia, by reinforcing the dialogue, including with the view to remove distortive measures; and t With resource-dependent countries such as the US and Japan, by identifying common interests and devising joint actions and common positions in international fora, e.g. joint projects with the US Geological Survey in areas open to international cooperation. Source: Commission of the European Communities, 2008.
  • 60. 42 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Latin America From state to markets: !e Chilean and Latin Ameri-can model. Economic reform and liberalization in Latin America in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially in min-ing, triggered a wide transformation of the structure and geography of mining investment. State-owned compa-nies— leading mining actors in developing countries until the late 1980s—were restructured, either by outright sale to private buyers or by a range of cooperative arrangements between state and private companies. Some mines became joint ventures; others were run under private-company long-term management contracts. !e industry thus in-creasingly operated in a more open economy. Such privatization was undertaken against the backdrop of low mineral prices in an economic environment where countries faced external debt crises. For most of these countries—and as advised by international $nancial in-stitutions led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund—attracting foreign investment was the only way of increasing exports and earning more foreign currency. Chile set the basis for reforming its mining industry in the early 1980s, far ahead of other developing countries. !e general features of its legal and $scal mining regime inspired reforms elsewhere in the region, particularly Bolivia and Peru and, to some extent, Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico. !e overall features of their min-ing legislation were commended as “best international practice” in the general regime and in the regulation of minerals exploration and exploitation in the context of global competition to attract private investment. Coun-tries such as Bolivia, Chile and Peru were also among the $rst to revise their mineral regimes, including tax elements, to consider the present boom and to secure a larger share of the high mining pro$ts for host countries. Rethinking the market-driven model. !e disappointing results of policy reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as criticisms from international policy debate, led to the recognition in the 1990s that the initial reform package would have to be supplemented by measures to mitigate the adverse eects of reforms. Starting in the 2000s, the United Nations Economic Com-mission for Latin America and the Caribbean developed a vision for strengthening the role of the state and for reorienting its goals towards supporting and redesigning institutions by, for example, policy actions to ensure access for weaker players in the economy. !e Economic Com-mission suggests that Latin American countries should upgrade their FDI policies and institutions to compete more successfully, moving away from a “beauty contest” designed to attract all possible FDI, towards a more de-velopment, targeted approach that calls for countries to de$ne national priorities and to identify and attract the kind of FDI that contributes to development goals. !e environment stayed low on the agenda of most Latin American countries given the political and economic crises of the 1980s, but since the 1990s impetus for envi-ronmental regulation has come from: ' Trends and developments in international law, and the rati$cation of core international environmental instruments; ' Increasing concerns for the negative impacts of min-ing raised by the boom in mining; ' !e privatization of state mining enterprises; and ' Practices (and requirements) brought by international organizations involved in legal reform. Latin American countries embraced the challenge of sustainable development, as acknowledged in the 1994 Summit of the Americas, and as reinforced in the action plan approved in the 1996 Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.19 !ese documents recognize the task of creating an environmentally-responsible and socially-sensitive miner-als and metals industry, bearing in mind the key role of mining in the development of the region. !ey also high-light the need for policymakers to incorporate sustainable development concepts when designing public policies, including legislation, and for governments to strengthen national enforcement of international and national laws and regulations. Regional mining initiatives, such as the
  • 61. Global Trends 43 Mines Ministers of the Americas Annual Conference, echoed those concerns. !e aim of the association shied from investment attraction, the overall aim in the 1996 Declaration of Santiago, towards promoting sustainable development in Latin America in the second conference held in Arequipa in 1997. !e 2000 Declaration of Vancouver contains a number of recommendations for the implementation of sustainable development. !ese include: supporting and strengthen-ing community participation in the assessment of oppor-tunities and challenges in mining projects; ensuring the full use of legal mechanisms for public participation; and considering mine closure, and a formal plan for closure, from the outset of each project, in order to enable mining to contribute to sustainable development. Although these initiatives are not binding, they re#ect the view that the region embraces the challenge of sustainable development in the mining sector. Actual implementation is, however, somewhat patchy and mainly focused on environmental aspects. Brazil. Brazil has deep cultural and historical links with Africa and with mining. During the 18th century, for example, many of the millions of African slaves sent to Brazil worked in diamond and gold mines. More recently, Brazilian interest in investing in Africa has increased dramatically, as has bilateral trade: from 2000 to 2008 its imports surged from $3 billion to $18.5 billion, and its exports from $1 billion to $8 billion.20 Brazilian companies have invested approximately $10 bil-lion in Africa since 2003. !e Brazilian mining company Vale, for example, has acquired a 51 per cent stake in BSG Resources of Guinea in a $2.5 billion cash deal that gives Vale access to iron-ore concession and exploration rights.21 It is also preparing to begin operations for a coal mine near Tete in Mozambique, with an initial investment of $1.3 billion, and is working with Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company, to develop the coal reserves, build a power station and construct a railway (to pass through Malawi) and port infrastructure.22 Brazilian steelmaker CSN has bought a 16.3 per cent stake in Riversdale, an Australian mining company, which is also planning a multi-billion dollar investment in Tete, Mozambique.23 Brazilian investment has been backed by political support, especially during the administration of President “Lula” da Silva (2003–2010), who visited Africa six times in his $rst $ve years in o%ce, oen accompanied by business leaders. Brazilian embassies in Africa have been expanded, as Bra-zil positions itself to expand its resource and agricultural assets. Its interest in Africa re#ects its desire for resource and agricultural security, economic growth (by expand-ing its developing-country industrial expertise into the African market), and a political “South–South” strategy. Policy implications Following a long period of decline, mineral commodity prices and investment experienced a boom that began in 2003 and is projected to continue for some years yet. Unprecedented demand driven by large developing-coun-try industrialization, particularly China, has created an anxious global environment over security and reliability of mineral supply. !e historic mineral-importing coun-tries in Europe, Japan and the United States, alongside newcomers China and India, have begun to focus—in competition—on ensuring access and security of supply for strategic mineral resources. Many governments have politically and $nancially backed investment in mineral resources globally, including those in Africa. Supported by an upswing in liquidity, the capital cycle is showing an upward trend, with multi-national mining companies making large investments in new and existing capacity. Africa’s mining companies and mineral-rich countries thus have a unique opportunity to formulate coopera-tive solutions. For companies, the circumstances oer increased pro$tability, lower investment risks and greater access to capital. For governments, the conditions oer the opportunity to capitalize on their natural resource endowments.
  • 62. 44 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes But strategies are required to introduce remunerative licensing and tax structures that take account of increased revenue #ows (from royalties and other taxes), as well as higher returns (from any equity participation or from state-owned companies). Governments have the opportu-nity to use their stronger revenue #ows to catalyse wider economic development, and may want to consider some of the global mining trends—and the implications for Africa—outlined in this chapter: ' Africa has some of the world’s largest mineral reserves and is one of the few largely unexplored regions le. What are the unique opportunities that arise from the current con#uence of increasing demand, rising prices and improving liquidity for mineral resource projects? ' Africa is being courted by suitors all looking for reli-ability and security of supply of mineral commodi-ties. All have a clear and focused strategy on what they want from Africa, but Africa has to develop a coherent strategy in reply. How can Africa leverage the heightened competition for its natural resources to extract development bene$ts beyond tax revenue and dividend #ows? ' Large emerging countries such as Brazil, China and India are expanding in Africa’s natural resource sec-tor. !ese countries have recent experience in oversee-ing social and economic development in a developing-country context, which provides an opportunity for Africa to learn from their knowledge in this area and to bene$t from their experience, provided that the continent’s mineral strategy facilitates this; and ' !e pattern of mining reforms and investment in Latin America, particularly aer the World Bank–led reforms of the 1980s maintains some similarity with African history in this area. Latin America is showing a new move towards strengthening the role of state institutions, focusing on national priorities and eco-nomic development objectives. It is also increasingly aware of sustainability in development, particularly environmental and social issues. Latin America’s experience holds some lessons for Africa. Endnotes 1 UNECA, 2009. 2 For example, Humphreys, 2009. 3 UNECA, 2009. 4 UNECA, 2009. 5 Chinese-African Development Fund, www.cadfund. com/en/Column.asp?ColumnId=13. 6 UNCTAD, 2007. 7 Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, 2011. 8 Heap, 2005. 9 See also UNCTAD, 2007. 10 Vidyarthee, 2008. 11 Tata in Africa. “Tata Steel KZN,” www.tataafrica. com/businesses/businesses_materials_steel.htm. 12 Taurian Resources, http://taurianresources.co.in/ default/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ lang,en/. 13 Pal, 2008. 14 Pal, 2008. 15 CSIS, 2008. 16 Vidyarthee, 2008. 17 Pal, 2008. 18 CSIS, 2008. 19 Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Develop-ment, 1996. 20 Lapper, 2010. 21 Associated Press, 2010. 22 Lapper, 2010. 23 Lapper, 2010.
  • 63. 45 Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 4 “A transparent and inclusive min-ing CHAPTER sector that is environmentally and socially-responsible…which provides lasting bene#ts to the community and pursues an inte-grated view of the rights of various stakeholders…is essential for ad-dressing the adverse impacts of the mining sector and to avoid con$icts induced by mineral exploitation. Public participation in assessing the environmental and social impacts and the enforcement of impact as-sessment requirements is important in tackling these challenges” — !e Africa Mining Vision THE FAILURE OF decades of mineral exploitation to contribute signi$cantly to socio-economic development on the continent has been dealt with in earlier chapters. !is chapter reviews the impacts and challenges of mining operations, with speci$c focus on environmental, human and social issues. It discusses the key impacts of mining activities and provides possible avenues of addressing them. !e chapter emphasizes the need to promote a mineral sector that contributes to sustainable socio-economic development in Africa by addressing current issues and an-ticipating future adverse environmental and social impacts. Although negative impacts from mining activities are inevitable, it should be noted that most of them can be avoided during the mining cycle (during the pre-devel-opment, development and post-development stages) if prevention and mitigation measures are established. Lower adverse impacts and risks oen translate into lower costs of doing business—and oer opportunities for building relationships with local communities, leading to reduced con#ict between the mining industry and those who work or live near mines. It is also clear that there is a direct link among environ-mental impacts, human rights violations and obstacles to sustainable development in mining. But lessons from Africa, and elsewhere, indicate that strong transparent and participatory governance processes, at all levels, can assist mineral-rich countries attain sustainable economic growth and good environmental practices through apply-ing and enforcing human rights, labour and environmental norms and standards.
  • 64. 46 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes e environmental and social impacts of mining e environmental impacts Mining activities accelerate the rate and degree of changes in the natural environment, such as the ecosystem. !e activities modify landscapes and can have long-term im-pacts on communities and natural resources due to their physical degrading nature, as well as their use of chemicals and other harmful substances. It has been noted that the environmental eects of extractive projects are in#uenced by the type of minerals extracted, the technology used, the scale of extraction activities and the location of the projects. !e environmental impacts also depend on the geological structures and the techniques of extraction. Africa retains the environmental burden of mining, whose eects also reduces whatever it receives from the bene$ts of its minerals. Kuhndt et al. (2008) note a “signi$cant shi in European resource requirements from domes-tic sources towards the use of imports from developing countries”. !ey observe that this is accompanied by “a shi of environmental burden of resource use. … While the resource productivity in EU countries is increasing, developing countries struggle to cope with the environ-mental impacts of rising extraction rates: huge amounts of waste, wastewater and dissipative losses”. !e legacy of mining in Africa is generally that of large un$lled holes and abandoned artisanal mining sites. Many of the environmental problems associated with mining stem from the contamination of, and competition for, surface and groundwater. Water contamination from mining activities is caused by the discharge of e*uents, which contain toxic chemicals used in the processing of mineral ores—such chemicals as cyanide, organic chemi-cals and leached heavy metal oxides (including lead and zinc oxides). !e e*uents may also have high levels of acidity. Mine e*uents can seep into water bodies, posing dangers to communities and aquatic life. And chemicals in e*uents can potentially contaminate ground water. !e quality of, and access to, water is especially critical when mining occurs close to agricultural and/or $shing communities. Further water pollution occurs from Acid Mine (Rock) Drainage, which takes place particularly when mine dumps and acidic host rock in mined areas come into contact with water, increasing its acidity. Mining is also invariably associated with deforestation, soil erosion, land degradation, air pollution and ecosystem disruption, particularly so for open-cast mines in which large areas of vegetation and soil are removed. Tailings dumps and other mining waste add to environmental problems oen due to a general lack of waste management. Such dumps, as well as mining sites, also limits available land use options. Extracting and using fossil fuels contain-ing hydro-carbons signi$cantly impact climate change. Coal production for the generation of electricity, particu-larly in southern Africa, causes the signi$cant emission of greenhouse gases which are primarily responsible for climate change. UNEP (2008) documented examples of major environ-mental impacts of mining, including: ' !e extensive land aected by diamond mining in Angola, where “the Catoca kimberlite pipe… is the world’s fourth largest in terms of surface area, with diamond reserves of at least 40 million carats” and “for each carat recovered, more than a tonne of mate-rial is moved”; ' !e eect on the ecosystem caused by mining in the forest reserves of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; ' !e constraints on alternative uses and users of the extensive allocation to large-scale mining of land in the Wassa West District in Ghana; ' !e threats to human health from uranium mining in the Niger; ' !e widespread air, soil and water pollution in the Zambian copper belt from “digging, pumping and disposal of large volumes of waste water, and smelting operations that emit sulphur dioxide”; and
  • 65. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 47 ' !e problems created by mining in South Africa, in-cluding acid mine drainage and the land area covered by mining waste. !e large artisanal and small-scale mining sector in Africa contributes to major environmental challenges, especially the impact on the physical environment (river siltation and lands not reclaimed) and the health eects from exposure to mercury and cyanide (for gold miners). Box 4.1 considers the potential threats from bauxite min-ing and processing in an ecologically-sensitive area in the Republic of Guinea. Among the environmental impacts of mining, climate change deserves special mention because it is one of the major global environmental problems in the 21st century that demands urgent attention. As stated earlier, extracting and using fossil fuels containing hydro-carbons signi$- cantly impact climate change. Mining is one of the most intensive users of heavy fuel oil, while coal mining for the generation of electricity leads to substantial emissions of greenhouse gases. !us aggregately, mining is a major contributor to global warming. Although African countries as a group contribute fairy little to global warming, they are disproportionately af-fected by changing climatic conditions. Along with their economic weaknesses, their geographical location—and high dependence on natural resource–based commodities as a source of local livelihoods and national income—ren-der them particularly vulnerable to climate change.1 In this regard, African developing countries are confronted with two major challenges in responding to climate change: $nancing and implementing investment in appropriate activities, and generating, diusing, and disseminating relevant technology. !e mining industry operating worldwide could make valuable contributions to climate change mitigation in Africa. But policy elements to harness industry contribu-tions (such as investment and technology) remain largely absent from international and national investment poli-cies. So, there is a need to synergize these two areas of policymaking, with a view to galvanizing low-carbon investment for climate change mitigation and enhancing adaptation possibilities. Low-carbon policies, including measures targeting transnational corporations and for-eign investment, such as mining companies, must thus Box 4.1 Mining a hotspot: Sangaredi Mine, Guinea The Sangaredi Mine in the Upper Guinea Forest falls within one of the world’s most biologically-rich, yet seriously threatened, ecosystems. Recent biological assessments of the area surrounding the bauxite mine and proposed alumina processing facility identified 5 reptile species, 17 amphibian species, 140 species of birds, 16 species of mammals and 8 primate species, including the endangered West African chimpanzee and western red colobus. The Sangaredi Mine is Guinea’s largest and most profitable mine. A proposed alumina refinery, about 25 kilometres west of the mine, is expected to bring a $3,000-million capital investment, thousands of jobs, and infrastructure development. The consortium, building the refinery, is working with Conservation International to incorporate eco-logical considerations into the plans. A biological assessment of the area was conducted as a part of the process. Bauxite mines and alumina refineries typically create serious ecological problems. Bauxite ore is mined in open pits, requiring the removal of vegetation and topsoil. The Sangaredi Mine is a vast open pit approximately 20 kilometres from one end to the other. Alumina refining produces highly caustic “red mud” that negatively affects surface and groundwater quality. In addition to direct environmental impacts, the increased population and infra-structure development associated with the mine will likely put immense pressure on this environmental “hotspot.” Source: UNEP, 2008.
  • 66. 48 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes be incorporated into national economies and sustainable development strategies. !ese companies are in a prime position to diuse cleaner technologies and processes in their own operations overseas, as well as through their value chains. Beyond improving their own processes, large-scale mining companies can potentially provide the know-how for emission mitigation in the small and medium mining sectors. Box 4.2 includes information on the Clean Development Mechanism and the opportunities that it could oer min-ing companies operating in Africa to enter into the emerg-ing carbon market, and overall contribute to mitigation initiatives towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy intensive mining industry. Box 4.2 !e Clean Development Mechanism and the mining industry The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), established under the Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol allows Annex I parties (industrialized countries) to obtain emissions credits for projects that reduce emissions in developing countries (non–annex I countries). The main idea is that the project implemented will generate environmental benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon dioxide through transferable financial assets (certified emission reductions). The project should reduce emissions more than would have occurred without it, ensuring real, measurable and long-term benefits for climate change mitigation. So, such projects must reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase the removal of carbon dioxide—and can involve the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable ones, rationalization of energy use, afforestation and reforestation activities and more efficient urban services, among others. Projects must involve one or more of the gases listed in annex A of the Kyoto Protocol related to various sectors/sources of activities. And the projects should help the developing countries achieve their sustainable development goals. To date, more than 2,250 projects in 68 countries have been registered, and more than 420 million credits have been issued. East Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean account for most projects. Under the CDM the mining industry is presented with new opportunities, including developing new technologies and products and accessing the new emerging carbon market. Many developed countries have initiated CDM projects in developing countries, ranging from such sectors as renewable energy industries, manufacturing industries, chemical industries, afforestation and reforestation, agriculture and transport. The CDM offers pos-sibilities for mining transnational corporations to enter the emerging carbon market. But realizing the potential of the CDM projects in the extractive sector will require large-scale CDM projects, particularly in the mining sector, which typically involves large projects. The Beatrix methane-capture project in South Africa offers an example. Gold Fields Mining Company, owner of Beatrix Gold Mine, is implementing a carbon credit project to capture and destroy the mine’s methane emissions. The Beatrix methane-capture project, one of the first involving mining firms to be approved by the Designated National Authority for the Clean Development Mechanism in South Africa, aims at mitigating the environmental impact of mining activity at the mine with regard to greenhouse gas emissions to generate carbon credits and then to use methane for power generation. The project includes a scheme to capture and extract methane gas from underground at the south section of the mine, as well as to capture and flare methane gas from identified surface boreholes. Flaring of the gas was scheduled to take place by the end of 2009. Source: Yupari, 2010a, 2010b; Gold Fields, 2010.
  • 67. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 49 e social impacts Mining operations also generate social impacts that can lead to tension and con#ict in mining areas. For example, during the exploration and mine development phases, land tenure and access, road construction, river diversion and the large in#ux of people from outside the mining area, such as foreign workers, can all contribute to disrupting the lifestyles of local communities and being a source of resentment. !ese issues are particularly intense in small-scale mining communities where the lack of well-de $ned concession boundaries and in#ux of people from other communities responding to lucrative mineral $nds usually results in tension.2 Several adverse social impacts of mining can be identi$ed, which will include: ' Displacement of populations and resulting disruption of livelihoods; ' Increased poverty—for example, through a degraded environment on which community subsistence may depend; ' Increased internal economic inequalities—for exam-ple, between men and women, between those with jobs at the mine and those without and between commu-nities receiving royalty payments and other bene$ts and resource rents and those who do not; and ' Economic dependency as local economic activity is reorganized to meet the needs of the mine, leaving the community vulnerable to a typical “boom and bust” economy, especially when the mine closes down or experiences reduced pro$tability as a result of low commodity prices. Increased poverty and economic inequalities and depend-encies can destabilize internal community power rela-tions— and disrupt traditional social structures, resulting in increased gender inequality due to unequal access to jobs in the mine, the loss of male support for household work and women expending more energy accessing safe water and food because of degraded environments. At the national level, countries can get locked in an inequality trap, unable to diversify the economy in ways that reduce inequalities. Increased poverty and economic inequalities and depend-encies can also exacerbate social issues, such as increased alcohol and drug use, prostitution, gambling and loss of internal cultural cohesion. A large in#ux of outsiders or immigrant miners, not integrated into the local com-munity or subject to its social constraints, compounds the problem. Such outsiders, for example, can potentially get into con#ict with native residents due to dierent socio-cultural values as well as competition over limited local resources. Poverty and economic deprivation can lead to a general loss of development choices and options, eroding power over community decision-making, and a loss of control over the future of the community and its assets. !is challenge is best illustrated by the violence experienced in the Niger Delta, where youth violence and the existence of militias are partly attributed to feelings of loss of com-munity assets and perceptions of exclusion from natural resources development. !e United Nations Development Programme’s 2006 Human Development Report on the Niger Delta points out that the Niger Delta is the most volatile region in Nigeria. Although rich in oil resources, the Niger Delta was rated very low in the human develop-ment and human poverty indexes, re#ecting the under-developed nature of the communities in the area. Displacement and forced eviction or re-location are com-mon features of mining operations. Mining activities, including waste disposal sites, compete for space with other land uses such as farming, which can easily become a source of tension among the mine, farmers and local com-munities. Resolving this requires that compensation be given to those whose interests give way or are constrained by mining. Compensation may be in monetary payment, resettlement, the provision of job opportunities, training or alternative livelihood schemes. !e adequacy of the compensation requires careful consideration through agreed-upon valuation methods. Disrupting livelihoods through forced resettlement to make way for mining
  • 68. 50 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes operations has potential to create long-lasting tension between communities and mining companies. Other social impacts of mining can result from militariz-ing mining areas to protect a mine’s assets, potentially in response to local protests against mining operations, existing con#icts with local militant groups or scavenging by poor communities. Militarization can generally lead to human rights abuses, especially those brought about by increased sexual violence and forced relocation. In addition to con#ict between a mine and community, mining can be the primary driver of severe con#ict, with armed groups $ghting for control over mineral spoils. !e potential monetary gains can lure foreign rebel groups and mercenaries into the $ghting and broaden existing con#icts. Methods used by armed groups to exploit miner-als include extorting or “taxing” mining companies and intermediaries, directly operating mineral extraction sites and selling “future” concessions of mineral rights in an-ticipation of gaining control upon successful campaigns. Oen serious human rights violations are involved such as using forced labour, targeting civilians. Complex intermediary trade networks and inadequate documentation make tracking sources of con#ict minerals di%cult. !ose minerals which are di%cult to regulate and trace, easily extracted, valuable and easy to transport, are most susceptible to exploitation in con#ict situations. Common minerals involved include gold, tin, diamonds and coltan. Con#ict situations not only can pose addi-tional risks and costs for the mining industry, but also can encourage mining $rms with higher risk tolerance and lower reputation concerns to be involved. Such $rms are much more likely to have poor industry practice in environmental, human rights and $scal performance. Well-known instances in Africa of wars in which minerals are at the core have occurred in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Regulating the environmental and social impacts of mining !e environmental impacts of mining now receive much greater emphasis in policy prescriptions than they did two decades ago. Developing a framework that adequately incorporates environmental issues into the evaluation of the costs and bene$ts of a mining project has evolved signi$cantly in the last 20 years. But applying standard instruments for assessing and regulating impacts has not developed much in many African countries. !is is complicated further because applying environmental management tools requires skills, technology and $nancial inputs not necessarily available or catered to by govern-ments. !ese limits are even more pronounced in relation to monitoring capacities and the evaluation of social costs, particularly those borne by mining communities close to mining operations. Many domestic legal systems and international law instru-ments contain provisions: protecting designated nature and cultural sites and limiting or prohibiting mining operations therein; requiring impact assessments before permitting certain activities; setting standards such as those relating to air and water quality or prescribing limits on discharges into water or emissions into the atmosphere; imposing requirements for mine closure and imposing compensation requirements for disrupting other forms of livelihoods, including dislocation from land. Protected areas !e classi$cation of protected areas by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Re-sources (IUCN) is one of the most prominent systems for designating such areas (box 4.3). In October 2000 a resolution was adopted at the World Conservation Congress in Amman, Jordan, recommend-ing that member States “prohibit by law, all exploration and extraction of mineral resources in protected areas corresponding to IUCN protected area management cat-egories I–IV”.3
  • 69. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 51 Box 4.3 International Union for Conservation of Nature protected area categories Category Ia: Strict nature reserve These are protected areas set aside principally to protect biodiversity and where human visitation, use and impacts are strictly controlled and limited. Category Ib: Wilderness area These are usually large unmodified or slightly modified areas, retaining their natural character and influence, with-out permanent or significant human habitation. They are protected and managed so as to preserve their natural condition. Category II: National park Category II areas are large natural or near natural areas set aside to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, which also provide a foundation for environmentally and culturally-compatible spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities. Category III: Natural monument or feature Category III protected areas are set aside to protect a specific natural monument, such as a landform, sea mount, submarine cavern, geological feature or even a living feature such as an ancient grove. They are generally small protected areas and often have high visitor value. Category IV: Habitat/species management area Category IV protected areas aim to protect particular species or habitats. Category V: Protected landscape/seascape A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct charac-ter with significant ecological, biological, cultural and scenic value, and where safeguarding the integrity of this interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated nature conservation and other values. Category VI: Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources Category VI protected areas conserve ecosystems and habitats, together with associated cultural values and traditional natural resource management systems. They are generally large, with most of the area in a natural condition, where a part is under sustainable natural resource management and where low-level non-industrial use of natural resources compatible with nature conservation is one of the main aims of the area. Source: Dudley, 2008.
  • 70. 52 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Mineral operations in protected areas have been con-troversial in Africa, particularly for forests. Elements of the controversy relate to forest area in which it is, or should be, classi$ed as a strict reserve or one in which certain forms of productive activity are permitted—and, if so, what forms of mineral operations (if any) should be allowed. !at immediate $nancial needs or desires of governmental authorities and the power of mining com-panies may override legitimate environmental concerns with long-term implications sometimes creates a charged context for decision-making. Environmental and social impact assessments Internationally-accepted impact assessment tools have enabled mining companies to adequately factor in en-vironmental and social considerations in investment decisions. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) have become integral parts of investment assessment methodologies, previ-ously focused largely on $nancial criteria. !e recom-mendations of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 re-emphasized the use of impact assessment instruments and reinforced the aspirations of the Berlin Guidelines of 1991 on environmental stew-ardship. Increasingly, the impacts of assessments cover the eects on #ora and fauna and on human health, as well as broad socio-economic impacts of mining both directly and indirectly. International $nance institutions have developed methods to ensure that mineral industry investors adequately account for these environmental and social impacts in the project evaluation framework. (A summary of the provisions incorporating environmental considerations into the mining regimes of several African countries is shown in appendix I.) Applying instruments for impact assessment of speci$c projects in the legal systems of many countries has pro-gressed. As noted earlier, requirements for EIAs and SIAs and the use of environmental bonds are now standard in most mining regimes. !e challenge is the capacity of government to enforce these requirements. Methods for evaluating less visible impacts, such as on groundwater systems, are not as well elaborated or incorporated as those for more obvious impacts, such as relating to surface land or emissions into the atmosphere. Strategic impact assessment, which involves the eect of proposed policy measures on a cluster of projects (actual or potential) as opposed to individual identi$ed projects, is also in rather rudimentary state in Africa. Even in relation to assessing individual projects, much remains to be done to formulate a framework and tools for an integrated evaluation of the various elements to be considered. !is is particularly the case with making an evaluation of potential impacts on human health an eective part of the impact assessment system, as acknowledged by African ministers for health and the environment in the Libreville Declaration of 29 August 2008 (box 4.4). Developing discharge and emission standards, mine clo-sure obligations to be applied to mining and mineral processing in Africa and a cadre of professionals with the needed skills to conduct impact assessments still presents challenges. !e $nancial and human resource constraints in most African countries limit the capacity of institutions tasked with enforcing these requirements. Post-closure issues, oen ignored in mine closure plan-ning, especially at the pre-mine planning stage, are generally categorized as monitoring, maintenance and remediation. Monitoring and maintenance issues in-clude long-term water quality sampling, geo-technical inspections of tailings dams and waste rock facilities, and repair regarding dams, the slopes of waste dumps and re-vegetation, especially where primary seedling or planting has failed. Mining plans should include plans for post-closure monitoring, maintenance and remediation of all mine facilities, including surface and underground mine workings, tailings and waste disposal facilities. And they should include a funding mechanism for all these elements. Other challenges in impact assessment relate to the ade-quacy of compensation packages for disrupting livelihoods and destroying property in the case of resettlement. As noted in Akabzaa (2009), unmet expectations for com-pensation can be a permanent source of tension between mining communities and project developers.
  • 71. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 53 Box 4.4 Libreville Declaration on health and environment in Africa, 29 August 2008 “Concerned that: We, African ministers responsible for health and the environment, meeting from 28 to 29 August 2008 in Libreville, Gabon; Reaf!rming our commitment to implement all conventions and declarations that bear on health and environment linkages, Concerned that: Over 23 per cent of deaths in Africa, estimated at more than 2.4 million each year, are attributable to avoidable environmental risk factors, with particular impacts on the poorest and the most vulnerable groups (children, women, rural poor, people with disabilities, displaced populations and the elderly); 60 per cent of the vital ecosystem services of the planet are being degraded, or are being subjected to excessive pressures, and that it is these services that maintain the quality of air, land and water resources; Recognizing that: … There are constraints on accelerated implementation of the necessary integrated strategies to protect populations against risks resulting from environmental degradation, including risk factors such as poor access to safe drink-ing water, poor sanitation and air quality, vector-borne diseases, chemicals, poor waste management, new toxic substances, desertification, industrial and household-related risks, and natural disasters; The emergence of new environmental risks (climate change, industrial expansion, and new technologies) presents new threats to public health; Africa is, of all the world’s geographic regions, the most vulnerable in the face of these challenges; Well-managed health and environmental risks impact positively on national economies…; ….. Therefore declare that we, African countries, commit ourselves to: stablishing a health-and-environment strategic alliance, as the basis for plans of joint action (para. 1 of the Libreville Declaration); Developing or updating our national, subregional and regional frameworks in order to address more effectively the issue of environmental impacts on health, through integration of these links in policies, strategies, regulations and national development plans (para 2 of the Libreville Declaration); ……… Instituting the practice of systematic assessment of health and environment risks, in particular through the devel-opment of procedures to assess impacts on health and to produce national environment outlook reports” (para 9 of the Libreville Declaration).
  • 72. 54 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Public participation Public participation, an important part of regulating the environmental and social impacts of mining pro-jects, has potential to ensure that the overall management of exploiting mineral resources is sustainable. Two key bene$ts can arise from public participation in the deci-sion as to whether a project with potentially signi$cant environmental and social impacts should proceed. First, local knowledge of the impacts oen provides valuable information potentially missed by outside experts. Second, it legitimizes a project, thus reducing the costs emanating from the social tensions that can result from an externally-imposed project. But the decision-making process could be lengthy and result in added expenses if it involves extensive public consultation. And the opportunity exists for vocal groups to dominate the process and shape decisions in ways not su%ciently representative of the participating public. !at unfavourable publicity may occur has potential to prompt project sponsors or government o%cials to dilute the content and scope of the consultative process. An uneasy relationship between project developers and min-ing communities could emerge from this short-circuited process. It is now standard for laws requiring environmental and social impact assessments to include a public participa-tion component. Regulations in many African countries require that a project sponsor publish in local and o%cial languages, through media accessible in the locale of the proposed project, an indication of where a copy of its en-vironmental impact study may be inspected, as well as to whom and within what period representations about the project may be made. Some regulations, such as Uganda’s, require that the developer “take all necessary measures to seek the views of the people in the communities, which may be aected by the project during the process of con-ducting the study”, as well as aer its completion. !e developer must publicize the project and its anticipated eects and bene$ts for a prescribed period in the mass media and in a language understood by the aected com-munities. And the developer must hold meetings aer that with those communities regarding the project at such times and in such venues as are agreed with leaders of lo-cal government bodies. Aer the study’s completion, the general public must again be invited to comment on the study through notices in prescribed form and the media. A designated o%cial is empowered to decide whether a public hearing should be held on the study. So, provisions need to be made for public involvement in the course of preparing of the EIA and SIA studies as well as for a further possibility at the stage when it is being reviewed by government agencies. !e eective-ness of public participation provisions depends on the imagination and #exibility in choosing consultation and discussion mechanisms and techniques. !e more fully set out the criteria are for determining whether to hold a public hearing in the course of review-ing an environmental and social impact study, the better the outcome. !e right to a clean environment is imbedded in most African constitutions. In fact, certain provisions in the constitutions of various African countries not only impose obligations on state organizations with respect to the en-vironment but also give citizens rights to enforce them. !e right to a clean environment expressed in Uganda’s Constitution, for instance, has been held to give standing to a non-governmental organization in an action against the government and its environmental authorities. Such provisions can found claims of a right in members of the public to be heard before decisions are made on projects that could have signi$cant adverse impacts on them. Lenders to mining projects increasingly require that pro-ject sponsors commit to and implement public participa-tion processes. For example, World Bank Group safeguard policies relating to the environment, involuntary resettle-ment, indigenous people and information disclosure have a bearing on evaluating loan applications as well as on the covenants imposed on borrowers in loan agreements. Indeed, the strengthening of a borrower’s capacity to meet environmental, public participation and social obligations required by these safeguard policies is now frequently a signi$cant aspect of lending decisions.
  • 73. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 55 !e International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) policies require that a Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan be submitted for a project with potentially signi$cant envi-ronmental and social impacts. Such a plan must include an inventory of key stakeholders, methods to be used, a schedule of consultation activities and how they $t into the overall project schedule, a budget and an indication of sta and management resources to be devoted to its implementation. It must also include a review of previ-ous consultation processes as well as criteria by which its eectiveness is to be assessed. !e $h of the nine Equator Principles to which major commercial banks have subscribed requires that its ad-herents fund projects with potentially signi$cant impacts only if “satis$ed that the borrower or third party expert has consulted, in a structured and culturally appropriate way, with project aected groups, including indigenous peoples and local NGOs”, that the assessment report “or a summary thereof, has been made available to the public for a reasonable minimum period in a local lan-guage and in a culturally-appropriate manner” and that the project environmental management plan “will take account of such consultations”. !ose “likely to have signi$cant adverse impacts that are sensitive, diverse or unprecedented” (category A projects) must be subject to independent expert review.4 Due to various constraints and challenges, there is usually a mismatch between the expression of public participa-tion rights in formal instruments and its implementation. Redressing the weight of existing power relations, espe-cially for marginalized and vulnerable groups, addressing deep-seated authoritarian elements of local cultures and reducing the resource constraints (human and material) of public institutions and those aected by or actively concerned about projects with environmental implica-tions are some of the major challenges faced in pursuing public participation. !e Peruvian regulations incorpo-rate mechanisms for $nancing public participation so that the mineral rights holder in coordination with the competent authority could propose the constitution of a private voluntary fund to facilitate the participation of people located in the direct area of the project’s in#uence (see box 4.5). !e fund could be complemented with other parties’ contributions. Valuable work has been done to assist in planning and implementing eective public participation processes. !e IFC’s manual, Doing Better Business through Ef-fective Public Consultation and Disclosure, is a valuable example. It contains, among others, guidance notes for identifying consultation possibilities at dierent stages of a project, a checklist of objectives and actions for improv-ing consultation and another checklist of “Techniques for Public Consultation and Information Disclosure”.5 !ey provide a range of tools from which a selection can be made for application to speci$c situations. !e Interna-tional Council for Mining and Metals has, in collabora-tion with the World Bank, sponsored studies that focus on making participation eective for mining projects. !ese studies seek to relate participation processes to the activities involved in dierent phases of a project, the standards required by law or other applicable norms; the broad strategic objectives of the sponsoring organizations, the characteristics of the participating stakeholders, the communication strategy judged to be appropriate and the resources available. Developing procedures for public participation in policy formulation poses distinct challenges because project activities tend to have more localized impacts than policy activities. !e aected public is thus likely to be much broader in the latter instance than in the former. Policy and plan formulation oen involves more general and abstract statements of intention than project approval decision-making. Even for those directly responsible, the implications of the expressions they have agreed to in policy documents are not always obvious when measured against actions they wish to take in speci$c situations. Initiating and adopting policies or plans are central re-sponsibilities of the government. Strengthening proce-dures for public input into policy formulation, enhancing the role and quality of their chosen representatives in the government and $nding appropriate roles for civil society organizations are critical to improving participation. Where the executive is very strong, the danger exists that participation processes can be little more than rituals that do not aect policy outcomes.6 One of the most elaborate eorts at meaningful engage-ment of the broad public occurred in the development of
  • 74. 56 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 4.5 Public participation in the mining industry: Peru’s regime The principal legal instruments in Peru’s regime are the Supreme Decree N° 028-2008-EM (May 2008): Regulation of the public participation process in the mining industry; and the Ministerial Resolution N° 304-2008-MEM/DM (June 2008): Specific rules of the public participation process in the mining industry. They set out broad principles such as the right of members of the public to participate; the right of access to information; the right of members of the public to moni-tor, verify and enforce the fulfilment of a project sponsor’s obligations, but that the consultation/participation process does not give the local population a right of veto; that stakeholders ought to maintain constant communication in order to promote and maintain an adequate social relation (“relacionamiento social”) and that one principal objective of the participation process is to end up with agreements between the project sponsors and the local indigenous peoples (including Peruvian peasant and native communities) to safeguard the rights and traditional customs of the people and to establish the benefits and compensatory measures to be accorded to them. The precise methods for participation in each specific case are to be determined by a governmental authority following proposals by the project sponsor. The methods required for a project involving large-scale mining or mineral processing are more detailed than those for exploration or artisanal and small-scale mining. For large-scale mining and processing: ' There must be at least two participation workshops before the start and during the conduct of impact assessment studies; ' The study report must contain an executive summary describing in simple language the project’s implications and impacts, among others; ' The project sponsor must distribute copies of the report and an executive summary to the different governmental and indigenous peoples’ authorities. The report is to be advertised through press, radio and posters to allow inter-ested parties to formulate observations or comments to be answered by the project sponsor; ' At least one public forum (audiencia pública) must be held with the participation of the mining, regional and local authorities; ' The authority may order that the public participation process is carried out in the language mainly used in the area or with translators; ' The project sponsor, in coordination with the authority, may constitute a trust to help the population review and formulate observations; ' The authority may also order that a trust be constituted to fund public participation in the monitoring and enforce-ment of the sponsor’s obligations; and ' The costs of the process are to be borne by the sponsor. ' Consultative workshops must precede the completion of impact studies for exploration. Upon completion, it must be advertised through the webpage of the designated authority, press and radio. Members of the public can formulate comments or questions to be answered by the sponsor. For artisanal and small-scale mining, public participation is carried out through publishing the environmental instrument on the webpage of the corresponding regional government, to be reviewed and commented upon by any interested party. Summarized by Gebriel Bailetti, 2008
  • 75. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 57 South Africa’s post-apartheid mineral policy. !e process was entirely consultative from the identi$cation of issues (from global and domestic sources) and engagement of stakeholders, the processes of consultation (public meet-ings, workshops, parliamentary hearings, publication of dras for comments) and the eorts at exploring areas of consensus while acknowledging areas of divergence.7 De-spite the astronomical costs of such processes in the short to medium term, the bene$ts of consultation far outweigh these costs. A stable and predictable policy environment is created, crucial for mining projects with long lives. !e experience from Canada’s Roundtable process for formulating a corporate social responsibility framework for its extractive companies operating abroad shows the elaborate nature of the consultative process (appendix J). Access to information !e relationship between access to information and par-ticipation in decision-making is expressed in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, which states that “each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, includ-ing information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available”. It is also expressed in the UN Economic Commission for Europe “Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision- Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters” (the Aarhus Convention), widely regarded as a model of a public participation regime.8 South Africa’s legislative framework exempli$es an incipi-ent trend in Africa of enacting freedom of information legislation with potential to pressure a bureaucratic cul-ture of secrecy regarding even the most routine matters. Its constitution guarantees the right of every person to receive or impart information or ideas—and to have ac-cess to information held by the state as well as to “any information that is required for the exercise or protec-tion of any rights”. Given the formulation of the right to a healthy environment, the right of access would cover information in private hands required for its exercise or protection. !ese rights are expressed to be subject to such limitation as may be provided in laws “of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justi$able in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom taking into ac-count all relevant factors”. Further to these provisions in the South Africans’ case, the Promotion of Access to Information Act (2000) and its regulations establish a scheme to facilitate access to information held by public and private institutions. !e scheme involves mechanisms for publicizing the categories of material held by dierent institutions, obligations to designate o%cials to handle access obligations, procedures for obtaining access to information protected from dis-closure, time limits for disclosure, a prescription of the grounds justifying non-disclosure and avenues for redress in the decisions of the responsible o%cials and the institu-tions. !e South African Human Rights Commission is assigned responsibility for monitoring and enhancing the implementation of the Act. Most African countries are still at the development stages in the legislative framework for access to information.
  • 76. 58 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Addressing the minerals and conicts link As discussed earlier, con#icts may arise from distrib-uting mining revenues and lack of direct participation of communities in mining projects. Compensation for land and other rights can also be a source of long-term tension. Many legal systems provide that no one should be deprived of an interest in land or other property with-out arrangements for the prompt and eective payment of compensation. !e challenge oen is to protect the relatively vulnerable or not so powerful sections of so-ciety. With regard to resettlement, the IFC Performance Standards set out important objectives that oer criteria for developing and implementing plans: ' To avoid or at least minimize involuntary resettlement wherever feasible by exploring alternative project designs; ' To mitigate adverse social and economic impacts from land acquisition or restrictions on aected per-sons’ use of land by compensating for loss of assets at replacement cost and ensuring that resettlement activities are implemented with appropriate disclo-sure of information, consultation and the informed participation of those aected; ' To improve or at least restore the livelihoods and standards of living of displaced persons; and ' To improve living conditions among displaced per-sons through provision of adequate housing with security of tenure at resettlement sites. !e IFC Performance Standard 5: Land Acquisition Involuntary Resettlement provides a detailed discussion of these issues and outlines a framework. Addressing con#ict minerals situations such as those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has involved initiatives that focus on strengthening governance capac-ity, transparency, certi$cation processes, security reform and regulation of multi-national companies. Numerous international instruments and initiatives already exist including UN Security Council Resolutions 1856 and 1857 (2008), the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo activities and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region “Regional Initiative against the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources”. !e Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme (KPCS) is an example of a system established to track the produc-tion and marketing of diamonds in order to disrupt trade of those coming out of con#ict zones. Trade in illicit diamonds has fuelled decades of devastating con#icts in several African countries. !e KPCS, launched in 2002, is a joint control initiative by governments, industries and civil society to ensure that con#ict and stolen diamonds do not enter the legitimate diamond value chain. !e main KPCS monitoring tool is reviewing expert missions to participant countries, especially problematic ones. !e KPCS imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as “con#ict free”. !e KPCS is backed by various UN General Assembly resolutions, which provide participant states with the legal basis for trade restrictions that can be challenged based on World Trade Organization rules. !is raises the question whether a certi$cation scheme should be backed by UN resolutions to increase its inter-national legitimacy. Inspired by the KPCS, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region has adopted the “Protocol on the Fight against the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Re-sources”. !e protocol legally binds 11 member States to jointly tackle the illegal exploitation of natural resources through a tracking and certi$cation system, which applies subregionally. And the system has borrowed heavily from the KPCS. Among the important borrowed principles is that a certi$cation system must address problems of governance, development and ethical mining practices, prevent mineral commodities from non-certi$ed mining areas entering controlled production streams, include independent third party audits and provide credible sanc-tions for non-compliance. In eect, the tracking system consists of discreet national tracking systems with national data submitted to a regional database. !is African-led initiative has been endorsed internationally—for example, by the G8 Summit in 2009. !e International Conference
  • 77. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 59 on the Great Lakes Region tracking system is probably a model that needs to be explored for adaptation in other African regions. (More information on the system is given in chapter 6.) Mining and human rights !e exploitation of minerals has been associated with the violation of human rights, and it is one of the most prominent issues raised by mining-aected communities and civil society organizations working on mining issues. Indeed, most of the social impacts of mining are covered by human rights. Alleged human rights abuses within the extractive industry include the disappearance of people, violation of the right to a clean environment, arbitrary detention and torture, loss of land and livelihoods without negotiation and without adequate compensation, forced resettlement, the destruction of ritually or culturally signi$cant sites without compensation or compensation and labour rights violations. !ere have also been issues for the rights of indigenous people. An example is the Chad-Cameroon pipeline pro-ject and the Bagyeli people. !ese communities depend on the forest and its products for their subsistence. Less than 5 per cent of the aected Bagyeli are employed in the pipeline project, but the project’s impact on their social welfare has been considerable. Increased logging, the loss of water resources, noise and river pollution have damaged their hunting and $shing areas, while the destruction of surrounding forest and medicinal plants have caused cultural and health problems. In most parts of Africa the protection of indigenous rights has raised challenges, mainly because some African countries, for example Bot-swana, do not o%cially recognize any groups of people as being indigenous vis-à-vis the rest of the citizenry, despite historical evidence that the San groups of Botswana are in fact indigenous to that country. A review of corporate human rights abuses presented by John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) on human rights and trans-national corporations and other business enterprises, in 2006 showed that of the 65 cases worldwide covering 27 countries, the oil, gas and mining sector accounted for two-thirds of the abuse cases. Mining and petroleum development usually occur in fairly under-developed areas with agrarian or pastoral populations. !e large “footprint” of a mine can be ex-tremely impactful, both positively and negatively. !e SRSG has noted that “there is clearly a negative symbiosis between the worst corporate human rights related abuses and host countries that are characterized by a combina-tion of relatively low national income, current or recent con#ict exposure, and weak or corrupt governance”. In this light, it is not surprising that human rights protec-tion has become important for the law and international frameworks seeking to regulate the conduct of business by mining companies. Mining countries need to protect their citizens against human rights abuses and many African national con-stitutions contain extensive provisions on human rights that are binding on all natural and legal persons operat-ing within their jurisdiction. South Africa’s constitution ties environmental rights to human rights, extending to protection against unacceptable behaviour by busi-ness entities. !e human rights provisions in Ghana’s constitution explicitly include the right of workers to form and join unions and do not merely leave that to be deduced from the right to free expression or association. !e African Charter on Human Rights, rati$ed by 53 member countries, also sets out a framework of bind-ing norms, relevant for human rights protection in the mining sector. Article 21.1 states that the right of people to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of people, and in no cases should they be deprived of it. Furthermore, the Charter makes provisions regarding the spoliation of wealth and natural resources and advocates for the right to adequate compensation. Respect for human rights by companies is an important part of their social licence to operate, but the scope of the obligations imposed on them by international human rights law is limited and contentious, even as it is widely
  • 78. 60 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes recognized that with the growth of global power and reach of corporations, domestic regulation is inadequate to protect human rights from corporate infractions. !e development and adoption of the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework in 2008 seeks to provide principles to guide states and businesses in protecting and respecting human rights. Developed by the SRSG, aer extensive consultation with a broad range of stakeholder groups, the UN Framework establishes three pillars: the state’s duty to protect against human rights abuses by third par-ties, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and greater access by victims of human rights abuses to eective judicial and non-judicial remedies. According to Ruggie (2010), the Framework is intended to work dynamically and no one pillar can carry the burden of resolving the governance gaps that exist. While it is a general framework that can be applied to any type of busi-ness, it seems to be particularly germane to the extractive industries’ sectors considering the statistics cited above on human rights abuses in the sector. !e UN Framework invites governments to see the protec-tion of human rights against abuses by business entities as a comprehensive responsibility going beyond environmen-tal impact assessment, approval and monitoring projects. !e Framework proposes a number of ways that states can reinforce legal obligations aimed at strengthening protection of human rights on businesses, such as foster-ing a culture of respect for human rights among public institutions as well as businesses. For the latter, measures could include reporting requirements on companies—for example, in the Companies Code—to show how they are operationalizing their respect for human rights. Many times incoherence in the policies and practices of the state and its institutions has undermined the protection of and respect for human rights. !e most dramatic instances of policy incoherence and lack of coordination have been in the negative impact of state action to increase foreign trade or to attract investment, such as signing investment or trade treaties and investment contracts with stabiliza-tion clauses—on its ability to ful$l its duty to protect human rights. An investor dispute between El Salvador and a foreign mining $rm illustrates the potential constraining impact of trade agreements on the state’s ability to ful$l its duty to protect human rights. Basing itself on the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, Pac Rim Cayman LLC, a US subsidiary of a Canadian mining company, sued the government of El Salvador for impos-ing a moratorium on mining permits, which aected its gold mine project. El Salvador in 2009 has the highest population density in the Americas and is also grappling with a serious water shortage.9 A study by the IFC and the SRSG has established that certain types of stabilization clauses in contracts between investors and host states could constrain the state’s ability to protect human rights. !e study concluded that devel-oping countries were more likely to “include social and environmental laws—even laws of general application on issues such as minimum wage, labour, health, safety, and the like—in a stabilization clause.10 From a geographic per-spective, agreements from sub-Saharan Africa contained the highest percentage of the most constraining clauses. And the study found that extractive sector agreements contained the most constraining clauses. !ere are debates about the legality and enforceability of freezing clauses but their presence in contracts gives bene$ciary companies the leverage to pressure governments to at least limit the application of new laws. !eir potentially constraining eects on the state for human rights protection under-line the need to incorporate the management of human rights into the contracting processes between states and investors. Fostering a culture of respect for human rights in public institutions could aid improvements in policy coherence for human rights protection. In May 2011 the 17th Session of the UN Human Rights Council considered a proposal from the SRSG for 10 prin-ciples for integrating human rights risks into state-investor contract negotiations.11 !e principles cover such issues as ensuring that stabilization clauses do not compromise protection of and respect for human rights, planning adequately for addressing human rights implications of projects during negotiations protection, engaging the community eectively and creating grievance mechanisms for non-contractual harms to third parties and transpar-ency of contract terms. Together, the terms cover the three pillars of the UN Framework and crucially reduce the possibilities for incoherence in the policies and actions of the state. !e SRSG’s study of stabilization clauses
  • 79. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 61 oers examples of cases where investment contracts were re-negotiated to remove constraints on the human rights responsibilities of both states and companies. Mining $rms are quick to proclaim their respect for hu-man rights. Compliance with the laws of a country is an obvious way for a business to show its respect for human rights. In many situations in Africa where enforcement institutions and the culture of human rights protection are weak the institutional commitment of powerful mining $rms to respect human rights is crucial. !e UN Frame-work oers many ways through which $rms can ful$l their responsibilities to respect human rights. !ey include identifying and responding to the particular human rights challenges that they face in their speci$c context, uphold-ing core international human rights and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and monitoring their performance for human rights compliance. !ey also oer criteria by which to evaluate how mining $rms respect human rights. Victims of human rights abuses in African countries, not only those attributed to mining $rms, face many obstacles in obtaining remedies. In general most citizens do not $nd judicial bodies accessible for various reasons, such as costs, physical distance, long delays due to heavy workloads and tortuous procedures. Non-judicial processes such as hu-man rights institutions and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms oer better prospects for speedy remedies for victims of abuses. In Ghana the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, a constitutional body, has a history of dealing with cases of allegations of rights violations in mining areas. Following years of dealing with individual cases, it carried out a comprehensive nationwide investigation into rights abuses in Ghana’s mining areas over 2006–2007. Mining and employment Large-scale mining played a pioneering role in creating the industrial labour force in mineral exporting African countries such as Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia. And it was an important employment sector in many countries until the sector suered decline as part of the economic reforms of the 1980s. !e current phase of Africa’s mining industry has involved the restructuring of employment and labour regimes away from “the cradle to grave” secu-rity that most mine workers enjoyed in the state-owned mining $rms most of which have since been privatized. Across Africa the reforms enabling the creation of the current mining regimes involved the laying o of tens of thousands of mining workers as loss-making state-owned mining $rms were dismantled or unbundled and sold o to foreign investors. For example, nearly 40,000 workers lost their jobs as the parastatal Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines was broken up and privatized.12 !e upsurge in mining since the liberalization of the sector and resulting substantial in#ow of foreign direct investment has created new direct and supporting jobs in old as well as new mining African countries. In many cases the mining $rms oer valuable skills training for employees, and the jobs are well paid relative to wages in the wider national economy. According to an International Council for Mining and Metals study (2008), Tanzania’s large-scale mining sector had created about 8,000 direct jobs and 45,000 additional ones. In 2009 large-scale min-ing directly employed more than 17,000 people in Ghana. A study of the socio-economic impact of Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd., directly employing less than 1,800 workers, has claimed that its operations have created more than 46,000 additional jobs through its suppliers and wider economic eect.13 In Africa’s mineral dependent economies the most signi$cant job losses occasioned by the global $nancial and economic crisis of 2008 were experienced in the mining sector with the Southern African Development Community region being the worst hit.14 But the job-creating impact of the new mines has been limited because capital-intensive “large-scale min-eral extraction generally oers limited employment opportunities”.15According to the United Nations Eco-nomic Commission for Africa, data from foreign a%liates of US $rms in Africa show that manufacturing foreign investment is 17.5 times more labour-intensive than min-ing foreign investment.16 !is comparison tempers the signi$cance of the Newmont and International Council
  • 80. 62 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes for Mining and Metals studies, about the indirect em-ployment— creating impact of mining in Ghana and the United Republic of Tanzania, respectively—even as they draw attention to the need to consider the jobs created by the local linkages and socio-economic impact of mining operations for a fuller picture of the employment eects. But other studies show that in some cases conclusions about the job creating value of new large-scale mines have to consider the rural jobs and livelihoods—such as those of farmers, artisanal miners and other rural economic actors—destroyed or severely disrupted by the establish-ment of the large mine and whose value in rural economy cannot be replaced by the highly-mechanized mine.17 !e jobs and employment relations created by the large-scale mining sector have been constructed in the context of the labour market deregulation and growth of “#exible employment”, key aspects of global economic liberaliza-tion. Employing casual and contract labour is a pervasive practice in the global large-scale mining industry.18 South Africa, the continent’s largest mining economy, has seen the progressive expansion of casualization and contract labour since the early 1990s when the gold mines, faced with stagnating gold price, declining reserves and esca-lating costs, looked for ways of reducing their sizeable labour costs.19 By 2005, according to the South African Department of Minerals and Energy, contract workers made up 28 per cent of the total South African mining labour force. Casualization has been described as one of the “salient results” of privatization on the Zambian Cop-perbelt with traditional “permanent” positions reportedly accounting for only half of all mining jobs in the $ve major copper mining companies in 2008. In 2006 nearly half of the workforce at Anglogold Ashanti’s Geita mine in the United Republic of Tanzania was made up of casual employees with only 3 per cent of the permanent labour force unionized. According to the Business Council of Australia, greater employment #exibility in the Australian mining industry has “delivered signi$cant bene$ts”, and “[it] has supported innovation; greater accountability for performance; high levels of productivity as well as sustained, strong pro-ductivity growth; high levels of wages; and outstanding returns to shareholders”.20 For mining unions, however, “nothing is more likely to undermine the ILO’s ‘Decent Work’ philosophy than the expanding use of contract labour” because “almost universally, contractors—and their subcontractors—get away with providing few ben-e $ts such as pensions, medical insurance, death or injury bene$ts, sick pay, paid leave, maternity bene$ts, etc.”21 Studies of mining employment in a number of African countries corroborate the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) view.22 From its pioneering days in the colonial period, Africa’s mining industry provoked concerns about working condi-tions— use of forced labour, denial of trade union and col-lective bargaining rights—as well as breaches of health and safety standards. In most mineral rich countries, mining remains a hazardous occupation in terms of the number of people exposed to risk, death, injury and disease. Workers’ health and safety are among the major concerns in the extractive industries. !e occupational safety and health implications vary signi$cantly between dierent mining activities and countries. In the working environment of a surface mine, for example, airborne contaminants such as rock dust and fumes, excessive noise, vibration and heat stress can create health problems for miner workers, who are subjected to frequent and prolonged exposure to them. !e ILO has been dealing with labour and social problems of mining since its early days. ILO eorts include adopting the Hours of Work (Coal Mines) Convention (No. 31) in 1931 and the Safety and Health in Mines Convention (No. 176) in 1995. For more than 50 years, tripartite meetings on mining have addressed a range of issues from employ-ment, working conditions and training to occupational safety and health and to industrial relations in coal and non-coal mining. As a result more than 140 conclusions and resolutions have been agreed on, including the Mining Convention. Some of these agreements and resolutions have been implemented nationally, while the ILO has assisted others, such as with training programmes and the development of codes of safety practice. !e ILO’s objectives are to ensure decent and safe work for all mine workers and that the industry contributes to sustainable development. According to the ILO, “Decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection
  • 81. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 63 for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that aect their lives and equality of opportunity and treat-ment for all women and men”.23 It is the responsibility of mining companies to observe the requirements of local labour laws and practices. !ey should also adhere to fundamental labour standards as set out in ILO Conventions and re-emphasized by the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of 1998. !e ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy calls on transnational corporations to respect, promote and uphold the principles concerning fundamental rights, irrespective of whether a country has rati$ed or imple-mented the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. It has been noted that the most common obstacle to im-plementing international standards and norms is a lack of domestic capacity in some countries as well as states being excessively cautious about potential con#ict with large foreign mining companies over their labour practices. Trade unions see a recourse to their global might as one way of supporting eorts by local and national unions to secure the best working conditions for workers. !e ICEM, like other global trade union organizations, has adopted the approach of signing global framework agree-ments with transnational $rms on the “promotion and implementation of good human and industrial relations” as one element of this international support. In 2009 ICEM and Anglogold Ashanti signed a global framework agreement, committing both parties to a set of principles and values, including respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, right of free association and elimination of forced and compulsory labour. !e agreement applies to all operations over which Anglogold Ashanti has “direct managerial control”. And in the case of subsidiaries or where it does not have direct control, “it will exercise its best eort to secure compliance with the standards and principles” in the agreement. It does not override national legislation, principles or terms of local collective bargaining agreements, meaning that in cases where the national industrial relations climate and culture constrain workers’ rights this could be a limitation. But a global commitment to good industrial relations practice and respect for human rights puts the onus on Anglogold Ashanti or any transnational corporation to respect the spirit of the agreement in all circumstances. Resource productivity !e increasing scarcity of minerals that are relatively easy to extract, the recent period of high mineral prices, and the need to prudently manage the environment have prompted a high-level interest in the analysis of global mineral resource #ows. !ere are initiatives targeted at addressing resource e%ciency globally, regionally and nationally, and in both the public and private sectors. !is has been discussed at G8 Summits for the past $ve years. Adopting recommendations, by the Organization for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Council, on resource productivity in 2004 and 2008 demonstrates the importance attached to this issue. !e OECD has also published a policymaker’s guide on measuring material #ows and resource productivity. Similarly, the European Union adopted thematic strategies on the sustainable use of natural resources as well as on waste prevention and recycling in 2005. Most OECD countries have launched initiatives to promote waste prevention, sustainable ma-terials management, integrated product policies and the “3R” (reduce, reuse and recycle) Initiative. China has recently adopted a law on the “circular economy”.24 !e Wuppertal Institute has proposed measures to im-prove resource productivity in the global value chain for ore extraction locations, at policy and industry levels.25 At policy level, governments could: ' Link initiatives on social issues in extraction to op-erational and resource e%ciency improvements;
  • 82. 64 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes ' Promote the exchange of knowledge, technologies and best experience on how to increase resource pro-ductivity in the extraction phase; and ' Set up internationally-harmonized labelling and information systems on the (embodied) resource consumption of raw materials and commodities. ' 240. At the operational level, industry could: ' Introduce resource e%ciency standards in the glob-al extraction activity to capitalize on cost savings through resource e%ciency; ' Raise resource productivity in partnerships with ac-tors in artisanal or small-scale mining; and ' Engage in partnerships with raw material suppliers to enhance resource productivity standards. In 2007 the United Nations Environment Programme set up an International Panel on Sustainable Resource Man-agement. Its work is framed around issues of resource ef- $ciency and sustainable consumption and production. !e premise of sustainable consumption and production is that there is (or may be) a critical minimum stock of “natural capital” required for providing ecosystem services, and that it is essential to incorporate its protection into pro-duction and consumption decisions and regulations. !e objectives of the resource panel are expressed as being to “provide independent, coherent and authoritative scienti$c assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of natural resources and in particular their environmental impacts over the full life cycle” and “contribute to a better understanding of how to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation”. It situates its work in relation to other initiatives such as the Marrakech process, the 3R Initiative, the circular economy approach, the Global Environment Outlook and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. !e metals and minerals sector is one of the areas in which it is concentrating its work. Its Global Metal Flows Working Group has published in 2010 its $rst of six reports focusing on metals, which will address the recycling of metals, environmental impact of metals, information available on the virgin reserves and resources of metals, future demand scenarios for metals and critical metals and metal policy options, among others.26 ISO 2600 Standard on Social Responsibility, launched by the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva in 2010, provides guidance on social responsibil-ity, which could be useful in advancing the Africa Mining Vision and helping countries strengthen their frameworks on social responsibility and the environment. Since transnational corporations are major players in Africa, their home countries (OECD or newly industri-alized countries) and their shareholders ought to have some in#uence on their social responsibility, especially where they are operating in African countries with weaker governance systems and where countries lack negotia-tion capacities. It is imperative for African governments, the private sector and civil society to continue creating and facilitating an open dialogue with the governments and actors from the home countries of the transnational companies. Policy implications For mining to induce sustainable social and economic bene$ts to communities, the bene$ts have to be deliber-ately considered and pursued. As social risks are ultimately borne by communities and by workers, the implementa-tion of mining practices, rooted in human rights and basic core labour standards, must take place with the full participation of all aected parties. Environmental, economic, social, labour and developmen-tal rights inherently require that democratic governance processes, institutions and systems are in place. Stable democratic institutions can help prevent central/local disputes from becoming violent, while new democracies are oen unstable and face high risks of con#ict. To avoid violent con#ict in the extractive regions, governments,
  • 83. Mining in Africa: managing the impacts 65 $rms, and local communities should promote transpar-ency, establish multi-stakeholder dialogues before project commencement and take special care to protect human rights and security. Addressing the adverse environmental and social impacts of mining requires a multi-pronged approach, which can include designating protected areas, enforcing im-pact assessment requirements for all projects, enforcing regulatory standards, enforcing public consultation and public participation, before project implementation and enhancing transparent access to information. !ere are numerous international instruments and templates that address these key developmental changes and even at the local level, legislation exists in most countries. !e UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework oers a useful and comprehensive set of principles which can be applied to the duties of states and the responsibilities of mining $rms in respect of a large range of the impacts covered by the chapter. In addition to its use, however, African states need to strengthen their legislative frame-works and the capacity of enforcement institutions. Minerals have been sources of con#ict in some countries on the continent, and mechanisms to address these con- #icts have included strengthening governance capacity, transparency in revenue collection and sharing, transpar-ency in the allocation of mining licences, certi$cation processes for minerals, security reform and regulation of multi-national companies. !e strategic implementation of these initiatives tailored to speci$c regional contexts would be required. Despite oen causing con#icts over mineral resources, mineral exploitation presents opportu-nities to facilitate peace and regional security and enhance regional integration through corridor development. !e African mineral policy architecture has to be holistic and consider the bene$ts (revenues, taxes, export earn-ings, jobs and so on) and costs (environmental and social costs). A creative approach is required in tackling envi-ronmental and social challenges to entrench the sector’s developmental role. !e framework has to be supported by adequate institutional, human and legal capacity. Endnotes 1 UNCTAD, 2010. 2 Akabzaa, 2009. 3 Dudley, 2008, 13. 4 Equator Principles, www.equator-principles.com. 5 IFC, 1998. 6 Akabzaa, 2009. 7 Dale, 1997; Mtegha et al., 2006. 8 UNECE, 1998. 9 van Harten,2010; de Gramont,2010 10 IFC-UN, 2008. 11 UN,2011. 12 Fraser and Lungu, 2006. 13 Kapstein and Kim, 2011. 14 Matenga, 2010; SARW, 2009. 15 UNCTAD, 2007. 16 UNECA, 2005. 17 Akabzaa, 2009 Curtis and Lissu, 2008. 18 UNCTAD, 2010. 19 Crush et. al., 2001. 20 Peetz, 2005. http://www.qieu.asn.au/Paper9-D_1_. Peetz.pdf 21 ICEM, 2004. 22 Bezuidenhout, 2008; Lee, 2008; Dymond, 2007; Curtis and Lissu, 2008; African Labour Research Network, 2007; Matenga, 2010. 23 International Labour Organization (ILO), “Decent Work,” www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang- -en/index.htm. 24 Padoan, 2008. 25 Kuhndt et al., 2008. 26 !e International Resource Panel has recently (2011) published a report titled “Decoupling natural re-source use environmental impacts from economic growth”. (http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/decou-pling/ $les/pdf/Decoupling_Report_English.pdf)
  • 85. 67 Artisanal and Small- Scale Mining in Africa 5 “Harnessing the potential of ASM CHAPTER to improve rural livelihoods, to stimulate entrepreneurship in a socially-responsible manner, to promote local and integrated national development as well as regional cooperation” — !e Africa Mining Vision ARTISANAL AND SMALL%SCALE mining (ASM) is widespread in Africa and goes beyond the borders of countries endowed with high-value minerals. ASM miners also mine and process industrial minerals, such as lime for agriculture. Few would dispute that ASM makes a positive contribu-tion to African economies and, more particularly, to sustaining rural livelihoods. Yet it faces many challenges that prevent it from attaining its full potential as a potent force in socio-economic development. !is chapter out-lines policy responses to address the challenges of ASM in light of the AMV. De!nition !ere is no consensus on what constitutes a small-scale mining operation; neither is the boundary between ASM operations clearly de$ned. !is is partly because de$ni-tions vary by country. Analysts use a combination of crite-ria to arrive at a working de$nition of ASM. In production terms, the United Nations places an “upper boundary” on ASM of 50,000 tons a year for underground mines and 100,000 tons a year for open-pit mines.1 Most small-scale mining operations have a limit on project $nance of $5 million, while such operations are not expected to have more than 50 workers. !ese parameters are much lower for artisanal operations, which are more labour intensive and employ hand tools and very basic processing tech-niques. !ese artisanal methods are wasteful and result in poor mineral recovery. !e mechanized form of ASM has higher throughput and better recovery, but in turn is more labour intensive than medium to large-scale operations. Despite dierences in de$nition, common attributes stand out: most miners are seriously under-capitalized, rarely operate as proper business enterprises and lack appropriate and modern technology.
  • 86. 68 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes e global position ASM is integral to the economies of many mining coun-tries in the developing world. !e commodities exploited are diverse, encompassing precious and semi-precious minerals, base metals, industrial minerals and construc-tion materials. Yet the informal nature of many ASM operations oen makes it di%cult to estimate total global production from the sector or the sector’s contribution to national economies and mineral output. Most analysis relies on anecdotal evidence. Yet analysts are unanimous that millions of people derive their livelihood from ASM. An estimated 13–20 million men and women in more than 50 countries worldwide are involved.2Around half are women.3 Sadly, about 2 million children are also known to be involved. More than 100 million people therefore depend on ASM for their liveli-hood. It is also the main means of livelihood for some rural communities. Further, despite the lack of reliable statistics, analysts agree that ASM is a signi$cant contributor to both global production and consumption of some mineral prod-ucts. Global production of gold from ASM sources is estimated to be as high as 330 tonnes a year ($gure 5.1).4 ASM contributes more in high-value minerals, such as gold, diamonds and tantalum, than in bulk minerals like iron ore and copper. ASM operators are also involved in winning sand and gravel. Figure 5.1 ASM share in Western mineral consumption gold - 10% tantalum - 20% Cobalt - 30% tin - 25% copper - 0,5% iron ore - 4% 5 g total per capita consumption statistical share of ASM 50 g 60 g 300 g 600 g 2 kg 5 kg 20 kg 5 kg 1,100 kg 1,350 kg 35 t Source: cited from ICGLR, 2009. Pro!le in Africa ASM activities are widespread in Africa, employing a large number of people directly in mining and associated services, as well as supporting large numbers of depend-ants (table 5.1). !e large numbers of miners are partly attributable to high unemployment in many countries and the sector’s low barriers to entry, especially artisanal extraction. !is sub-sector is characterized by very low start-up capital, low levels of skills, limited infrastructure and ease of entry and exit, contributing to #uctuating numbers.
  • 87. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 69 Table 5.1 African countries with more than 100,000 ASM operators Country ASM Estimated dependants Angola 150,000 900,000 Burkina Faso 200,000 1,000,000 Central African Republic 400,000 2,400,000 Chad 100,000 600,000 Côte d’Ivoire 100,000 600,000 Democratic Republic of the Congo 200,000 1,200,000 Eritrea 400,000 2,400,000 Ethiopia 500,000 3,000,000 Ghana 1,100,000 4,400,000 Guinea 300,000 1,500,000 Liberia 100,000 600,000 Madagascar 500,000 2,500,000 Mali 400,000 2,400,000 Mozambique 100,000 1,200,000 Niger 450,000 2,700,000 Nigeria 500,000 2,500,000 Sierra Leone 300,000 1,800,000 Sudan 200,000 1,200,000 Tanzania 1,500,000 9,000,000 Uganda 150,000 900,000 Zimbabwe 500,000 3,000,000 Sources: Estimates based on CASM, ASM statistics for Africa. Owing to its high labour intensity, ASM is commonly acknowledged to create far more jobs per invested dol-lar than large-scale mining (LSM). !e pro$le of jobs, however, is largely that of poorly remunerated unskilled labourers who have gone into mining to avoid poverty. !e working environment generally has poor conditions. Employment in the sector is highly cyclical, especially re#ecting harsh economic conditions, such as those in-duced by drought and economic restructuring. During periods of stable economic activity in other sectors, the pull of ASM falls and the sector contracts. Many workers sell their minerals at lower than market prices to middlemen, some of whom sponsor their op-erations. !e incomes of such miners are usually below the poverty line, further reinforcing their poverty cycle. ASM operators are generally migratory. !ey move from site to site searching for easy to extract mineralizations and abandon sites once they $nd the ore di%cult to extract. A combination of practical, economic and social factors accounts for this migratory behaviour, such as the life of the mine, the lure of high-value mineral strikes in other areas, displacement from mining areas (perhaps aer their allocation to LSM companies) and the need to fol-low agricultural seasons. Since artisanal miners’ capital investment is low, the opportunity cost of moving is not a deterrent. As in other regions, ASM exploits many minerals in Africa, ranging from diamonds and a variety of other gemstones, to precious metals such as gold and tantalite, to industrial minerals including limestone for aggregate and agricultural purposes, clays for pottery and other uses and many other non-metallic minerals. ASM thus not only contributes to national and continental economic activity: as part of overall development programmes, it can be an important opportunity for improving conditions
  • 88. 70 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes in rural and remote areas, especially where alternative livelihoods are few. Challenges in Africa !e multitude of challenges faced by ASM in Africa is well documented in the literature.5 !ey include inadequate policy and regulatory frameworks; limited technical ca-pacity and access to appropriate technology (and conse-quent environmental degradation); lack of $nance; inad-equate access to exploration and mining areas; di%culties in accessing the market; issues associated with con#ict minerals; and women and child labour concerns. !e opportunity for ASM to be transformed into a tool for sus-tainable development, particularly in rural areas, can thus be realized only if these challenges are met holistically. Policy challenges !e absence of speci$c policy frameworks facilitating the emergence or growth of sustainable ASM operations is a major constraint in most African countries. In some countries, small-scale mining policy and regulations fall under general mining policy, which makes no distinction between LSM and ASM. !us the peculiar challenges in small-scale mining do not receive the attention that they deserve. Even in countries with a separate small-scale mining policy, the procedures for acquiring licences are generally cumbersome, which becomes a barrier to for-malization. Without speci$c frameworks, ASM operators face challenges in getting mining rights. Even when operators have formal access, the mining rights rarely provide for security of tenure: their duration is short and the size of the licence area usually small. Several licence areas may lie across a single ore body, leading to con#ict. When they lack security of tenure, ASM operators cannot use their mineral rights as collateral for borrow-ing. !e permitted levels of mechanization associated with these rights are limited either by law or by limited resources available to the sector, and this can prevent ASM operations from developing beyond subsistence horizons. !e lack of appropriate institutional, $nancial and techni-cal support mechanisms curtails ASM’s sustainability. !e ASM policy and regulatory environment in most African countries is seldom adequately supportive in vital areas such as access to appropriate $nancing mechanisms, pro-vision of geological information and services, technical and marketing support or facilities for upgrading min-ers’ skill levels. Even when there is such state support, its physical location may present problems for the mining communities. !e private sector could potentially provide some form of support with proper incentives, but LSM and ASM oen have an acrimonious relationship. Trespassing by ASM operators on concessions and the eviction of informal in-digenous miners by LSM companies lead to confrontation. Technical capacity and access to appropriate technology !e technical challenges facing ASM operators oen stem from their low education levels. !ey also usually lack knowledge of the legislative requirements on occupational health and safety, the environment, mineral rights and a decent work environment. In addition, they have virtu-ally no knowledge of marketing, business development or mine planning, which are critical skills for sustainable business operations. Further, they generally lack access to appropriate and aordable technology. !is is due to the prohibitive cost of plant and machinery, the overall lack of suitable small-processing technologies, the lack of local capacities to adapt traditional mining and mineral processing technologies to small operations and the weak capacity of ASM operators and communities to assimilate
  • 89. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 71 available technologies. All these de$ciencies force min-ers to target easy-to-$nd ore, but as they immediately abandon prospects as soon as the easy ore is mined out, they sterilize important resources. Poor mining methods are associated with poor safety, health and environmental practices. In small-scale un-derground mining, weak rock formations may be poorly supported, leading to frequent cave-ins and injuries or loss of life. Unplanned excavations are not rehabilitated and waste is indiscriminately disposed of, leading to water pollution and land devastation. Disposed mercury from gold-mining operations is particularly pernicious—and all the more unfortunate because the high level of mer-cury is unnecessary, as miners can use equally e%cient extraction methods. Lack of !nancing Access to $nance is one of the biggest challenges facing many ASM operators. Among the many reasons is that mining is a capital-intensive business and much of the high-risk early-phase work, such as exploration and ore reserve estimation, is typically $nanced from equity. !is phase does not attract other forms of $nance, including that from mainstream $nancial institutions ($gure 5.2). Figure 5.2 Mine project development stages Risk Funding Di!cult to obtain funding Value growth Full Installation operations substantially complete EPC Major contracts Finance Close Decisions Project “GO” Ore body desision de!nition EXPLORATION PERCENTAGE COMPLETE STAGE I 100 STAGE II STAGE III STAGE IV STAGE V FEASIBILITY PLANNING AND DESIGN CONSTRUCTION RAMP-UP AND PRODUCTION Source: UNECA 2009b !e above $nancial constraints mean that most ASM operators cannot become involved in this early phase and consequently, without quanti$ed ore reserves, they cannot develop the robust and credible business plans that banks require. (!ey rarely have the ability to develop such business plans anyway.) ASM operators have few, if any, assets acceptable to banks and other lending institutions as collateral. Unlike their LSM counterparts, they cannot use their mineral rights (even where they exist) since the reserves are not quan-ti $able and their lack of a business plan forestalls risk analysis by creditors. !e migratory nature of many ASM operators also makes access to such $nance problematic.
  • 90. 72 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !ese factors place ASM operators outside the realm of formal $nancing institutions, leaving their scarce inter-nal resources and concessionary government support as sources of $nance. Such lack of access makes ASM operators vulnerable to exploitation by predatory mineral traders, as seen, for example, in Sierra Leone’s “supporter” system.6 Supporters are usually mineral buyers who try to ensure security of supply by $nancing mining operations, but as $nanciers of ASM operations, they extract unfair price concessions on the mineral products. Yet the miners have no option but to accept. Inadequate access to exploration and mining areas ASM policies in many countries provide for designation of land or areas for exploration and mining activities. If properly implemented, such policies have the potential to reduce tensions between ASM and LSM. Such designation might result in fewer con#icts over exploration and mining areas and could create space for bene$cial collaboration by the two sectors. Among the many bene$ts could be a reduction in environmental degradation associated with haphazard mining. Yet such land designation has so far failed to solve these problems, largely because few of the demarcated areas have been properly surveyed for ASM. Detailed geologi-cal information to prove their suitability for ASM is rare, weakening the relevance of “reservation policies” for ASM. !e challenge for policymakers is to $nd ways to conduct or fund comprehensive exploration to determine suitable areas for ASM and then provide such informa-tion to the miners. Di'culties in accessing markets ASM has complex marketing arrangements that are oen beyond the technical understanding of miners, especially for precious metals and gemstones. Some miners are tied to sponsors and providers of mercury (in the gold sub-sector) or providers of mining and processing tools. Prices rarely relate to market conditions because the sponsors set them. In this value chain, the miners are the least com-pensated. !e lack of a transparent and well-developed end-user market (in jewellery, for example) further ag-gravates marketing challenges. For industrial minerals and base metals, the paucity of lo-cal and regional markets re#ects African economies’ level of development. Other than aggregates for construction and road building, and lime for construction and agri-culture, few African countries have industries producing basic consumer goods (such as paper, paint or talcum powder) to absorb large volumes of industrial minerals. !ese economies cannot absorb base metals, minerals or other industrial mineral products from ASM, hence these outputs are exported as ore or sold to LSM companies in arrangements rarely bene$ting ASM operators. Conict minerals !e informal nature of much ASM makes it amenable to illegal dealings, especially in high-value minerals such as diamonds, gold and coltan. !e value chain for such minerals, from mining, through processing, trade and transportation to external markets is oen characterized by leakage, particularly in countries recovering from con#ict where prolonged security issues are part of the background to informal operations. !e nexus between natural resource exploitation and con#icts in Africa is well documented, particularly for the diamond value chain. Con#ict diamonds7 have been used by rebel groups to $nance military campaigns against established governments. As an informal activity with weak or non-existent legal protection, ASM is an easy victim of organized crime and paramilitary organizations. During civil strife in some countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • 91. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 73 and Sierra Leone) proceeds from artisanal mining have reportedly been appropriated by warlords and rebel move-ments to $nance war. In this way, artisanal mining has contributed to armed con#ict. Eorts to end con#ict by preventing the #ow of artisanal mining revenue to armed groups have been relatively successful for diamonds. Wider eorts are afoot to build a more robust legal and institutional framework for artisanal mining that would improve its resistance to takeover attempts by armed groups. !e most important was coordinated by the Sec-retariat of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). In December 2010 the Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR signed the Lusaka Declaration (box 5.1). !is tracking and certi$cation mechanism seeks to address the persistent illegal exploita-tion of natural resources in the region and its linkage to the proliferation of armed groups. !e declaration notes various transparency and certi$cation initiatives in the minerals sector, among them the Kimberley Process, and emphasizes the need for a regional approach in curbing the illegal exploitation of natural resources. Box 5.1 Lusaka Declaration of the ICGLR special summit The Lusaka Declaration to Fight Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources from the Great Lakes Region was signed in Zambia by the Heads of State and Government of Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, the Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in 2010. In the Declaration the Heads: t Committed to fighting the illegal exploitation of natural resources through national, regional and international mean; t Approved six tools developed by the ICGLR Secretariat to curb the illegal exploitation of natural resources: the Regional Certification Mechanism to control the exploitation and trade of natural resources in the region; harmonization of national legislation; creation of a regional database on mineral flows; formalization of artisanal mining; promotion of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (see box 7.2 in chapter 7); and enforce-ment of whistle-blowing mechanisms; t Directed relevant institutions in the member States to implement the six tools, particularly the Regional Cer-tification Mechanism; t Committed to domesticating in their respective countries the Protocol on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Great Lakes Region; t Encouraged the harmonization of the various transparency and certification initiatives operating in the region, such as the International Tin Research Institute Tin Supply Chain Initiative; and t Called upon the international community to support and strengthen the ICGLR regional initiative against the illegal exploitation of natural resources.
  • 92. 74 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !e Southern African Development Community (SADC) has also developed a dra framework for tracking and cer-tifying mineral products in or transiting SADC member countries. Its primary objective is to ensure that illegiti-mately acquired mineral products do not enter legitimate value chains, either in countries where mining and pro-cessing take place or in those through which the miner-als transit. A secondary objective is to promote ethical practices in mining through transparent declarations of production and export $gures.8 !e task of rendering artisanal mining less easy prey for armed groups has been heightened recently by political decisions stemming from reactions to atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. !e US Financial Stability Act, passed in July 2010, requires US companies to submit an annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing whether their products contain tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold sourced from that country or adjoining countries. !e law entered into force on 1 April 2011. !e eect of the US law is that minerals from the central African region that do not possess veri$able chain-of-custody data would no longer be acceptable in international markets. !e EU is reported to be consider-ing similar legislation. Yet progress in practice is slow. It has been fastest for tin and tantalum, under a project to provide reliable certi$cation led by the International Tin Research Insti-tute. But even the institute has noted: “We are not just talking about implementing a system in areas where con#ict funding is known to exist, but in other provinces of the [Democratic Republic of the Congo], and other adjoining countries, an area covering practi-cally a third of Africa. Realistically, with the resources available to us, it is unlikely that all cassiterite from the region can be covered by the system in time and many current pro-duction areas will unfortunately as a result be subject to an eective embargo by next April”.9 !e consequences if tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold sourced from those countries are no longer accepted by international markets cannot be overstated. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, the number of artisanal miners exploiting these minerals is estimated at 150,000–200,000, and higher in neighbouring the United Republic of Tanzania. Many people there would suer a heavy loss of income and source of livelihood—primar-ily among the very poor with few alternative sources of income. Governments therefore need to see to it that artisanal miners have realistic, practical and aordable means of certifying production before they enforce such legislation. Women’s and child labour issues Cultural practices and legal contexts continue to entrench the minority and disadvantaged status of women in ASM communities. An analysis of the ASM production chain shows that most women take part in the activities allocated to them by society (mainly men) and are barred from oth-ers because of cultural taboos. Key gender factors include the limited level of access to resources (exploration ground and $nancial resources) that would allow women to par-ticipate as miners. Women are generally disadvantaged in the ownership and possession of land, mineral rights, capital and equipment. In some countries, for example, land and mineral rights acquired when a woman is single pass on to her husband on marriage.10 In the relatively few instances that they have some access to resources, women do not control them or the resultant bene$ts. Women bene$t less from mining than men, but also suf-fer more from its negative impacts and the nature of the sector. For instance, environmental degradation aects women’s capacity to provide clean water for their fami-lies and to source $rewood for energy. !is undermines their role as care givers. Some heavy-duty machinery and equipment for mining such as jack hammers is not easily used by women. Further, the di%cult working conditions in mining areas do not accommodate the special needs of women including health and safety, reproductive roles and hygiene.
  • 93. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 75 Within ASM communities, children are oen involved in mining, either for themselves or as part of the family. !e UN Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour identi$es mining as “work, which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to harm the health, safety and moral of children”. !e convention has been rati$ed by 41 African countries, and the legal framework precludes young people under 18 from working directly in mines. !is is oen just ignored. Child labour is detrimental to children’s education, as well as their long-term physical and psychological develop-ment. While the hazards of ASM faced by children are the same as for adult miners, the risks to young bodies and minds are much more severe as coping mechanisms develop with age. Some children, either willingly or for-cibly, abandon schooling. !is not only robs them of their future but diminishes the countries’ ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. In some poor communi-ties, girls are more likely to be taken out of school to assist the family in livelihood activities than boys. Self-reinforcing nature of challenges !e challenges faced by ASM operators form a vicious circle and have a self-reinforcing eect on ASM activities. In particular, the lack of business and market knowledge, and lack of $nance, can force them to sell to middlemen at low prices, perpetuating their poverty. Artisanal miners are therefore kept in a poverty trap where their operations rarely graduate above subsistence and remain economically and environmentally-unsustainable. Hence there is a need for government support. Addressing the challenges: Some country initiatives !e literature has many recommendations on addressing the challenges outlined in previous sections. !e com-pendium on best practice for ASM published by UNECA (2002) provides a catalogue of experiences from Africa, some of which are reproduced in the following section. Many countries have reviewed their policy frameworks to facilitate the growth of ASM so that it can play its role in national development and reduce poverty. !ey have increasingly mainstreamed ASM into poverty reduction strategies. Some have passed legislation to simplify legal requirements, and others, such as Ghana and Zambia, have changed the law to improve the environment for ASM. Yet despite these moves, the duration of mining rights and size of concessions remain constraints in some countries. Beyond policy and legislative shis, most countries’ ap-proaches have responded to speci$c challenges. Yet a ho-listic approach is needed to address the poverty cycle that limits ASM development. !e self-reinforcing nature of the challenges underlines the limits to new regulations on health and safety or the environmental without improve-ments to access to technology, $nance, and information and support services. Similarly, tightening regulatory compliance without raising awareness of legal obligations and, more important, capacity to comply, does not help to eradicate illegal mining. In addition, although African governments may well recognize the above fundamental policy and regulatory approaches, their weak capacity may hamper practical ap-plication. Future policy needs to be structured so that the resultant regimes have an eective implementation plan supported by the necessary technical government capacity. Several examples illustrate the unsustainable nature of donor-driven initiatives,11underlining the need for a dif-ferent and more sustainable framework. Donor-driven schemes may $ll a short-term gap but they cannot guar-antee the long-term viability of technical support cen-tres— self-sustaining funding mechanisms are required. Many mechanisms had no strategies for the handover of mature programmes to the government at the end of the project. Further, the lack of domestic capacity to produce appropriate technology for small-scale mining and pro-cessing may have played a role. And there is always the
  • 94. 76 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 5.2 Lessons from Ghana: Ill eects of well-intentioned policy With the aim of scaling up ASM from the use of rudimentary equipment to mechanized and more efficient methods, the Ghana Minerals Commission began registering Mine Support Service Companies to provide technical and financial support services to small-scale miners. Even though some smaller mining operations gained from this policy, the introduction of heavy equipment into the sub-sector has led to their use by informal miners, too. For instance, Chinese chang fa (processing equipment) is now commonly used by miners. The use of such heavy machinery has harmed the environment. In addition, the allure of quick returns from mecha-nization has caused the informal sector to proliferate. There may be more than 500,000 miners operating informally, including some encroaching on LSM concessions. Given miners’ failure to follow good mining practices, their mechanized activities have increased the number of accidents, through pit and embankment collapses, for example. Now the challenge for Ghanaian regulators is to implement policies that will control the harmful effects of miners’ activities, by providing suitable land and by discouraging people from operating outside the regulatory framework. danger of well-intentioned policy measures undermining the original objectives, unless the measures are well man-aged and monitored indicated in (box 5.2). Some countries have taken steps to help ASM operators to market their minerals. Measures include liberalizing trade in ASM mineral products (for example, in the United Republic of Tanzania) through explicit licensing proce-dures, requiring well-structured documents indicating quantities bought and sold. In Ghana, the state-owned Precious Minerals Marketing Company as well as some private companies are authorized to operate as the market for precious minerals. !ese companies are allowed to appoint agents to undertake their purchases, which they may directly export with appropriate central bank and customs documentation. In Ethiopia miners are required to sell their products to the central bank. !e bank also allows the miners to deposit their minerals, which are held in trust for them, until they sell. !is enables the miners to take advantage of favourable prices. In Mozambique, the Mining Develop-ment Fund, set up by the Government, plays a dual role in assisting ($nancially and technically) and promoting ASM, as well as acting as a gold buyer,12 particularly in remote sites where miners have little access to competi-tive markets. In these remote areas this fund is oen the only legal buyer. Nevertheless, illicit trade, particularly in precious min-erals, remains rampant. One approach adopted by the Precious Minerals Marketing Company in Ghana, and previously implemented in Zimbabwe, is to oer guaran-teed close-to-market prices, in order to cut the number of middlemen and predatory traders. Another avenue is for the authorities to establish an audit trail of purchases of precious minerals to individual (registered) mines before issuing an export permit. !e ICGLR tracking and certi- $cation scheme and the Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme are examples. For its part, SADC has developed a dra framework on illicit mineral trade. Integrating this framework and the ICGLR scheme would greatly strengthen eorts to tackle illicit mineral #ows across many more countries in Africa. Given the paucity of exploration funds, as said, the gov-ernment is the primary source of assistance for ASM Source: Ghana Minerals Commission.
  • 95. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 77 Box 5.3 Small-scale mining loans in Ghana Ghana’s small-scale mining loan scheme was set up in 2006 with funds from the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries initiative and the Government’s Mineral Development Fund. So far, about $500,000 has been disbursed. Most beneficiaries are gold miners, though some are salt producers. To qualify, miners have to form cooperatives and be bound by the terms of the loan. The loans are made out in the form of cash for working capital, as well as for mining equipment and consumables, and are approved by a loans disbursement committee (made up of officers of the Minerals Commission). The beneficiaries are required to repay the loan in agreed instalments (at a subsidized interest rate) when produc-tion begins. A licensed buying agent of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company or an approved dealer acts as a guarantor to ensure that with each given volume of mineral sold the agreed amount is paid into a loan recovery account. The rate of repayment has been fairly high, but could have been higher with tighter security. operators making preliminary geological investigations. Some government-supported loan schemes have pro-vided loan $nance.13 !e Mining Development Fund in Mozambique referred to above is an example.14 In South Africa the government helped to set up the African Min-ing Fund, with the support of the International Finance Corporation (the World Bank’s private sector investment arm), to provide $nance for small-scale miners. Ghana, too, has experimented with loans (box 5.3). Financial assistance schemes for ASM that are run along business lines, such as revolving funds, assume the abil-ity to pay back the borrowed funds, as perhaps demon-strated through business plans. !e issue has always been, however, that ASM operators struggle to pay back loans, progressively reducing the funds available for other bor-rowers, usually leading to a collapse of the fund. Although a range of mechanisms, such as equity-based $nancial schemes, joint-venture partnerships, venture capital funds, investment bank funding, and unit trust or mutual funds, are also available in some countries, they impose conditions that ASM operators cannot meet. However, there are a few exceptions. An amethyst joint venture between a Zambian company and a Swedish partner, underwritten by HIFAB, a Swedish donor agency, is one. Another, also in Zambia, was Sable Zinc, a zinc tailings recovery project. !e company was formed by ex-miners and a technical partner with experience in the processing of zinc, with support from the Commonwealth Development Corporation.15 An important lesson is therefore that ASM operators require the backing of a competent technical partner to access $nance. Lenders and equity investors seek dem-onstrated management experience and robust cash #ows underwritten by good ore reserves among other things— attributes conspicuously absent among ASM operators.16 Cooperation between small- and large-scale miners is another route for ASM operators to access $nance and technical support, and could involve mentoring. An LSM company would, for example, adopt several small compa-nies and provide technical and business support, including guaranteeing their borrowings from commercial institu-tions. !e smaller companies are expected to graduate into fully-#edged businesses over an agreed period, normally Source: Ghana Minerals Commission.
  • 96. 78 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes $ve years, aer which the LSM company ceases mentoring this company and adopts another.17 Productive collaboration between ASM and LSM has not been fully exploited. Mentoring oers gains to both sides. For LSM, it boosts the corporate image and community acceptability, oers $nancial returns from sub-contracting out non-core functions and improves relations with small-scale mining companies. For ASM operations, it helps to transfer technology and skills (entrepreneurship and expertise) cheaply. Further, it allows small-scale miners access to working capital, promotes legal, environmental and regulatory compliance, and improves overall work-ings as miners adopt best practice.18 Yet important policy and structural issues need to be re-solved before such mentorship can deliver its full potential. !e approach needs to be adapted for artisanal miners, who are not as organized as small-scale miners. Further, once introduced the policy needs to be monitored and adjusted where necessary (see box 5.2). In South Africa mentorship and preferential sub-contract-ing are all part of the Mining Charter, suggesting a way forward in which national laws and policies are developed to enforce sub-contracting and mentoring programmes by LSM. !e Mining Charter and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act are examples of good practice in stimulating corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social investment (CSI). CSR/CSI and mentoring initiatives are outside mining companies’ core functions, and they come at a cost. An incentives system has to be put in place to explicitly link CSI, sub-contracting and mentoring initiatives, possibly as a CSI scorecard to track progress. Subregionally, how-ever, CSR/CSI initiatives from LSM corporations tend to be philanthropic and public relations exercises, and mentoring oers few success stories. It would therefore be useful to explore an approach at the regional economic community level to harmonize policy and regulations to encourage standard practice. Certainly there is scope for developing a “regional tool kit for engagement” between LSM and ASM so as to optimize the bene$ts of this relationship.19 !e above discussion makes clear that converting ASM into viable operating enterprises is an onerous task. A pragmatic approach to distinguish potentially-viable ASM operations (for targeted support) from marginal out$ts is appropriate, and a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa workshop in Johannesburg in 2009 suggested some criteria: ' Access to technical skills—technical and business expertise; ' Rights to viable mineral resources—location, size and quality; ' Access to technology—including understanding of technology alternatives; ' Entrepreneurial spirit—demonstrated willingness to continuously master the business, seek partnerships and show drive to succeed; ' Legal and regulatory compliance—willingness to observe environmental and labour laws; ' Access to markets—understanding demand and sup-ply dynamics; and ' Agglomeration into small groups—these need to be run along business lines. Gender presents its own challenges, which are well recog-nized in regional frameworks. !e African Union (AU) recognizes the equal rights of women in all aspects of human socio-economic endeavour and the principle of gender equality is stated in Article 4 (l) of the Constitu-tive Act, which has since been rea%rmed.20 !e regional economic communities have protocols for addressing gender disparities. Yet African member governments need to improve the pace of domestication of the various regional, continental and international instruments on human and women’s rights. Gender analysis processes should be applied to mining projects, including gender-disaggregated data, to track improvements. From a regulatory viewpoint, the provision of women-friendly facilities and technology in mining areas could
  • 97. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 79 be made mandatory and a legal requirement for issuing a mining permit or allocating mining rights.21 To the extent possible, mining equipment should be ergonomi-cally- designed to be women-friendly. Training and gender advocacy campaigns need to be mainstreamed in mining areas incorporating the International Labour Organiza-tion (ILO) principles of a decent work environment that is gender sensitive and free of sexual harassment. Schemes for providing $nancial and technical assistance should be sensitive to women’s needs. Sources of capital would require a%rmative action principles to be applied in granting loans and credit. A proportion of funds for ASM should be reserved for women, to complement dedicated funds, such as the AU African Women’s Trust Fund. Infor-mation on these sources needs to be disseminated widely. Policies on ASM need to address child labour. !e ILO’s programme Minors out of Mining, launched in 2005, aimed to eliminate child labour in ASM completely within 10 years. It is a tripartite eort initiated by governments with support of the industry (companies and workers) and the ILO. African countries in the programme include Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, the United Republic of Tanzania and Togo. !e programme should form a fundamental aspect of strategies to keep children in school. Policy implications !e AMV foresees a mining sector that is safe, healthy, gender and ethnically-inclusive, environmentally-friendly and socially responsible. It aspires to harnessing the full potential of ASM in stimulating local and national entre-preneurship and in improving livelihoods. It also aims to promote an integrated approach to rural social and economic development. !e AMV further emphasizes the aspirations of the Yaoundé Vision for ASM which was adopted in 2002. Extracts from the Vision Statement are reproduced as appendix K. Along this perspective, ASM policy has to be formulated and implemented as part of a broad rural development strategy, and should include: ' Regularizing informal ASM; ' Simplifying and decentralizing procedures for acquir-ing ASM rights; ' Providing a realistic implementation plan, including institutional capacity enhancement; ' Assisting miners to graduate from subsistence to sustainable businesses; ' Assuring a legal regime that gives ASM rightholders enough land, duration of rights and security of tenure; ' Providing accessible institutional, technical and $- nancial support; ' Encouraging support for ASM from the more estab-lished private sector (including LSM); ' Expanding exploration work that leads to the desig-nation and allocation of areas for ASM; ' Ensuring regional and international cooperation to address the challenges of con#ict minerals; ' Raising capacity locally to run tracking and certi$ca-tion schemes before enforcing bans on transporting non-compliant minerals; ' Enforcing international norms prohibiting child labour; ' Exploring and launching measures to redress dis-crimination against women, whether due to the law or operation in practice; and ' Promoting subregional cooperation in technology development, research, construction of appropriate plant and machinery, technical standards, compila-tion of a database of local capacity and generation of $nancial resources.
  • 98. 80 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Endnotes 1 UNECA, 2002. 2 Communities and Small Scale Mining, www.artisan-almining. org. 3 Hinton et al., 2003. 4 Telmer and Veiga, 2008. 5 For example, Hentschel et al., 2003; Hinton et al., 2003; Mondlane et al., 2005; UNECA, 2002, 2009a. 6 Levin and Gberie, 2006. 7 Con#ict diamonds are diamonds that originate in ar-eas under the control of armed forces $ghting elected and internationally-recognized governments. 8 Several SADC countries, namely Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe, though not member States of the ICGLR, are partner countries to the ICGLR Decla-ration. Since such declarations and protocols always place reciprocal responsibilities on participating and partner countries, the logical way forward would be to harmonize the ICGLR tracking and certi$cation scheme with that of SADC, when the latter has been adopted. 9 ITRI, www.itri.co.uk; 23 November 2010. 10 UNECA, 2009. 11 Including the Tarkwa Small-Scale Mining Centre in Ghana and the Uis Tin Mining project in Namibia. 12 Mondlane, 2009. 13 Svotwa, 2000. 14 Drechsler, 2001. 15 UNECA, 2002. 16 Goss, 2009. 17 UNECA, 2009a. 18 UNECA, 2009a. 19 UNECA, 2009a. 20 For example, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU in July 2004 rea%rmed the commitment to African and international instru-ments on gender equality. 21 UNECA, 2009a.
  • 99. 81 Corporate Social responsibility initiatives6 “It is necessary for mining compa-nies CHAPTER to embrace the notion of CSR in order to contribute to wider development objectives. As CSR approaches could be voluntary or legislated, it is important to entrench CSR in any policy framework in a manner that is clear about the responsibilities of mining companies and govern-ment”— !e Africa Mining Vision THIS CHAPTER DISCUSSES the scope and drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the application of the framework in Africa’s mining industry. It examines the bene$ts and limits of CSR as well as the challenges that practising it by mineral companies in Africa face in state capacity and societal expectations of development. !e past couple of decades have been marked by ini-tiatives designed to acknowledge and expand the social responsibility of business entities. !e premise has been that the roles and impacts of these entities go beyond pro-viding revenue and employment and maximizing pro$ts, thus increasing shareholders’ value, that they have power and in#uence (actual and potential) beyond their formal location within legal and political structures, particularly those of developing countries, and that they should be recognized as conscious and in#uential participants in activities with a broad range of consequences. Compa-nies have social responsibilities that go beyond pro$t maximization as part of their contribution to overall sustainability. !ere is no generally accepted de$nition of corporate social responsibility and no consensus on the list of the issues it covers. But “most de$nitions of corporate social responsibility describe it as constituting actions whereby enterprises integrate societal concerns into their busi-ness policies and operations, including environmental, economic and social concerns. Compliance with the law is the minimum standard to be observed by enterprises”.1 Aer analysing numerous descriptions of CSR, one study concluded that “the challenge for business is not so much to de$ne CSR, as it is to understand how CSR is socially-constructed in a speci$c context and how to take this into account when business strategies are developed”.2
  • 100. 82 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Evolution of CSR as a tenet of sustainable development !e global growth and institutionalization of CSR have been strongly driven by the demands and pressures of the growing environmental consciousness of citizens and concerns about the extensive powers and rights that corporations have acquired with economic liberalization. !ese concerns have been expressed through pressures for ethical investment, social movements on issues such as the environment, fair trade, consumer rights, humane labour conditions, the rights of indigenous people and greater corporate accountability and transparency. In the western countries of the biggest transnational corporations, the emergence of powerful international non-governmental organizations coupled with advances in information technology mean that cases of social or environmental irresponsibility can spread quickly around the world, thus increasing the reputational risk $rms face. Enterprises with large social and environmental footprints such as mining have been very much in the forefront of those targeted by demands for high standards of CSR. Since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, CSR has been increasingly linked with sustainable development. In mineral exporting African countries mining companies are among the main focus of demands on CSR. !is is not only because of the major environmental and social impacts of their operations (chapter 4), but also because these impacts are ampli$ed by the fact that their operations tend to be located in relatively under-developed parts of host countries. !e path towards embracing CSR as part of a sustainable business model has been long. Traditionally, business viewed CSR as a “so issue” that represented $nancial contributions—as corporate philanthropy or charity. Focus on CSR projects that went beyond charitable do-nations to worthy causes or organizations was viewed as shiing from the “core business”, and thus as leading to lower productivity, higher costs and waste of human and $nancial resources. Dealing with communities and related stakeholders was seen as time consuming, and project managers were reluctant to engage in discussions with stakeholders. Without frameworks compelling mining companies to do this, community concerns continued to be treated as peripheral, and any contributions were charity. !ese views have changed as business now accepts that CSR is necessary. For the global mining industry the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project (2000–2002) was an important milestone repre-senting the industry’s $rst serious response to growing pressure to consider all stakeholders aected by min-ing. During the project, stakeholders were consulted to identify key issues relating to mining and sustainable development. !e MMSD was an important milestone for industry recognition of its role in contributing to sustainable development priorities on social development as well as environmental stewardship. Today there is a proliferation of CSR frameworks, norms and reporting formats—some legislated, but most guide-lines or voluntary codes. !ey are from diverse sources including United Nations (UN) conferences, intergovern-mental bodies such as the UN and its a%liate bodies—the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organi-zation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank—national legislation, groups of international private $nancial institutions, industry associations and multi-stakeholder bodies. Many have overlapping objectives but dierent reporting formats. CSR frameworks and norms applying to mining have originated from all these sources. !e multiplicity and diversity of CSR frameworks and norms have helped in-tegrate CSR into everyday business operations, but these myriad sources and frameworks “are uncoordinated and so generate confusion”.3 Intergovernmental processes and frameworks UN conferences have been important in establishing the growing link between CSR and sustainable development. In 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, governments agreed to adopt principles of sustainable development, focusing on environmental impact and mitigation of industrial activities on the physical environment. !ere was a speci$c protocol on forestry management. !e governments agreed to hold a World Summit on Sustainable Development every 10 years
  • 101. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 83 Mining, minerals and metals are important to the economic and social development of many countries. Minerals are essential for modern living. Enhancing the contribution of mining, minerals and metals to sustainable develop-ment includes actions at all levels to (para. 46 world Earth Summit Declaration): Support efforts to address the environmental, economic, health and social impacts and benefits of mining, miner-als and metals throughout their life cycle, including workers’ health and safety, and use a range of partnerships, furthering existing activities at the national and international levels among interested governments, intergovernmental organizations, mining companies and workers and other stakeholders to promote transparency and accountability for sustainable mining and minerals development; Enhance the participation of stakeholders, including local and indigenous communities and women, to play an active role in minerals, metals and mining development throughout the life cycles of mining operations, including after closure for rehabilitation purposes, in accordance with national regulations and taking into account significant trans-boundary impacts; and Foster sustainable mining practices through the provision of financial, technical and capacity-building support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for the mining and processing of minerals, including small scale mining, and, where possible and appropriate, improve value-added processing, upgrade scientific and technological information and reclaim and rehabilitate degraded sites. Source: Johannesburg World Summit Plan of Implementation on Sustainable Development. to measure progress and re$ne commitments. Ten years aer the Rio Earth Summit, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, for the $rst time including a global commitment to advance mining as a vehicle for sustainable development (box 6.1). !e Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development, established aer the World Summit to guide governments’ follow-up on global com-mitments related to mining contained in the Johannesburg World Summit Plan of Implementation on Sustainable Development, provides best practice analyses for govern-ments on a range of mining and sustainable development issues. It responded in part to the need to establish an inter-governmental body to debate mineral policy issues within the framework of the Johannesburg Programme of Action. !e UN Global Compact was started in 2000 by the UN Secretary-General as a strategic policy initiative for busi-nesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally-accepted principles in human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Respon-sibilities of the private sector in community development are not speci$cally included. Currently more than 8,000 companies from more than 120 countries, including some of the largest mining $rms, participate in the Global Compact. !e OECD has issued several frameworks such as the 1976 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the 1997 International Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign O%cials. !e Guidelines for Multinational En-terprises, a set of non-binding recommendations, set out voluntary principles and standards for multi-national cor-porations operating in or from OECD member countries on issues such as human rights, environment, information Box 6.1 World Earth Summit 2002 declaration (excerpts)
  • 102. 84 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes disclosure, bribery, consumer interests and employment and industrial relations. !e convention on bribery has provided the basis for anti-bribery legislation in OECD member countries. Other initiatives and frameworks !e Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—which form part of its Sustainability Framework and the Equator Principles, both discussed in chapter 4—are the most notable CSR frameworks estab-lished by $nancial institutions. All private sector projects that are $nanced, even partly, by the IFC have to comply with the standards. More than 70 major banks including Barclays, RBS, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase have voluntarily subscribed to the Equator Principles, which the banks must apply to all clients who borrow $10 million or more. !e Independent Review Mechanism of the African Development Bank (AfDB), through its twin-pronged mediation and compliance review mechanisms for the projects funded by the AfDB, helps strengthen CSR and, especially, the need for extensive consultation with communities. !e compliance review process allows for introspection into the Banks adherence to its own norms and standards. !e International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), established in 2001 to improve sustainable development performance in the mining and metals industry, currently includes 20 of the largest mining and metal companies, as well as 31 national and regional mining associations and global commodity associations. !e ICMM’s Sustain-able Development Framework, which emerged from the MMSD, is the main industry framework for sustainable development and CSR. !e 10 principles of the ICMM Sustainable Development Framework commit members to, among others: ' Integrate sustainable development considerations within the corporate decision- making process; ' Uphold fundamental human rights and respect cul-tures, customs and values in dealings with employees and others, and seek continual improvement in health and safety performance; ' Seek continual improvement in environmental per-formance, and contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which they operate; and ' Implement eective and transparent engagement, com-munication and independently-veri$ed reporting ar-rangements with their stakeholders. Many major mining companies now publish annual sus-tainability reports in addition to more conventional $nan-cial reports in an attempt to satisfy the new international stance. But the challenge has been to develop indicators and reporting formats, making for meaningful evalua-tion of a business’ CSR activities. !e ICMM has teamed up with the Global Reporting Initiative, a framework for industry reporting on social and environmental manage-ment. !e Global Reporting Initiative has been important for developing meaningful indicators and formats. Many corporate bodies now issue reports of their application of CSR principles even where the operating conditions do not make it mandatory. ISO 26000 “Guidance on social responsibility” is a good example of a framework from a multi-stakeholder process. !e process that preceded the adoption of ISO 26000 in September 2010 by the International Organization for Standardization involved a number of major non-gov-ernmental organizations, business organizations, more than 400 experts from 30 countries and understandings with international bodies such as the ILO and OECD. ISO 26000 has been described as building on “the Brundtland de$nition of sustainable development by de$ning social responsibility as the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behaviour that contributes to sustainable development, including health and the welfare of society; takes into account the expectations of stakeholders; is in compliance with ap-plicable law and consistent with international norms of behaviour; and is integrated throughout the organization and practised in its relationships”.4
  • 103. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 85 Government legislation Some African countries have created statutory frameworks for CSR. !e Mineral and Petroleum Resources Develop-ment Act(2004) of South Africa, for example, requires an applicant for a mining right to submit social and labour plans. In the words of regulation 41, “the objectives of the social and labour plan are to: (a) promote employ-ment and advance the social and economic welfare of all South Africans; (b) contribute to the transformation of the mining industry;(c) ensure that holders of mining rights contribute towards the socio-economic development of the areas in which they are operating”. !e regulations prescribe that the social and labour plan must contain ele-ments in speci$ed detail of a human resource development programme, a local economic development programme and processes pertaining to management of downscal-ing and retrenchment, and must provide $nancially for the implementation of dierent aspects of the social and labour plan.5 When granted the mining right, the applicant must com-ply with the social and labour plan and make it known to employees. !e plan may only be amended with the consent of the Minister of Mines. An approved plan legally requires that the holder of the mining right comply with its terms. !e holder of the mining rights must submit annual reports on compliance with the plans. In a typical lifecycle approach, the social and labour plan attempts to address socio-economic, ownership, technical skills development and post-mining issues. But the framework is static and does not provide mechanisms to address emerging challenges as mining operations progress. !e Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (2007) also re-quires the holder of a mining right to conclude with the community where its operations are to be conducted “a Community Development Agreement or other such agreement that will ensure the transfer of social and economic bene$ts to the community” (section 116[1]). !e agreement, to be reviewed every $ve years, must ad-dress “all or some … [matters] when relevant to the host community”, which are set out in section 116(3), as well as mechanisms for the community to participate in the “planning, implementation, management and monitoring of activities carried out” under it (section 117). Submit-ting the agreement to review aer $ve years allows for incorporating emerging challenges as new information surfaces, while also strengthening the approaches already in use. !e $ve-year period is reasonable for the stability required by investors. !e Berlin Guidelines of 1991 represented an attempt by mining companies to ensure that they adhered to home country standards while operating abroad. Recently, par-ticularly in Australia and Canada, there has been discus-sion about using domestic legislation to promote socially-responsible conduct abroad by corporations based in those countries and their subsidiaries or a%liates. Opponents of these proposals have suggested that such legislation would invade the sovereignty of the countries in which those corporations operate. Others have argued that the legislation would impose disadvantages on their corpo-rations compared with their competitors from countries without similar legislation. By contrast, some proponents argue that it is in the interest of the home country that its corporations act in accord with internationally- acceptable standards, particularly when they operate in developing countries where institutions or legal regimes may be weak. !is controversy was exempli$ed by the debate in Canada over the abortive Bill C300, introduced by Liberal Member of Parliament John Mackay. Promoting social and community development !e evolution of CSR has led to the mining industry accepting that implementing community development programmes and behaving as responsible corporate citi-zens are good business. Mines, particularly when situated in remote areas, require a good relationship with their communities—they need to obtain and maintain a so-cial licence to operate as well as satisfy their company’s corporate goals and shareholder expectations. Mining companies now accept that for communities in which they operate to live without basic services such as water, health
  • 104. 86 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes care, electricity and sanitation is unacceptable for good business. !ese communities oen lack social infrastruc-ture such as schools, clinics, hospitals and dispensaries, and their roads and other transport infrastructure are usually poor. Developing a mine presents an opportunity to improve conditions in these communities. Unless the community where the mine is located bene$ts from the investment and infrastructure associated with the mine, it will remain enclave. !e mine and its wealth are highly visible, and the pressure is immense to share this wealth with the local areas that have little development. Many companies understand that addressing CSR needs in communities will bene$t them, so adopting CSR is enlightened corporate “self-interest”. It is not simply a business expense but rather a capital investment with an expected return on investment. At the operational level, companies can maximize production because there will not be work stoppages due to community unrest. !is contributes to their overall competitiveness and improves work performance. At the strategic level, the overall risk of investment declines, thus increasing the value of the company’s social investments. Externally, good CSR programmes increase “political capital” with host governments, enhance investor relations and tangibly demonstrate a company’s corporate citizenship philoso-phy, adding to share value. Failing to provide tangible bene$ts to communities can result in a company losing its social licence to operate. And it has resulted in civil unrest initiated by communities in many countries in Africa and South America, leading to delays in mining production, injury or death, negative press coverage, damaged reputations and, ultimately, lowered share price. Communities have the means at their disposal to stop mining operations for extended periods of time. A com-munity in Papua New Guinea cut down about 30 kilome-tres of electricity poles, thus stopping power and shutting down the mine for about six weeks. Blockades on roads, armed occupation of mining lease areas, kidnapping of mines o%cials and other types of community revolt have occurred in areas where communities lack a voice and where mining companies and the host government have not considered their needs and aspirations. !ese disturbances and social costs pressured mining compa-nies to incorporate CSR as a part of doing good business. Civil disobedience and unrest in mining areas have a number of negative consequences . A mining company could suer damage to its reputation with the public, shareholders, potential investors and $nanciers. Its shares could plummet. And it could have di%culties expand-ing its operation to new destinations. For governments, repressive intervention to deal with the situation can be characterized as “lose-lose”. If police or military acts to ensure that a mine continues to operate and moves into an area where communities are revolting against mining, it may result in injuries or deaths. !e negative political fallout for the government and the country’s reputation is unpredictable. In some cases, court actions against government or the mining company can drag on for years, deterring development of the mining project in the meantime. Companies have sought to contribute to the social wel-fare of communities aected by mining activities, either directly or indirectly, through establishing trust funds to fund projects for the community’s bene$t. !ese funds have sometimes been established following arrangements setting out a formula for funding the trust from the in-come of the business. A tri-sector partnership approach has been adopted to address these challenges. !e partners in this approach are the company engaged in developing or planning to develop a resource, civil society organizations such as community groups, non-governmental organizations and churches, and local and central government insti-tutions. !e objective is to collaborate in community development projects by identifying and contributing resources that each partner can provide. Such arrange-ments enable companies to provide some resources to the community without legal obligation and without raising unsustainable community expectations or encouraging dependency on the companies. !e partnership seeks to recognize that civil society groups are oen more familiar with the community and its needs than others, and can contribute to or mobilize participation in a project based on their local knowledge. !e resources of the local and
  • 105. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 87 central government could be monetary or capacity help in coordinating the project. Agreements between mining companies and community representatives have also become instruments through which the former contribute to local development. In Australia, Canada and the United States, aboriginal groups have gotten the legal system to acknowledge their rights over designated areas of land and that they are entitled to negotiate terms on which resource developers can access such areas. !e terms negotiated are typically contained in impact and bene$t agreements. Typically, they contain provisions aimed at advancing employment skills train-ing as well as educational and business opportunities for members of the community. !ey also require payments (royalties, pro$t shares, trust funds for designated pur-poses) to the community or compensation to members of the community who suer loss as a result of the resource development. !ese agreements entrench company re-sponsibilities towards the welfare of communities at large, not just their employees. CSR and development e#ectiveness CSR norms, frameworks and reporting requirements ap-plying to mining $rms are clearly from multiple sources and a combination of the legislated and the voluntary. !e e%cacy of voluntary codes as opposed to mandatory codes is one of the most important debates over CSR, with its predominantly voluntary nature being seen as a growth of corporate power and retreat of the state. Voluntary CSR, as opposed to state regulation, has been described as the corporate equivalent of what poverty alleviation measures, such as targeting and social funds, were for the public sector and the aid community, all elements of the post–Washington Consensus response to the negative eects of crude market liberalization of the 1980s.6 Voluntary CSR codes and guidelines have also been criticized for the rather haphazard and selective content of their codes and their lack of eective implementation mechanisms or procedures for monitoring compliance. Picciotto (2011) argues that voluntary codes have their advantages, including more easily reaching agreements on detailed and speci$c terms on obligations, which can be more easily applied to $rms than would be the case if codes are binding on states. Furthermore, they are easier to amend and more #exibly tailored to the requirements of speci$c businesses and avoid some of the rigidities around bureaucratically-enforced laws. Not all voluntary codes or guidelines are without legal eect. Certain voluntary CSR initiatives such as codes of conduct included in contracts with suppliers can become legally- binding as de facto minimum standards. Social labelling and certi$cation schemes incorporated into supply chain contracts become binding.7So, “on closer examination, it also becomes clear that it is inaccurate and inappropriate to treat these instruments as exist-ing outside or beyond the law. Codes entail a degree of formalization of normative expectations and practices. !ey also interact in various ways with formal law. … In practice, as already stated, eective compliance inevitably depends on the monitoring and enforcement mechanisms which can be devised, and especially on the strength of social and political pressures…the question is not whether hard and so law are mutually-exclusive, but how they can best be combined to produce eective regulation”.8 !e scope of issues and the approaches to CSR in Africa’s mineral exporting countries con$rm earlier points that CSR is socially-constructed in speci$c circumstances and that what is enforced and the e%cacy of enforcement are not solely a function of the legal status of CSR but also of the strength of political and social pressures. Despite the CSR of many mining $rms formally covering govern-ance and ethics, employment, occupational health and safety, community and environment, a sample of African countries shows a preponderant interest and focus of the state, civil society organizations and the public on the environment and community issues, such as livelihoods and human rights abuses. Despite the widespread casu-alization of work and the employment of contract labour in Africa’s mines, there is substantially lower focus by the state and public on the working conditions of mine workers. In South Africa—because both history and the fact that the trade union movement, including the mine
  • 106. 88 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes workers union, are strongly linked with other social move-ments— workplace issues have a stronger prominence than in other African countries. In Ghana, for example, the work conditions and health and safety of workers in the mines are almost completely absent from the lively public discussions and non-governmental organization campaigning, which are largely directed at environmental and community and human rights issues. Zambia illustrates how historical experiences can also shape expectations of mining company’s CSR. Contempo-rary Zambian discussions of mining companies’ CSR ac-tivities draw unfavourable comparisons with the practices of the now defunct state-owned Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), which operated a “cradle to grave” corporate responsibility welfare policy. In the context of national policy of state provision of health and education, the ZCCM provided medical services, sanitation, schools and social amenities to the communities living on the Copper belt. !is ended with the liquidation of the ZCCM and privatization of its mines. All the successor foreign-owned private mining $rms have CSR programmes but nothing of the scope or scale of the ZCCM.9 In other African countries the mismatch between the expectations of stakeholders and what companies are actually doing has more to do with immediate factors than comparisons with the past. In Ghana a company oered support for alternative agricultural activities to people its gold mine displaced when most of the target group would have preferred training in artisanal skills or access to part of the mining concession land, which was not in use, for artisanal gold mining.10 Attention has also been drawn to similar divergences between the CSR of mining companies in South Africa and the post-apartheid expectations of workers and communities.11 !ese mismatches between CSR and society’s expectations are situated within a larger question of how much CSR can contribute to resolving some of the many development challenges that mineral rich developing countries face—as well as resolving accusations of corporate double standards in energetic implementation of CSR activities by many $rms while engaging in practices much more damaging that what the CSR is ameliorating. In pressing develop-ing country governments to minimize their taxes and royalties, mining companies are eectively weakening the $scal capacity of the state. By contrast, these companies implement CSR policies and publicize their contributions to social infrastructure that the state is too poor to aord but which cannot ful$l what is needed. Many $rms, even as they proclaim their social responsibility, increasingly rely on casualized contract labour working on insecure terms and may pay many workers’ wages that, though meeting the legislated minimum, are not livable wages.12 A thorny issue posed by the expectations of CSR in com-munity development is de$ning the boundary between the state’s responsibilities to its citizens and how mining company’s CSR complements the state’s eorts. In many African countries the coordination between state plan-ning and investment and CSR investments is inadequate. More signi$cant, CSR could reduce the motivation of government to ful$l its responsibilities to its citizens, and the latter could come to see the company as the provider of those services that they should be looking to the state for.13Better coordination between planning and invest-ment of the state and corporate outlay under CSR could improve the value of both streams of expenditure. So, for example, the sustainable use of a school or clinic built as part of CSR is better assured if the project is coordinated with the state—to ensure that it $ts into a larger plan and that the state can support health sta or teachers should the mine cease its support.14 Policy implications It is no longer possible or feasible for mining companies to treat their contributions to social issues in communities and other CSR issues as peripheral to their core businesses. Whether from an assessment of measures required to be taken in the enterprise’s own judgment to maintain a sustained and viable business, or as a precondition for obtaining an essential licence or $nancing, or to avoid li-ability for breaches of the law, the pressures to comply with norms regarding socially-responsible conduct are becom-ing increasingly important. While signi$cant attention is
  • 107. Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa 89 focused on addressing community issues, more remains to be done to meet expectations by communities and to respond to other issues such as trade union concerns about casualization and the larger decent work agenda. From a policy perspective, CSR initiatives should not be considered a substitute for government responsibility towards its citizens in providing basic infrastructure and other public goods. Indeed, CSR initiatives should complement government eorts through local govern-ment institutions and local authorities. !e framework that a government chooses to entrench CSR should be clear about the responsibilities of mining companies and which responsibilities should be matched with and com-municated to mining communities. !e dierent types of frameworks should be considered part of a national policy debate on the mining industry’s obligations regarding social development objectives. With-out such debate, there is danger that the CSR requirements in a jurisdiction will be le to the industry to determine. !is ad hoc approach can lead to uncertainty of how much should be spent on CSR and what types of CSR projects should be developed as well as the mechanisms for their development. Indicators around assessing the impact of good CSR projects must be built into the framework and applied by a range of stakeholders, such as civil society. !e framework must focus on stakeholder consultation and allow for review of obligations and commitments. !is review must be based on reporting requirements that should be part of the CSR framework. Endnotes 1 UNCTAD, 2004. 2 Dahlsrud, 2008. 3 UNCTAD, 2004. 4 Lowellyne, 2011. 5 Kloppers and du Plessis, 2008. 6 Utting, 2003. 7 UNCTAD, 2004. 8 Picciotto, 2011. 9 Lungu and Mulenga, 2005. 10 Hilson, 2007. 11 Fig, 2003; Olaleye, 2010. 12 Utting, 2003. 13 Whellams, 2007. 14 Lungu and Mulenga, 2005.
  • 109. 91 Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 7 CHAPTER “Obtaining an adequate share of mineral revenue and utilizing it in an equitable manner is crucial. An e%cient and transparent #scal regime should catalyze social, physical and knowledge infra-structure development” —!e Africa Mining Vision THIS CHAPTER PRESENTS perspectives on captur-ing, managing and sharing mineral revenue. It looks at the oen con#icting objectives of mining companies and governments in resource-rich countries. It discusses vari-ous tax instruments available for the mineral sector, the need for $scal policy to be linked to development options, the management of mineral revenue, and the equitable allocation of a portion of such revenue to communities close to or aected by mining projects. Capturing revenue Overview One of the key challenges is that the pro$t-maximization and repatriation logic of private foreign investment is at odds with a nation’s desire to retain as much as it can of the revenue generated from the exploitation of its mineral assets. Governments are pulled in dierent directions in providing su%cient incentive for companies to invest in exploration, development and production while collect-ing adequate revenue for socio-economic development. A properly structured $scal regime seeks to balance these objectives. !e consensus is that tax regimes for mining operations should be designed to apportion “rent” between the investor and the country in which the minerals are lo-cated. !e investor must be compensated through a rate of return for investment risk, and the host government must be compensated for the exploitation of non-renewable resources. Some reward is due to the host country once its minerals are extracted and sold, regardless of whether the seller reports a pro$t (though the potential adverse eects of high upfront payments on developing and operating mining projects need to be considered, too). Any income above the return on investment should be shared between the investor and the host government.
  • 110. 92 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Mining rights can be viewed in a similar manner to public–private partnerships (PPPs), but unlike PPPs for infrastructure and agriculture—where the state is ex-pected to receive an improved asset at the end of the concession—in mining the state generally gets back an exhausted and possibly dangerous asset at the expiry of a mining right—perhaps a hole in the ground or even a tailings dump. !is increases pressures on governments to maximize $scal and economic bene$ts while the asset is productive. Exigencies of sustainable development make further demands that the mineral asset generate material bene$t for the future generations that are deprived of it—so-called intergenerational equity—which introduces accountability issues on how much wealth mineral assets generate and how this wealth should be distributed. !e adequacy of revenue obtained by African governments from mineral exploitation is a subject of controversy. No precise or uncontested measure for determining ad-equacy exists. But the widespread sense that Africa has not obtained commensurate compensation from exploita-tion of its mineral resources is impossible to ignore. !is sentiment has become particularly pronounced since the early years (2002–2007) of the current mineral commod-ity price boom, which has substantially lied pro$ts for mining companies. Yet few of these high pro$ts have translated into increased or commensurate bene$ts for African mineral nations and their local communities. !e bene$ts to governments were contained by the generous mineral policy regimes of most countries, resulting from the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. !ese had oen been prescribed by the World Bank (see chapter 2). A critical feature of most of these regimes is that the tax burden over the useful life of mining assets is distributed in such a way that little tax is paid until the invested capi-tal has been recovered. !is postpones tax payments and during periods of boom prices, the bene$ts accrue mainly to the investor. !is inevitably accentuates the impression of inequity in the distribution of such bene$ts and has contributed to widespread dissatisfaction. Mineral revenue and tax instruments Otto and Cordes (2002), Otto et al. (2006) and Daniel et al. (2010) are among works that have discussed mineral taxation in great detail, and raise issues important to tax policy. !ese include the mix of direct and indirect taxes, the types and levels of taxes, the maximization of government revenue in the short and long run, tax incen-tives available for achieving speci$c policy objectives and tax-stability systems (including reinvestment incentives as well as foreign exchange considerations) (box 7.1).
  • 111. Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 93 Box 7.1 Some mineral taxes Direct tax instruments t Corporate income tax (plus withholding tax) t Progressive profit taxes (such as South Africa’s formula tax on gold) t Resource rent taxes t Windfall profit tax, additional profit tax, super-profit tax Indirect tax instruments t Royalties ad valorem, specific/production volume t Import duties t Export taxes t Value-added tax (VAT)/goods and services tax (GST) t Labour levies (skills, unemployment) Other imposts t Competitive bonus bidding, auctions (as for hydrocarbons) t Surface fees t Licence fees t Production-sharing contracts t State equity participation Corporate income tax is a typical and broadly applicable impost not unique to mining. !e general issues are the rate of tax, the allowable deductions from gross income and the extent to which losses are carried forward (or even back). Capital allowances are a mechanism by which policy seeks to in#uence the pattern of expenditure of a mining project. !e treatment of environmental and social expenses—particularly those for current environ-mental management, disaster mitigation and funding for mine closure—requires careful consideration. For example, the creation of environmental or social funds into which companies contribute has become common in mining regimes, but whether expenditure on these activities should be permitted as a deduction from gross income has become an issue. !e other deductible costs for calculating taxable income have to be addressed. Determining the level of revenue from mineral sales can be a challenge. Many economically important minerals have a published price and for those it is relatively easy to determine the appropriate sales revenue. Even with no published price, it is oen possible to $nd a reference price to determine mining company income. For instance, the price of aluminium is oen used as a reference for determining sales prices for bauxite and alumina. Con-troversy can, however, arise over the proper valuation of by-products, depending partly on how easily they can be separated from the main value minerals. Particularly where the mineral is supplied to project sponsors, share-holders or other related entities, it is necessary to prevent transfer pricing, that is, to ensure that the valuation of the mineral produced is transparent and at an arms-length competitive price. !e agreements relating to production and sale must therefore include the price references to be used in determining revenue. Royalties are the principal means for ensuring that the country obtains some minimum value of the mineral produced1. !ese may be imposed as an amount per unit of production; at a rate based on the value of the mineral sold; or, less commonly, on the basis of the pro$ts from, or the pro$tability of, the mining operation. Royalties also have the advantage of being relatively easy to determine and collect, and thus impose less demand on the sophis-tication of the government’s tax authorities. Royalties are generally applicable on the value of the minerals at mine-gate, to compensate the state for the loss of a non-replenishable resource, whether a pro$t is made or not. If royalty rates are set too high, however, they can sterilize marginal deposits as they are eectively a working cost (see just below).
  • 112. 94 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Resource rent tax (RRT) mechanisms seek to implement the basic concept of rent apportionment and are imposed on the pro$t of the project or company aer deduction of a “normal” rate of return on capital. Some in the mining investment community oppose them, as illustrated by the vociferous opposition, mainly by mining companies, to recent proposals for a super pro$ts tax in Australia. Still, it is generally recognized that an RRT has the advantage of being neutral in its impact on investment. !us unlike other taxes, it causes no distortion to incentives. !e basic elements of RRT schemes are: ' !e threshold rate of return aer which the tax should be imposed. ' !e rate of tax to be imposed. ' Whether the impost should be ring fenced on each project or on a group of projects by the same investor. ' What deductions should be allowed from income for tax purposes. Land (2010) provides a recent discussion on RRT in the minerals industry. A possible way of getting around the di%culty of determining a speci$c rate, described by Land, is to link it to the long-term yield on bonds issued by the host country, especially since this can be expected to incorporate country risk2. !e basic approach is to determine the threshold rate of return at which the RRT would be triggered by analogy with the interest rate pay-able by the country on commercial long-term debt plus a margin to compensate for additional risks involved in mining projects. As for the rate of the RRT, Land (2010) provides rates from 10 per cent to 70 per cent (though the highest rate, for Papua New Guinea, no longer applies). RRT is one of the least distortionary of the usual mineral tax instruments because it does not sterilize resources, as high mineral royalties could. Marginal deposits would never breach the RRT threshold and therefore a high RRT rate would not impact negatively on investment decisions for such a deposit. Table 7.1 Resource rent taxes in Africa Country Sector Year Type Ghana Hydrocarbons 1984 Contractual Tanzania Hydrocarbons 1984 Contractual Ghana Minerals 1985–2003 Law Madagascar Hydrocarbons and minerals 1980s Law Namibia Hydrocarbons 1993 Law Zimbabwe Minerals 1994 Law Angola Hydrocarbons 1990s Contractual Malawi Minerals 2006 Law Liberia Minerals 2008 Law Source: Land, 2010. RRT has a reputation for administrative complexity, which may weigh against it, but it has largely the same infor-mation and audit requirements as conventional income taxation. !e main dierences are: ' A project ring-fence basis is used for assessment (typi-cally only relaxed for exploration expenses) even though ring-fencing is not unique to RRT. ' A cumulative, rather than annual income, basis of assessment is used. Although mainly a computational issue, there may be issues over prior-year records. ' !e use of cash #ow, rather than an accounting ap-proach, excludes non-cash charges like depreciation.
  • 113. Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 95 RRT does not safeguard against tax leaks such as trans-fer pricing, thin capitalization or spurious allocation of overheads and, in this sense, is no dierent from other kinds of pro$ts taxation. Transfer pricing of production in particular has attracted attention, but transfer pricing of inputs and equipment constitutes a complex problem for governments and one harder for them to handle. Prices are oen less transparent and tax evasion may take place through the use of non-arms- length suppliers based in tax havens. Debt service to institutions linked to the investor can cause similar problems. In this connection, the G20, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union are all clamping down on tax havens, work that deserves support from African governments. Taxes on dividends and state equity participation are also features of many $scal regimes. Duties on imported inputs, particularly those used during exploration or mine development phases, tend to be limited, if imposed at all. Unless properly monitored, this approach can prevent local supply systems from developing, where economi-cally viable, and hence deny the country the bene$ts of enhanced local linkages (discussed further in chapter 8). In some jurisdictions, the local government system prescribes property rates payable to the local authority for land and structures. Depending on how these are valued and the rate of tax, they can yield substantial revenue from the assets of large-scale mining operations. African states should consider imposing a capital gains tax on any mineral property sold before mining operations begin. Even if statutes have provisions for capital gains tax, enforcement—when companies dispose of their assets and leave the country—imposes challenges that can be addressed by requiring companies to settle tax obligations as a pre-requisite for any transfer of their mining rights. Tax stabilization Experience as well as prudence point to the importance of focusing not only on particular elements but also on the overall tax package in mineral projects. In many large-scale projects in Africa, sponsors and their lenders have sought and obtained assurances that there would be no additions to the total tax package agreed to initially. Dur-ing the recent period of high prices and pro$ts, however, existing tax regimes have not earned African mining countries a commensurate share of the large additional pro$ts. !e pressure on governments to impose additional taxes, in spite of such stabilization clauses, has sometimes proved irresistible, reinforcing the argument to develop $scal regimes that uphold equity during boom and bust— characteristics of the mineral commodity price cycle. Stability clauses facilitate capital raising for large projects, but they are oen unnecessarily extensive. One factor in determining their duration should be the period required for repaying the initial loans to the project from outside lenders, if any. Such clauses, inserted with others requiring most favoured tax treatment for the bene$ciary company, risk causing unforeseen losses to government revenue if the authorities grant similar concessions to later entrants. Optimizing mineral revenue and linkages through price discovery One of the most important elements of a mineral regime that attempts to optimize the development impact is set-ting a fair market value of resources—“price discovery”. Transparent and competitive concessioning of known mineral assets can help. Auctioning prospective hydrocar-bon blocks is common in the petroleum industry but rare for “solid” minerals. Public tender will clearly have sub-optimal results for terrain with no known assets or areas of low prospectivity. Many new mineral developments in Africa over the last decade have, though, involved known deposits or old workings, and many of these concessions were given to investors under discretionary allocation rather than via public tender. Even with a public tender, the selection of mining companies was oen based primarily on bidders’ $nancial and technical capability to realize the project. !is contrasts with a bid price that seeks to include an initial bonus or use of other instruments to maximize both revenue and other development bene$ts.
  • 114. 96 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes !e Africa Mining Vision seeks to create an e%cient and transparent $scal regime that catalyses social, physical and knowledge infrastructure. African mining countries will need to explore more transparent and competitive concessioning systems, especially for disposing of known mineral assets. Such a system could attempt to maximize the development impacts of mineral assets through the inclusion of various linkages in the bids: ' Fiscal elements—maximizing state revenue through a combination of the signature bonus (up-front ten-dered payment), corporate tax, dividend withholding tax, the royalty rate, and the RRT or the percentage free carried state interest. ' Infrastructure linkages—which include possibilities for PPPs in infrastructure coupled with bidding up the proportion of open access capacity available to third parties to encourage collateral use of infra-structure by other economic and social sectors at non-discriminatory taris. ' Backward linkages—bidding on local content as a share of total purchases or inputs expressed in nomi-nal milestones, such as production periods of 5, 10, 15 or 20 years. ' Forward linkages—the degree of value added locally before export, supported by a suitable set of govern-ment incentives. ' Knowledge linkages—bidding on annual contribu-tions to local technical human resource development, research and development and technology-develop-ment initiatives. One caveat to this approach is that the greater the variety of elements on which bids are to be evaluated, the more complicated the scheme and the greater the implementa-tion challenges. Managing revenue Revenue impacts Revenue from mineral operations oers governments, among other things, the $nancial resources to fund physi-cal and social infrastructure, including human capital. A persistent concern, however, is the potential impact of large revenue from the extractive sectors on other parts of the economy. !e main risk is that the in#ow of revenue from mining, whether to the public or private sector, results in real exchange rate appreciation, which tends to undermine the competitiveness of other sectors exposed to international competition—“called the Dutch disease”. In addition, a dominant natural resource export sector can destabilize a nation’s socio-economic system, especially in countries with non-democratic political institutions. Various prescriptions are at hand for prudently managing the mineral sector, including appropriate savings strate-gies, in#ation targeting and exchange rate management, and striving for “a steady path of growth of public ex-penditure that does not accelerate beyond the capacity of the economy to deliver”.3 Steps include special oshore funds that ring-fence or constrain the use of additional revenue (through stabilization or sovereign funds) or laws setting government spending limits and restricting uses to which some of this revenue may be put. 4 Given the limited domestic scope for backward and forward linkages, governments might consider creat-ing regional development funds to invest in long-term economic physical and human infrastructure to bolster intraregional trade and economies of scale through larger markets. !e New Growth Path adopted by South Africa in 2010 recommends creating an African Development Fund that will function as a sovereign wealth fund and invest in regional infrastructure.5
  • 115. Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 97 Revenue transparency Campaigning by civil society organizations in recent years has brought revenue transparency to the fore as an essential component to promote mineral wealth for socio-economic development. Its main elements include: ' A sound system for collecting, receiving and record-ing all public revenue obtained from the minerals industry. ' Mechanisms for obligatory, regular and open report-ing, both of revenue received by public bodies and of payments made by each $rm engaged in such opera-tions to public institutions and o%cials. ' Credible processes and institutions to ensure account-ing and auditing of revenue and payments. ' Channels for public participation, nationally and locally, in monitoring and enforcing the transpar-ency obligations of public institutions, o%cials and companies. ' !e Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (box 7.2). Box 7.2 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Launched by the British Prime Minister of the time, Tony Blair, in June 2003 to promote revenue transparency in the extractive industries, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has become one of the main initiatives for en-hancing revenue transparency. Despite some criticisms, it provides an acceptable attempt to improve transparency. Twenty African countries have so far agreed to use it to enhance reporting and auditing of revenue from their petroleum and mineral resource ventures. The International Council on Mining and Metals, with 20 of the largest mining companies as members, supports it. The depth to which these commitments are realized will depend on continuing engagement with, and scrutiny by, broad constituencies locally, nationally and internationally. Nigeria, for example, has developed a legal framework to support the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and make the process mandatory. The Initiative does not, however, yet cover the initial contracting stage, where much of the revenue leaks. Implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative needs to follow the following criteria: t All material oil, gas and mining payments by companies to governments (“payments”) and all material revenues received by governments from oil, gas and mining companies (“revenues”) are regularly published for a wide audience in a publicly accessible, comprehensive and comprehensible manner. t Where such audits do not already exist, payments and revenues are the subject of a credible, independent audit, applying international auditing standards. t Payments and revenues are reconciled by a credible, independent administrator, applying international au-diting standards and with publication of the administrator’s opinion regarding that reconciliation including discrepancies, should any be identified. t This approach is extended to all companies including state-owned enterprises. t Civil society is actively engaged as a participant in the design, monitoring and evaluation of this process and contributes towards public debate. t A public, financially sustainable work plan for the above is developed by the host government, with assis-tance from international financial institutions where required, including measurable targets, a timetable for implementation and assessment of potential capacity constraints. Source: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative,http://eitransparency.org.
  • 116. 98 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Sharing revenue among local communities !e discovery of an extractive resource invariably raises expectations among local communities that they stand to gain. To reduce the potential for con#ict, governments at various levels need to develop clear guidelines for distrib-uting the bene$ts and wealth between the central govern-ment and local authorities and communities. Property rates and other fees, for example, may be levied and col-lected directly by the local government. Some countries have introduced programmes for allocating portions of central government mineral revenue to institutions of local mining communities or, less commonly, to allow lower level governments to impose taxes. Such schemes oen specify: ' !e components of government revenue from which allocation is to be made, whether from royalties, corporate taxes, dividends, or a combination of any of them. ' !e proportion to be allocated. ' !e recipient of the funds, whether lower level gov-ernments or groups within the community, and their respective shares. ' How payments are to be made, whether directly by the central government revenue collectors or through another government agency or institution, either existing or to be created for the purpose. Several countries in Asia and Latin America have revenue-sharing arrangements, but such arrangements are much less common in Africa. In Ghana the Mineral Devel-opment Fund, formed in 1993, provides a mechanism through which some mining royalties paid to the central government are distributed to local communities. Under the Fund, 9 per cent of such royalties goes to the local community to be shared by the district assembly (the local administrative unit) and the local traditional authorities. It also provides for funds to be made available, on appli-cation, for use on speci$c problems that can be shown to result from mining. Still, it prompts complaints, such as the adequacy of the amounts received; delays in releasing funds; paucity of information for bene$ciary institutions on the amounts paid by mining companies and to local institutions; lack of mechanisms for auditing traditional institutions’ use of funds; and limited community input into decisions on the use of funds. Sierra Leone established a Diamond Area Community Development Fund in 2001 into which 25 per cent of the 3 per cent diamond export taxes levied on artisanal diamonds is paid, used for developing diamond min-ing communities. In addition, the government’s Gold and Diamond O%ce deposits 0.75 per cent of the export value in an account held by the Ministries of Mineral Resources and Local Government, from which resources are disbursed to chiefdoms and districts. !e fund has several aims: implement post-war transfor-mation eorts, reclaim diamond areas that were overtaken by insurgents, enable communities to promote their own poverty agenda, provide basic services and infrastructure and reduce illegal artisanal mining through an incentive scheme that links the number of licences issued to the amount received by each chiefdom and district. !ere are formulas for calculating allocations to district coun-cils and chiefdoms and these funds are only disbursed once speci$c development projects have been approved. Guidelines exist for approving projects. 6 !e International Council on Mining and Metals reviews experiences from programmes,7 and $nds that most gov-ernments regard minerals as part of a nation’s natural endowment, implying the need for equitable distribution of bene$ts across the nation. It argues that, although local communities should receive compensation for the harm caused by mining, governments should not accord them unnecessary privileges, just because they are close to a national asset. Such privileges could ultimately lead to political dislocation and secessionism.
  • 117. Capture, Management and Sharing of Mineral Revenue 99 Policy implications !e design of national $scal policy frameworks for miner-als has to be guided by national sustainable development objectives, at all levels. As articulated in the Africa Min-ing Vision, the focus should be on mining for growth, socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. Countries should have well-constructed and equitable revenue capture and management systems. !ey need to ensure that stakeholders understand them. An e%cient $scal regime has to reconcile the expectations of investors and governments. !e various tax instruments should be integrated into a package that is attractive for investors and that maximizes government rent capture. Self-adjusting instruments that cater for both vibrant and stagnant global demand scenarios should be considered, such as RRTs or formula taxes (as in South Africa) that work on pro$tability rather than pro$t. Taxes that lead to sterilization of mineral deposits should be minimized or not used. !e eective use of mineral revenue in long-term physical and social infrastructure marks the prudent transforma-tion of $nite mineral capital into other forms of long-term capital—to ensure inter-generational equity—and is enhanced by transparency in collection, as well as in use. Systems that allocate part of the mineral revenue to communities near mining areas should be designed to ensure lasting bene$ts beyond the life of the mine. Endnotes 1. Otto et al. (2006) provide a comprehensive account of the dierent forms of mineral taxes. 2 One of the most controversial elements of the pro-posed Australian RRT was the threshold rate of return. 3. Daniel et al, 2010. 4 Bell and Maurea, 2007. 5 Government of South Africa, 2010. 6 Sierra Leone, 2008. 7 ICMM, 2009.
  • 119. 101 Linkages 8 CHAPTER Optimizing Mineral-based “For the mining sector to improve its contribution to broad based development, it must be better integrated into the national and regional economic fabric through linkages. To harness linkage opportunities, challenges such as those relating to de#ciencies in human capital formation, particularly in knowledge intensive areas, as well as infra-structure inadequacies must be addressed”— !e Africa Mining Vision” MINERAL ENDOWMENTS ARE by nature $nite, suer long-term real price decline and are susceptible to cyclical #uctuations. !ey generally demand many skills and much capital to extract and process. !ey embody their own growth impetus which, if understood and managed, can be used to alter Africa’s debilitating economic position. !e Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development of Africa, 1980–2000, observed that the failure of raw material–exporting industries to integrate into the na-tional economies of the member states impeded back-ward and forward linkages. (!ese and other terms are discussed in the next section.) !e plan therefore called for “integrating natural resource development within national and African multi-national socio-economic de-velopment programmes and projects, so as to encourage complementarity of dierent natural resources available in various member states in the production process and to promote backward and forward linkages within the African economies”. 1 It also called for the “establishment or strengthening of national machinery for the creation of policies to ensure that proper backward and forward linkages exist between these resource sectors and other sectors of the economy in order to promote integrated rural development”. 2 Examples of failed attempts across the continent over the years have caused some scepticism about the capacity of mining-related projects to catalyse growth and develop-ment. Recent thinking has once again, reawakened interest in linkages for economic development, including cor-ridor development and clustering, to facilitate growth in depressed economic environments. !is has been partly shaped by the experiences of resource-rich countries such as Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the United States, and, to some extent, Australia, whose economies have evolved from a basis of primary extraction to ones characterized by highly skilled and knowledge-intensive manufactured exports.
  • 120. 102 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes In these countries, industrial development was based on continued exploitation of resources and increasing do-mestic value added from the formation of linkages with industries directly and indirectly associated with key mineral-based projects. Mining sites became centres of growth instead of enclaves, and agglomeration not only increased workforce productivity, but also raised incomes among the local population and economic growth more widely. Of greater signi$cance, it promoted a shi to a more dynamic and sustainable growth trajectory as sec-ondary and tertiary industries, fostered early on in the evolutionary process, continued long aer the minerals had been depleted. 3 Conceptualizing and quantifying mineral-based linkages Types of linkages What does “linkage” mean in the minerals industry? !e term is used in several branches of economics, such as input-output, economic-cluster and supply-chain analysis. Input-output analysis, which aims to describe the relation-ships between dierent economic sectors in a national or regional economy, uses the terms backward and forward linkages to signify sectors that respectively deliver to and take deliveries from a particular sector. It is used mainly to quantify the impact of changed output in one sector on the rest of the economy. !e analysis of clusters—groupings of enterprises that are related and that depend on each other—aims less to quan-tify and more to identify relationships that can be based on deliveries of physical products and on less tangible interactions, such as exchange of ideas. Cluster analysis is oen applied at the same time as supply-chain analysis, which studies the production process as a sequence. Both use the terms upstream and downstream linkages (as well as sidestream linkages, a later addition). Input-output analysis is a quantitative technique, but the other two are less focused on—and less amenable to—quanti$cation of linkages. In a business environment, linkages are used to de$ne any commercial interaction between dierent pro$t-oriented enterprises that develop naturally in a well-functioning market economy. Linkages form as enterprises seek the most economical and e%cient way of sourcing the skills, materials and services they need to produce a commercial output. In this way, linkages li production, product diver-si $cation and specialization, as well as productivity. Most business linkages are created through supply chains that comprise procurement, out-sourcing and sub-contracting of activities between large and smaller $rms. Business linkages take various forms—informal and formal, direct and indirect. Formal arrangements include supply con-tracts, marketing and franchising of technology-licensing agreements, partnerships and joint ventures. Informal arrangements include collaboration in market informa-tion or technology-transfer networks. 4 Setting up a gold, chrome, iron ore or diamond mine typically gives rise to two main groups of linkages. !e $rst includes backward/upstream linkages (to the mine) and forward/downstream linkages (to bene$ciators or processors of the mine’s output). !e second includes side-stream linkages (to industries or organizations providing technological, human resource and infrastructure inputs) and lateral migration linkages (development of alternative uses of generic technologies used in the industry). (!ese ideas are expanded in the following sub-sections.) !e sequencing, scale and depth of subsequent linkage development is in#uenced by a host of factors, notably size, type, location and scale of commodity mined; avail-ability of supporting physical infrastructure; quality of local skills; corporate procurement practices; the legal environment; and degree of involvement on the part of the government and producer $rms to drive the process. Taken together, the various linkages form a system of individual parts that can operate and function indepen-dently of each other but achieve their full vibrancy through interaction and overlap ($gure 8.1). Each participant in the
  • 121. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 103 industry is connected to others, and the industry needs to be viewed as an integral system. Figure 8.1 Linkages in the minerals industry and the relationship between #rms Level 3 Supplier Level 3 Supplier Level 2 Supplier Level 3 Supplier Level 2 Supplier Level 2 Supplier End User End User Level 1 Supplier Bene!ciator Bene!ciator End User Level 3 Supplier End User Level 1 Supplier Level 3 Supplier End User End User Level 2 Supplier Level 2 Supplier Level 2 Supplier Level 1 Supplier Processor Processor Processor Processor New Firm Level 3 Supplier Level 3 Supplier Level 3 Supplier Level 3 Supplier Level 3 Supplier LATERAL MIGRATION LINKAGE Other Industrial Sectors Infrastructure RD and Skills Financial Services Communications Multiplier Effect UPSTREAM LINKAGES OUTPUTS: Employment in mine Taxes, Dividends Foreign Exchange DOWNSTREAM LINKAGES SIDESTREAM LINKAGES MINING OPERATION Direct impact Indirect impact Source: Lydall, 2010. Upstream linkages Collectively, upstream linkages refer to the various direct and indirect inter-$rm relationships connecting an indus-try with its suppliers or supply chain. Upstream linkages are generally based on vertical, horizontal and technologi-cal demand–supply interactions among producer $rms, specialized manufacturers, input providers, agents and distributors as well as service suppliers that evolve over the life of an operation.5 In the minerals industry, upstream linkages arise before a plant can be commissioned—as deposits are identi$ed, assayed and quanti$ed; $nance secured; legal and per-mitting issues addressed; plans for development and earthworks commissioned; and labour, raw materials equipment and utilities sourced. Upstream-linkage eects continue, albeit with dierent suppliers, once full produc-tion is reached. !e depth of linkage development wanes once a mine is decommissioned and closes. Upstream linkages become more important as the complexity of extracting, processing and transporting mineral products increases, drawing in large amounts of construction ma-chinery and equipment; manufacture of metal products;
  • 122. 104 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes vehicles; water, scienti$c and technical services; electric-ity; business services; and transport and communication services. 6 !e degree of local economic diversi$cation also strongly depends on subsequent linkage development between the $rst level of suppliers supporting the mine directly and suppliers supporting them (see $gure 8.1). As each of these suppliers expands, its dependence on other supplier $rms grows. !is process is continuous and the multiplier eect increases with each additional linkage. 7 Downstream linkages Nationally, downstream (or forward) linkages trace the interconnectedness of a sector to other sectors in the regional economy that consume its output in the produc-tion process. A typical mineral value chain comprises six stages($gure 8.2): exploration, mining, mineral process-ing, smelting and re$ning, semi-fabrication and $nal product manufacture. Run-of-mine ore is generally the principal output of the mining stage and forms the primary input into the mineral processing stage. !e resultant concentrate is the key input into the smelting and re$ning stage. !e re$ned product is then turned into semi-fabricated products and, at the end of the value chain, such outputs are consumed by a variety of dierent manufacturing/industrial sectors. Figure 8.2 !e main stages in the mineral value chain 1 2 3 4 5 EXPLORATION MINING FINAL PRODUCT MINERAL PROCESSING SEMI-FABRICATION SMELTING REFINING UPSTREAM INPUTS UPSTREAM INPUTS UPSTREAM INPUTS UPSTREAM INPUTS UPSTREAM INPUTS - Consulting services (surveying, drilling, mine design, bulk earthworks, etc) - Specialised equip-ment - Raw material inputs - Utilities - Finance - Run-of-mine ore - Consulting services - Specialised equip-ment - Raw materials - Water power - Labour - Concentrate - Consulting services - Specialised equipment - Raw materials - Water power - Labour - Re!ned products - Consulting services - Specialised equip-ment - Raw materials - Water power - Labour - Semi-fabricated product - Consulting services - Specialised equip-ment - Raw materials - Utilities - Labour Source: Lydall, 2010. Coal, petroleum and gas are consumed in electricity gen-eration. Re$ned petroleum products are used in manu-facturing chemicals and chemical products. Metal ores and industrial minerals are consumed in the manufacture of basic metals and non-metallic mineral products, with each successive level of processing adding value. A Southern African Development Community study evaluated the value chain for various minerals produced in the region.8 !e results showed that the value of the mineral or element (by weight) contained in downstream (including assembled) products relative to that in the $rst commonly saleable product for each element can reach
  • 123. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 105 a factor of at least 400. For example, the unit value for copper in a motor is 117 times that contained in cathode copper, 38 times for iron in fabricated tanks and 6 times for platinum in auto-catalysts. !e ratio can be as much as 173 times for gemstones in jewellery, and as high as 5,000 per carat in a polished diamond. Given these ratios, backward linkage development should aim at creating an integrated industrial platform of feedstock for components and, ultimately, original equipment manufacturers. 9 Downstream linkages in Africa are oen weak because mineral products are not consumed in the national econ-omy, but exported in raw or partly processed form, in the absence of local manufacturing. Increased bene$cia-tion may yield both national bene$ts (increased foreign exchange) and local bene$ts (higher wage incomes and local procurement). In addition, mineral-based intermedi-ate and $nished products do not usually suer the same terms-of-trade decline and volatility as raw materials, and may therefore provide a more stable economic base. 10 Yet raw minerals to hand do not automatically confer an advantage on the manufacturing bene$ciation sectors— competitive advantage issues such as logistics, compara-tive production costs, skills and crasmanship do. With precious minerals, the primary products are generally available in any of the world’s markets at internationally determined prices, due to their high value-to-weight (or value-to-volume) ratio. !e vast majority of bene$ciation (jewellery fabrication and diamond cutting) takes place in countries that have little or no mine production of precious minerals. !e lower the value-to-weight (or value-to-volume) ratio, generally, the greater the loca-tional advantage of the resource country, given the higher transport costs per unit weight (or volume) of material. !us for bulk commodities, though prices are generally determined internationally, some processing takes place in the resource country but manufacturing oen takes place near the market for the product (such as copper $ttings). !e largest mineral-based feedstocks into the global econ-omy are, for manufacturing, steel and polymers (from crude oil), for agriculture, nitrogen, phosphates and po-tassium and for infrastructure, cement, steel (rebars) and copper. Within the areas covered by Africa’s various regional economic communities, resources for almost all these feedstocks are available. Hence the critical issues are twofold: producing them at internationally competitive prices at large economies of scale; and developing common regional markets by removing the barriers to intraregional trade, so creating large markets that can absorb a signi$- cant part of the expanded output. Sub-optimally sized plants in Africa, which sell locally at monopoly prices, severely compromise the growth of downstream sectors and lead to trade diversion rather than trade creation. !ere are, of course, exceptions (box 8.1).
  • 124. 106 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 8.1 Morocco’s phosphate industry With the world’s largest reserves, Morocco is the largest exporter and the second-largest producer of phosphate, after the United States. The International Fertilizer Development Centre in 2010 put Morocco’s share of global phosphate resources at 85 per cent. The phosphate industry dominates mining, accounting for about 95 per cent of mineral production in 2009. The industry is run by a state company, Office chérifien des phosphates, responsible for managing and controlling all aspects of phosphate mining and beneficiation. The country has a large downstream phosphate chemicals sector. The main products are phosphoric acid and phosphate-based fertilizers. Phosphoric acid in 2009 amounted to 2.8 million tonnes, for which India was the largest customer. Fertilizers amounted to 2.4 million tonnes. Morocco has several phosphate-based chemical plants with Maroc Phosphore II, at Safi, one of the largest phosphoric acid complexes in the world.1 In 2008, Office chérifien des phosphates began a $12 billion expansion plan that aims to double phosphate production by 2015.2 Notes: 1. http://www.mbendi.com/indy/chem/af/mo/p0005.htm. 2. Newman, 2009. Minerals with largely local and regional potential have re-ceived less attention and investment than those for export. Yet replacing imports by locally sourced mineral products and facilitating the expansion of local and regional markets for these products would require as much attention as bene$cia-tion for international markets. Linkages based on inputs to the national and regional economy (such as manufacturing, agriculture and construction) therefore need to be prioritized. Sidestream linkages Mining, by virtue of its scale and scope of activities, creates the critical mass needed to establish other areas such as $nancial services, power, logistics, communications, skills and technol-ogy development. !e depth and extent of such side-stream linkages in the regional economy has a determining in#uence on subsequent upstream and downstream linkages, particu-larly further down the mineral value chain where inputs such as research and development (RD), skills, technology and infrastructure increase in importance. Side-stream linkage formation also underpins the viabil-ity of other sectors and unrelated industries in an economy. In Australia and Canada, for example, governments have acknowledged the importance of these linkages, and sup-ported their growth (chapter 10). Africa needs to do more along these lines. Lateral migration linkages. Upstream, downstream and side-stream linkages are critical for unleashing sustained economic diversi$cation in a mineral-rich country. But global experience shows that the real transition—from a primary-commodity exporter to a high-technology, knowledge-intensive industrial leader—requires developing the more dynamic linkages in each stage of the mineral bene$ciation chain, which oer greater commercial rewards.11 Mining should not only be seen as a source of export commodities (metals and minerals), but also as an engine for the development of its inputs industry (backward linkages) and the export of the industry’s related services, namely capital goods and expertise in $elds such as process control, construction equipment and materials-handling, all of which can be used in a wide number of eco-nomic sectors as well as mining.12 Lateral migration linkages generally only emerge in advanced stages of industrial develop-ment. !ey also depend heavily on long-term investment in technical human resource development (training engineers, for example) and RD.
  • 125. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 107 Quantifying mineral sector impacts It is usually hard to quantify linkages, and quantitative comparisons among countries or mining operations can be misleading. One of the reasons has to do with clas-si $cation of activities. In some countries and branches of the industry (bauxite mining in Australia is a prime example), a signi$cant part of the production process is outsourced to construction companies and is registered as a construction activity in the national accounts. !e same type of classi$cation di%culty complicates analy-sis at the micro level of individual operations, as well as comparisons between them. Mining companies outsource work to dierent extents. A company that outsources little raises employment levels and value added of the mining industry in statistics but appears to have few linkages to the rest of the economy. In contrast, a company with similar production volumes and technology that outsources as much as possible makes only a small contribution to employment and GDP in the national accounts, but will appear to have very strong linkages to other sectors. Changing perspectives on mineral-based linkages in Africa Most of the current African mining regimes were intro-duced in the 1980s and 1990s during a period of stagnant global demand. Governments were concerned, among other things, that heavy demands on investors to build linkages could deter scarce mining investment. With, however, the global supply–demand pendulum swinging far the other way, African governments urgently need to revise their regimes to make resource exploitation con-ditional on investors maximizing development impacts. African ministers have already stressed “…the need for greater local bene$ciation of Africa’s mineral resources and the enhancement of its industrial base through min-eral sector upstream, downstream and sidestream link-ages”, calling for an improvement in “… mineral resource policies, legal, regulatory and administrative frameworks and enhancement of [Africa’s] industrial base through mineral resource exploitation regimes; and for develop-ing the linkages of the mineral sector with the domestic economy”. 13 Jourdan (2010) goes further and suggests that Africa should leave its mineral assets in the ground (for exploitation at a later date) if the linkages cannot be built. He makes this recommendation based on the view that if foreign capital—through trans-national corporations—exploits the assets, market forces are unlikely to naturally estab-lish the linkages because the trans-national corporations already have their global linkages to optimize returns. !e evidence of mining in Africa over the last 50 years appears to support this contention. Even so, he argues that the disadvantages of foreign capital can be eliminated or mitigated through state strategies that oblige or incentiv-ize trans-national corporations to realize local linkages. African governments have seldom stimulated linkages through structured interventions, but one success is Mozal in Mozambique (box 8.2). While based on hydro-electric rather than mineral resources, the government recognized the dangers of using a capital-intensive single-site project to drive development. From the start the project heavily emphasized building linkages.
  • 126. 108 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 8.2 Mozal, Mozambique Mozambique emerged from its protracted civil war one of the poorest countries in the world. The Mozal aluminium smelter in the south was the first major development in the country for decades and was made possible by private investment from international players, facilitation from the government and regional support from the South African Government.1 It began operations in 1999. From the outset a local enterprise development programme—Mozlink—was involved in the project, run by the International Finance Corporation and Mozal with the Investment Promotion Centre of Mozambique. Mozlink had evolved out a programme to train and mentor local small and medium enterprises in mining to bid for win and perform construction contracts following Mozal standards. That success promoted the formation of Mozlink to provide technical and managerial assistance to upgrade the capacity of local mining SME suppliers to participate in Mozal’s supply chain for goods and services, thus strengthening local supply chains. By 2007, Mozlink had built capacity of 45 local small and medium enterprises. In addition, monthly spending on 250 local firms supporting Mozal increased to $17 million. Small and medium enterprise performance as measured by quality management, maintenance and safety improved by 20 per cent.2 Indirect spillovers fostered by Mozlink included the Mozambique Organisation for Quality to promote and train Mozam-bican domestic companies in international health, safety, quality and environmental standards; the Mozambican Business Network to encourage interaction with small and medium mining enterprises; and a three-year programme (with backing from the International Finance Corporation and large foreign investors) to get local small and medium enterprises more involved in procurement programmes for mining, natural gas and other industrial areas.3 Side-stream linkages from the smelter included an improved power grid, a large-scale water supply network, housing, better roads, a finger jetty to load products directly onto ocean-bound liners, a highway connecting the port of Maputo to South Africa, and overall improvements in investor confidence, which prompted them to consider setting up a heavy mineral sands operation (Corridor Sands).4 Notes: 1. UNECA, 2004. 2. Jaspers and Mehta, 2007. 3.Jaspers and Mehta, 2007. 4. UNECA, 2004; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. Constraints to developing linkages continent-wide African countries have diverse development experiences, mineral endowments and economic needs, yet share com-mon impediments that prevent mineral-based linkages from developing. !e most notable are inadequate capture and management of resource rents (see chapter 7); poor resource infrastructure; trade barriers and regional mar-ket constraints; inhibitors to downstream value addition; failure to secure upstream linkages; and human resources (which are now discussed).
  • 127. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 109 Poor resource infrastructure Infrastructure is a determining factor in industrialization. It directly aects the degree of agglomeration of upstream and downstream industries associated with a particular mining operation, while in#uencing the growth of other economic sectors with similar requirements. Sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure is inadequate, frag-mented and expensive, even compared with that in other low-income regions (table 8.1). Power supply and roads are principal areas of de$ciency. 14 Table 8.1 Infrastructure de#cits Normalized units Sub-Saharan Africa Other regions Paved road density (kilometres per square kilometre) 31 134 Total road density (kilometres per square kilometre) 137 211 Telephone mainline density (lines per 1,000 population) 10 78 Mobile density (lines per 1,000 population) 55 76 Internet density (lines per 1,000 population) 2 3 Generation capacity (megawatts per 1 million population) 37 326 Electricity coverage (percentage of population) 16 41 Improved water (percentage of population) 60 72 Improved sanitation (percentage of population) 34 51 Source: Yepes et al., 2009. Africa has 15 landlocked states, and many of the railway lines they use have been damaged or destroyed in civil war, rendering the logistics of global trade extremely di%cult. Distance from port raises average freight costs, eectively reducing available funding for re-investment. Tumafor (2009) shows that Africa’s logistical costs are around 250 per cent of the global average, thus many African states’ resources remain stranded, as individual projects cannot alone carry the necessary infrastructure costs. Limão and Venables (2001) maintain that a dete-rioration of infrastructure from the medium to the 75th percentile raises transport costs by 12 percentage points and reduces trade volumes by 28 per cent. In Africa, poor infrastructure accounts for 40 per cent of transport costs for coastal countries, and up to 60 per cent for landlocked countries. High trade costs undermine producers’ competitiveness and lower consumer welfare because imported inputs and $nal goods are made more expensive. 15 Landlocked countries are further disadvan-taged by having to rely on political stability and good institutional structures in transit countries. 16 However, although poor infrastructure poses a constraint to the realization of the linkages, Africa’s mineral endow-ment could be used to provide major trunk infrastructure for the development of other sectors. Constraints to trade Constraints to trade are a major impediment to growth in many African countries. Where the trade environment is more favourable, businesses are better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities, grow and create jobs. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2010 report, manufacturing enterprises in Africa have di%culty exporting because of poor customs administration and restrictive trade and customs regulations.17 Although much attention is paid to tari reduction, improved cus-toms processes and trade logistics would greatly bene$t African exporters. According to the OECD (2009), re-ducing delays at borders by 6.3 per cent, or the number of documents required for trading by 11 per cent, could increase trade #ows in Africa by 10 per cent.
  • 128. 110 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Inhibitors to downstream value addition Factors in poor downstream linkage development include lack of large economies of scale to remain competitive in many bene$ciation processes; the strategies of multi-national bene$ciators (with capacity elsewhere); and the inability of local $rms to penetrate established global value chains (as well as infrastructure and trade constraints). !e growing excess capacity at the smelting and re$ning stage for most base metals, relative to the mining stage, has depressed smelting charges. Copper smelting and re$ning charges have fallen from over 30 per cent to less than 10 per cent of the re$ned copper price over the last decade, reducing the overall pro$tability of smelters and re$neries. Ironically, the excess capacity partly stems from government incentives to promote further processing. Base and precious metals are easily marketed up to the stage of semi-fabricated products. In the absence of estab-lished commercial networks, production can be sold on commodity exchanges. !e situation is more complicated for products with a wider and non-standardized range of quality dierences, such as many industrial minerals. Most multi-national $rms producing such minerals are closely integrated with users of their products and these relationships have been built over many years. !e costs of switching to a new supplier are very high and carry considerable technical risks and companies therefore try to avoid them. Some multi-nationals prefer to send crude resources to a central bene$ciation facility in another country, or have a policy of keeping to their “core competence” of resource extraction, and then—if they have a monopoly or oligopoly position in the country—only make the semi-processed resource available to the local market at a monopoly price (import parity). Addressing this may require minimum levels of bene$ciation in the mineral extraction agreement, or an eective competition authority or regulator.18 Other measures include requirements on mineral companies to make their output available to local companies at free on board or export parity prices, or to sell a certain propor-tion of their production on national or regional markets (the latter would also set a representative reference price). Impediments to securing upstream inputs !e main di%culties arise from centralized purchasing strategies of most resource extraction multi-nationals and the lack of a domestic business sector with the requisite capacity and access to capital to take up these opportuni-ties. As well as a shortage of basic local human resources, technological expertise to establish these industries is lacking. In addition, lower freight prices, more e%cient logistics and trade liberalization have exposed most input markets to international competition. !e weak development of pan-African markets for in-dustrial goods and services has restricted the emergence of home-grown, innovative $rms. African $rms need to deepen their consumer orientation to promote formation of second- and third-level upstream linkages. 19 Stipulating (and enforcing) minimum local content re-quirements in contracts or licences can help to overcome the di%culties, though this strategy carries risks of en-couraging rent seeking unless it is carefully structured. Investing in appropriate basic and technological education may be costly and usually yields results only in the long term, but results tend to be more sustainable. Human resource de!ciencies According to the World Bank (2009), education in Sub- Saharan Africa is poorer than in other regions. !e min-eral industry alone cannot change this situation, but selective actions by both the private and public sector to build sustainable capacity in geology, mining, minerals processing and extractive metallurgy—to help to local-ize the industry—would work to develop linkages. South Africa is a success with a strong cluster of specialized
  • 129. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 111 goods and service industries as well as established tertiary institutions and programmes geared to transferring and improving skills in the sector. Still, even South Africa’s training at tertiary level is far too low to sustain strong local growth, given the competition for skills interna-tionally. 20 Spatial linkages Sandenbergh et al. (2009) discuss examples of the syner-gistic relationship between bulk mining and infrastructure development leading to signi$cant economic advantages in Africa. Examples include the phosphate industry of Morocco (see box 8.1) as well as the iron-ore industry in Mauritania and the manganese industry in Gabon (box 8.3). !ey also show that building transport and energy infrastructure, linked to bulk mining operations, can have signi$cant direct and indirect economic impacts, including jobs and foreign exchange. Such construction can also lead to upstream linkages to other bulk commodi-ties oen sourced internally, such as aggregate, sand and limestone, and can expand the potential for downstream processing.21 Fauconnier (2004) maintains that opportunities abound in Africa for using infrastructure to foster mineral-based linkages. Strong global mineral demand has increased the viability of many inland deposits, overcoming the high infrastructure capital expenditure (of as much as 70–80 per cent of total capital expenditure on new iron-ore mines). Surging demand could provide the “anchors” for the integrated development of the surrounding stranded potential in other sectors (such as agriculture, forestry and tourism), using a resource or development corridor approach to optimize these spatial linkages provided by the anchor project infrastructure, as in southern Africa through spatial development initiatives.
  • 130. 112 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 8.3 Mauritanian iron ore and Gabonese manganese industries Mauritania Mauritania has extensive iron-ore deposits and has been a major iron-ore producer and exporter for about half a cen-tury. Production started in1963 and by 1966 more than $200 million had been invested in mining, port infrastructure and a dedicated rail line to carry the ore 650 kilometres to the port. By the mid-1970s iron-ore operations had large direct and indirect impacts on the economy, accounting for about 25 per cent of GDP due to the high consumption of utilities (power and water) and links to the transport and service sectors. At the time, iron-ore mining provided nearly 30 per cent of all government revenue.1 Mauritania is the world’s seventh-largest exporter of iron ore. Production is largely controlled by the state company, which produces about 12 billion tonnes of ore a year. The company is developing a $700 million Guelb II project, expected to add approximately 4 million tonnes to annual output.2 Reports suggest plans to “double production fol-lowing extensions to the iron-ore infrastructure and the second installation of the mineral port”.3 Gabon In 2009, Gabon was the seventh-biggest producer of manganese, with about 8 per cent of world production. Comilog is the producer (67 per cent owned by Eramet of France and 25 per cent by the government) at an open pit at Moanda. The pit has an annual capacity of 4 million tonnes of ore. Exports are mainly to China. Comilog has begun building the Moanda Metallurgical Complex, at the Moanda mine.4 It will include a metal produc-tion plant with capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year of manganese metal and 65,000 tonnes a year of silico-manganese metal. The complex is to benefit from the construction of the Poubara hydroelectric power plant, a government project to improve national power supply. Moanda Metallurgical Complex is scheduled to start production in late 2012 or early 2013. The company has reported that improvements to the Trans-Gabon railway, in which Comilog holds a 75 per cent stake, were on target.5 Notes: 1.Handlo, 1988. 2.http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/26/mauritania-mining-production-idUSLDE61P1PH20100226. 3.Mauritanides 2010, www.mauritanides2010.com/. 4. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2009/myb3-2009-gb.pdf 5. Bermudez-Lugo, 2009. Policy implications Although mineral resources are a $nite source of com-parative advantage, global evidence shows that they can catalyse long-term sustained growth and development only if they are managed and supported appropriately. !e right policies and strategies are critical to leveraging the development impacts which the extraction and process-ing naturally generate and which policy planners oen overlook. !e main aspects encompass linkages upstream, downstream, side-stream and laterally from a particular mining operation. !e key drivers for these include a
  • 131. Optimizing Mineral Based Linkages 113 signi$cant entrepreneurial base that can service local, regional and export markets; competitive production (high productivity and low costs relative to competitors’); crasmanship and speci$c skills; access to markets (do-mestic and foreign); good market intelligence; low costs of doing business; low material funding costs; special economic zones; quality assurance; and RD. 22 Africa is in the unique position of collectively possessing all the necessary minerals for industrialization. !e next steps entail getting the basics right—using revenue from the sale of mineral resources to set a foundation on which linkage eects can manifest themselves and multiply. Collective emphasis needs to be placed on harnessing opportunities and minimizing weaknesses. Four critical issues need to be addressed: human capital constraints; weak innovation capacity among $rms; low exports; and $rms’ poor competitiveness, particularly due to poor infrastructure and public services. Policy reforms can be summarized as follows. More consciously and consistently integrating mineral policy into development policy. !is involves a shi away from the traditional (practically exclusive) focus on min-eral extraction. Enhancing primary sector integration into the broader economy. Building backward and forward linkages re-quires complementary strategies, primarily creating the business environment and public sector institutions that foster growth. Second is—as far as governments can— setting terms on access to mineral resources that both impose linkage conditions on mineral rights holders and provide incentives for investors to structure projects in ways that deepen the integration of mineral projects into the broader national and regional economy. Reasonable national local content and value-addition milestones need to be incorporated in mining regimes. Promoting mineral beneciation before export. !e pur-suit of downstream processing of minerals before export should not be placed at the top of the national agenda for the minerals industry in isolation. Bene$ciation contrib-utes to growth and diversi$cation only when it generates above-average upstream and side-stream linkages, and should not be pursued merely because a country is en-dowed with mineral resources. Although some countries have used export taxes to promote downstream process-ing, experience is mixed and such taxes need to be applied judiciously, possibly only aer an independent study has indicated that investment in the next value-addition step is feasible. (New trade agreements, particularly the Eco-nomic Partnership Agreements with the European Union, are likely to complicate use of this instrument—chapter 9.) Directing attention to developing upstream capital goods and service industries. !is is critical for employment generation and for generating new products and processes. Enhancing local linkage development through local par-ticipation and empowerment models. Many bene$ts can #ow from local participation and empowerment models. Extending economic infrastructure. Funding and driving the establishment of economic infrastructure, particularly power and transport, is critical in prudent mineral devel-opment. 23 Policymakers need to maximize the bene$cial spillover eects of infrastructure triggered by mining through resource corridors. Planning needs to explore the collateral or integral use by other economic sectors. Mineral infrastructure needs to allow third-party access at non-discriminatory taris. Expanded infrastructure will also promote rural development. Developing human resources and fostering innovation. Eort needs to be directed to expand higher technical skills required by the minerals industry. Public support is required for innovation in $elds related to natural re-source exploitation through national innovation systems, such as tax incentivization of local RD and technical human resource development, as well as the allocation of some resource rents to developing technological linkages. Pushing regional integration. !e gradual movement towards regional integration would go some way in over-coming barriers to establishing linkages, through creating regional common markets (customs unions). African gov-ernments need to dismantle the numerous impediments to intraregional trade in order to realize the larger regional markets and to overcome the high barriers to entry that are related to poor economies of scale for many mineral
  • 132. 114 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes backward and forward linkage opportunities (discussed further in chapter 9). In order to soen currency appre-ciation (Dutch Disease) and to access regional markets, South Africa’s New Growth Path24 has mooted creat-ing an African Development Fund to invest in regional infrastructure and so stimulate intraregional trade and investment. (See also, Jourdan, 2010, for a proposal for an African regional development fund to support long-term regional physical and knowledge infrastructure). In conclusion, successful linkage development relies on simultaneous multi-factor promotion: skills, savings, busi-ness performance, governance, pricing, policy making and implementation capacity. It is also premised on maximiz-ing the development impact of a resource endowment by optimizing potential investor market interest in realizing wide-ranging linkages, given the demand for speci$c resources at a given time. Most important, given the cross-cutting nature of the issues that have to be resolved to promote linkage devel-opment, an integrated sectoral and spatial strategic ap-proach is fundamental. Not only do all stakeholders have to work together (labour, business and government), but multiple government departments and agencies need to play constructive roles, nationally and regionally. Endnotes 1. African Union Commission, 1980: para. 77. 2. African Union Commission, 1980: 172. 3. Aroca, 2001; Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Wright and Czelusta, 2003. 4. Stanton and Polatajko, 2001. 5 Lydall, 2009. 6 Aroca, 2001; San Cristobal and Biezma, 2006. 7. Walker, 2001. 8. SADC, 2000. 9. Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Baxter, 2009. 10. Walker and Jourdan, 2003. 11 Walker, 2001. 12. Walker and Jourdan, 2003; Walker and Minnitt, 2006. 13. AUC, 2008. 14. Yepes et al., 2009; Eberhard et al., 2008; and Foster, 2008. 15 Limão and Venables, 2001; Lahti, 2007; Eifert et al., 2008; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 16 Portugal-Perez and Wilson, 2008. 17 World Bank, 2009. 18. Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 19 Lahti, 2007. 20. Walker and Minnitt, 2006; Sandenbergh et al., 2009. 21. Bermudez-Lugo (2009). 22. Baxter, 2009. 23. Additionally, information and communications technology systems, bulk water and waste-treatment plants, housing, airports, education and training centres, and retail outlets all help to realize long-term sustainable agglomeration eects. 24. Government of South Africa, 2010.
  • 133. 115 International Trade and Investment Issues 9 CHAPTER “As a knowledge-driven, vibrant and competitive mining sector is crucial for Africa, it is important to be fully aware of existing interna-tional trade and investment regimes for mineral resources and the implications of speci#c provisions of any treaties signed as many of these treaties retard the development of a value added African mineral sec-tor”— !e Africa Mining Vision HISTORY AND THE experience of other, now indus-trialized, countries show that the international trade and investment regimes as well as domestic trade, investment and industrial policies are critical in the transition and development of domestically owned industrial $rms. Most African countries have indeed in the past two decades carried out far-reaching economic, trade and investment liberalization, initially prompted by conditions imposed by primarily the World Bank and the International Mon-etary Fund, and subsequently reinforced by changes in such regimes. Yet such liberalization has accentuated the structural vul-nerabilities of mineral-producing developing countries. Today, instead of economic diversi$cation, they have on average less diversi$ed economies that are more concen-trated, for instance, in low value-added mineral and ag-ricultural exports—both of which are extremely sensitive to external price shocks. !e Africa Mining Vision (AMV) recognizes that if African countries are to move to mining sectors that are integrated into national and regional economies, with domestic $rms heavily involved, and from the current predominance of mining enclaves, governments will have to push through substantial shis in policy and practice in a range of eco-nomic sectors. It acknowledges that transforming the mining enclave into part of a dynamic resources-based industrial economy will require “proactive and deliberate actions from key stakeholders, particularly governments”. 1 !is chapter looks at the scope granted by current interna-tional trade and investment regimes for national strategies. It focuses on actions by governments to promote industrial development, economic diversi$cation and value addition along the mineral value chain, and local enterprise promo-tion. It covers issues such as policy instruments for eco-nomic diversi$cation and industrial development and tools to enhance value addition. !e legal architecture for trade and investment is based on agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and on international investment and trade agreements such as bilateral investment treaties, and bilateral, regional and multi-lateral trade agreements.
  • 134. 116 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes e context !e Addis Declaration, a precursor to the AMV2 , called on “AU Member States to work together to ensure that international agreements that they enter into enhance rather than undermine Africa’s policy space for integrat-ing mineral resources development into their economies”. !e declaration took into account that African countries are increasingly negotiating trade and investment agree-ments, especially with developed countries, that require greater liberalization than required by the WTO. !ey typically involve greater liberalization of trade in goods and services, rules on investment and public procurement, as well as more stringent intellectual property protection. !e declaration therefore urged African countries and regional economic communities to ensure that current negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and overall WTO negotiations do not limit national devel-opment policy, and do avoid the “lock-in eect” of trade liberalization, which has accentuated the commodity dependence of low-income African countries. Historically, the space and #exibility of international rules on tari application, subsidies, export restrictions, performance requirements for foreign $rms and intel-lectual property were exploited by countries implement-ing national industrial development policies. !e newly industrialized economies of Asia are o-cited examples, but “indeed there are few examples of successful indus-trialization where government did not actively promote industry”3 !e current international trade and investment regime has accentuated developing countries’ di%culties in advanc-ing their national interest and sustainable development objectives. International agreements have progressively reduced the scope for national development strategies and policies of the type that were employed for the transition of today’s industrialized countries, including producers of natural resource-based mineral commodities.4 !ese agreements have, for example, constrained the possibili-ties of using subsidies to develop local production of new products or new methods of production, and of impos-ing on foreign investors performance requirements that favour technology transfer and the use of domestically produced components. v Although developing countries can bene$t from WTO’s Special and Dierentiated Treatment provisions, one assessment of these provisions concluded that it was doubtful that current provisions were enough to enable least-developed countries, for example, to promote their economic development and reduce their international eco-nomic marginalization. !e majority of these provisions failed to exempt such countries from WTO rules, in line with their development, because many of the provisions were “best endeavour” clauses rather than obligations.6 !e greater trade liberalization process has accentuated the structural vulnerabilities of mineral-producing devel-oping countries. Today, instead of economic diversi$ca-tion, they have less diversi$ed economies that are more concentrated, for instance, on low-value-added mineral and agricultural exports, which are extremely sensitive to external price shocks. UNCTAD (2010) noted that “By the end of the 1990s the production structure of the [Sub-Saharan African] sub-region had become reminis-cent of the colonial period, consisting overwhelmingly of agriculture and mining.” Tari#s Taris are the most commonly used trade instrument for supporting industrialization. All today’s industrial econo-mies used them extensively to protect infant industries as they evolved towards competitiveness. Moreover, les-sons from other parts of the world, especially Asia, show that taris were important in developing manufacturing for domestic and export markets. Taris can contribute to very positive (but dierent) industrial and domestic enterprise development outcomes. 7 Tari reduction has been a centrepiece of trade liber-alization since the 1980s, accompanied by a decline of
  • 135. International Trade and Investment Issues 117 manufacturing in, for example, Africa and Latin America. !e application of taris has become more contentious since the creation of the WTO and the consequent pro-hibition and circumscription of many domestic policy instruments that were key elements of pre-WTO indus-trial policy toolkits. !e Uruguay Round reduced average industrial taris by all WTO members but le developing countries with considerable #exibility by not requiring wholesale liberalization of all tari lines. Rather, each developing country was free to determine which tari lines to “bind” and the extent of tari reduction on each product line. Most African countries have bound only a proportion of their taris and these are at relatively high levels. In prac-tice, however, the applied rates are much lower because of conditions attached to lending by the Bretton Woods in-stitutions or governments’ commitments through bilateral and regional trade agreements. In some African countries, local manufacturers of industrial mineral products (such as cement manufacturers in East Africa and aluminium product manufacturers in Ghana) have complained about the damaging eects of tari reduction and the #ood of competing imports as a result of trade liberalization.8 !e non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations under the WTO’s Doha Round could drastically restrict the use of industrial taris that came out of the Uruguay Round. On the basis of proposals from developed coun-tries, NAMA seeks to bind and reduce industrial taris, harmonizing taris among products and countries.9 !e immediate eects on Africa will vary from heavy impacts on the eight African countries that are expected to cut their taris using the “Swiss formula”, to smaller impacts on least-developed countries that will not be required to apply the formula (but will still be required to increase the proportion of goods with bound taris). Even the least-developed countries will thus see their policy space constricted. Akyuz (2009) has noted that “an irreversible commit-ment to low taris across a whole range of sectors would carry the risk of locking developing countries into the prevailing international division of labour since many of them would need to provide support and protection to new sectors needed for industrial upgrading”. Overall, the longer-term implications of proposed binding and cuts in industrial taris could be detrimental to capital accumulation, technological progress and productivity growth since these hold the key to narrowing income gaps and catching up with richer countries. Outside the WTO, various free trade agreements—nota-bly the EPAs between the majority of African countries and their biggest trading partner, the European Union (EU)—will restrict the use of taris on imports from the EU. !e EPAs are intended to replace the preferential trade arrangements under the Cotonou Agreement with WTO-compatible trade agreements, but they cover much more than trade in goods. Under the EPAs taris will be eliminated on up to 80 per cent of imports from the EU over speci$ed periods in exchange for duty- and quota-free access to EU markets. Standstill provisions mean that new taris cannot be introduced and existing ones cannot be increased. Given the size and diversity of manufactures that Africa imports from the EU10—in 2006 machinery, chemicals and manufactured goods accounted for 78 per cent of imports from the EU —eliminating taris will aect the support that they can provide in developing local manufacturing industry, including mineral-based activities. Interim EPAs contain narrow lists of sensitive products that are excluded from tari elimination; they also have very narrow provisions for protecting infant industry. !ese provisions do not, however, make up for the policy freedom lost by the taris eliminated on most European goods under the EPAs. Although it is hard to make spe-ci $c pronouncements about these provisions’ precise constraining implications for mineral-based industri-alization, national and regional negotiators do not seem to have considered the development of these and related sectors when drawing up the sensitive product lists. In most cases the lists’ composition was informed by static considerations of the needs of current industries: dynamic policy objectives, such as diversifying economically and setting up new industries, played very little part. National governments and regional blocs also failed to coordinate coverage of sensitive product lists across EPA groupings. !is omission will make the creation of
  • 136. 118 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes trans-boundary value chains much more di%cult, which also implies that the value addition of mineral products will not be optimized. “!is means that future policies to promote the development of new productive sectors will not be able to incorporate a selective tari protection element, typical of these policies and largely used in the past by today’s developed countries”. 11 Industrial taris are not always the best tool to promote di-versi $cation and technological upgrading. But developing countries need them in their arsenal: taris on particular product categories, re#ecting the path of technological upgrading, can be a key instrument of sectoral policy to support diversi$cation and technological improvement.12 Similarly, Akyuz (2009) notes that “since industries do not emerge spontaneously, taris may need to be raised for new, more advanced industries (e.g., high-tech products) as they emerge sequentially in the process of industrial upgrading, while being phased out for less advanced industries (labour-intensive and low-tech products) as they gain competitiveness. !us, at any point in time, eective use of taris for industrialization would require the coexistence of very low and very high taris…In the process of sequential build-up of competitive industries under temporary infant-industry protection, the optimal level and structure of taris would change over time.” !us trade agreements should be in line with developing countries’ ability to diversify and upgrade technologically. Non-tari# barriers Non-tari barriers in potential markets, especially de-veloped countries, have long constrained the viability of processing and bene$ciation industries in developing countries that export raw materials. !e number of tech-nical measures, such as safety standards and technical regulations, as well as those promoting environmental objectives, has increased. By 2006 little more than 10 years aer the Uruguay Round was concluded, government-mandated testing and certi$cation requirements had risen sevenfold. Legitimate non-tari barriers for meeting environmen-tal concerns oer opportunities to access new markets or maintain existing ones, based on environmentally sound practices. Problems arise, though, when the pur-pose of technical measures goes beyond their legitimate objectives. Some countries may use them as strategic instruments of trade policy, such that measures become a form of protectionism and can unfairly restrict imports.13 A recent proposal from Argentina on the NAMA nego-tiations points out that non-tari barriers, for example in the chemical sector, distort international trade and increase export-related transaction costs for domestic industries, placing them at a clear disadvantage relative to other WTO producers. During the past few years, several mineral-exporting countries have expressed concern about the potential for national and regional legislation to become non-tari bar-riers to developing-country mining exports. One notable case is examined in box 9.1.
  • 137. International Trade and Investment Issues 119 Box 9.1 Anxieties over REACH Highlights The Regulatory Framework for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) is the European Union (EU) chemicals legislation that will manage the safe use of chemicals throughout their entire lifecycle. It has particular ramifications for metal producers, applying directly to metals, metal compounds and metals in alloy manu-factured in and imported into the EU. In effect since June 2007 the REACH system has four pillars: registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals. It will apply to all substances, on their own, in preparations and in articles manufactured in or imported into the EU market in quantities of 1 tonne or more a year. REACH requires most chemicals within the scope of the Regulation to be registered in order to have the right to be manufactured in and to have access to the EU market. Pre-registration and registration apply directly to metals, metal compounds and metals in alloys manufactured in or imported into the EU market. It does not apply to minerals, ores and ore concentrates if they are not chemically modi-fied. Without pre-registration, access to the EU is denied. If pre-registration is not completed and the marketing or use of the substance continues, the producer or importer and clients are at risk, as marketing is then illegal.1 Concerns Government and industry representatives in Latin America, North America and Africa have expressed their concerns that REACH rules have the potential to become a non-tariff barrier to mining-related products. t The India-Brazil-South Africa Ministerial Declaration made in March 2006 in Brazil expressed concern at the unintended consequences of REACH on developing economies. It urged the EU to ensure that REACH would not become a technical barrier to trade. Ministers also expressed concerns that high compliance costs, the possibilities for substituting commodities and the lack of technological and human resource capacity to comply might render the EU market inaccessible for exports from developing countries. The South African representative noted that REACH would impose additional costs of approximately €9.2 billion on developing countries as well as entail a lengthy registration process. t Ministers from 26 African countries at the Second African Mining Partnership Plenary in February 2005 in Cape Town expressed their concerns about potential “unintended consequences” of REACH legislation on exports to Europe of African mineral products and the need, therefore, to ensure that REACH would “not create obstacles to economic development and poverty reduction strategies of African states”. They called for exemptions, simplified procedures and assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to comply with REACH rules. Source: Yupari, 2010. Notes: Export taxes Export taxes can play a key role in developing competitive industries in commodity-dependent developing countries, and are widely used: recent data suggest that 11 per cent of world trade in natural resources is covered by export taxes,14 but just 5 per cent of total world trade. Some 15–25 per cent of world trade in $sh and forestry, and 5–10 per cent of that in fuels and mining, are also estimated to be covered by export taxes. !ese taxes are not prohibited by the relevant WTO agreement.15 Many regional trade agreements have, however, forbidden their use on the basis that they can distort trade and prices,
  • 138. 120 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes such as those under the EU, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), CARICOM, MERCOSUR and ANZCERTA. Some bilateral free-trade agreements also prohibit export taxes, such as Canada–Chile, Can-ada– Costa Rica, Japan–Singapore and the EU–Mexico.16 In the mining industry, the incidence of these taxes varies greatly among product sub-headings, with iron, copper, natural or cultured pearls and stones the most frequently subject to export taxes (table 9.1). Table 9.1 Export taxes on selected minerals Mineral commodity Country Export tax rate (per cent unless otherwise noted) Aluminium China 15 Russia 6.5 Indonesia 10 Manganese China 20 Ghana 6 Molybdenum China 15–20 Russia 6.5 Nickel Russia 5–30 (depending upon form) Ukraine 30, but not less than €5.50/kilogram Steel scrap China 10 Russia 15 or €15/metric ton (whichever is larger) India 15 Argentina 20 Guinea GNF25,000/metric ton ($4.98 at current rates) Vietnam 35 Tin China 10–20 Russia 6.5 Congo, Dem. Rep. of 11 Indonesia 10 Tungsten China 10 Russia 6.5 Zinc China 5–15 Ukraine 30, but not less than €0.32/kilogram Source: Price, 2009. Many developed economies, notably the United States, EU and Japan, are increasingly critical of export taxes and other export restrictions. !ey argue that these distort trade and pose a threat to the competitiveness of their $rms by driving up the price of their inputs while lower-ing them for their competitors. China in particular has been targeted by both the United States and the EU and accused of giving unfair advantage to its export $rms by placing restrictions, including taxes on some of its exports, in particular rare earths. In 2009 the United States and EU lodged coordinated complaints against China at the WTO, arguing that its export restrictions on raw materials such as coking coal were distorting the global market and damaging their steel manufacturers.17 !e EU, which imports 70–80 per cent of its primary resources, had already declared “an open global market completely free of all distortions on trade in energy and raw materials” as a key goal of its trade policy.18 !e EU’s strategy of using free trade agreements to prohibit or restrict the use of export taxes has been implemented through EPAs, which go well beyond the goods agree-ments needed for WTO compatibility. For example, the goods agreement of the comprehensive EPA signed in
  • 139. International Trade and Investment Issues 121 2007 between the EU and the 15-member Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) contains an undertaking by the Caribbean countries to eliminate export taxes within three years. !e interim EPAs with African countries and regions contain various provisions that aim to eliminate or severely restrict the use of export taxes to exceptional circumstances or on mutual agreement. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, for example, can apply export taxes if they can show exceptional circumstances, the East African Community can use export taxes if it is authorized by an EPA Council and Cameroun and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) need to consult the European Commission before applying such taxes.19 Such provisions limit the ability of African signatory countries and regions to use export taxes in promoting the process-ing of primary commodities, including minerals. Some African, Caribbean and Paci$c countries have ex-pressed concerns about the EPA restrictions on export taxes based on implications for policies aimed at stimu-lating movement up the value chain. In April 2008 a conference of African Union ministers of trade and of $nance issued a joint declaration on the EPAs in which they called for the review of various provisions in the interim EPAs, including those on export taxes. Disagreement over export taxes is one of the more conten-tious issues holding up the conclusion of comprehensive EPAs involving African EPA groupings.20 Namibia signed the SADC interim EPA only aer reserving the right not to implement the agreement unless the provision on export taxes was lied. Even though export taxes are not a magic bullet, they could be part of policy strategies that provide incentives for developing domestic manufacturing or processing industries that have higher value-added exports and that generate jobs in mineral-rich developing economies. 21 !e Dar es Salaam Declaration of Trade Ministers of LDCs calls for #exibility in using export taxes on fuels and mining commodities as they are legitimate tools for development.22 Furthermore, a well-designed progressive export tax system could serve as an income stabilization instrument—tax rates follow world commodity prices up and down, capturing windfall gains and moderating the adverse impact of falling prices on producers’ income.23 Distortion of market price signals is a potential negative eect of export taxes. For this reason, some authors have suggested that policymakers should also consider other potential counter-eects such as intermediate traders’ rather than processors’ appropriation of the lower cost margin as a result of imperfections in internal markets, and the negative impacts on the country’s terms of trade if the international market for the processed good is domi-nated by a single buyer.24 Foreign investment regulation and domestic policy space Africa’s liberal mining regimes illustrate the importance its governments give to attracting foreign direct invest-ment (FDI). Many governments see extensive foreign investment regulations—in, for example, WTO agree-ments, regional or bilateral trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties (BITs)—as trade-os for securing FDI. BITs are important international binding instruments that shape the current framework for FDI. From the very beginning, treaties focused on investment protection against nationalization or expropriation, assurances for the free transfer of funds and the provision for dispute-settlement mechanisms between investors and host states. Developed countries sign BITs to open investment oppor-tunities for their $rms abroad, and developing countries sign them to increase FDI. But the in#uence of BITs in attracting investment is disputed, with separate studies by UNCTAD and the World Bank concluding that their in#uence is at best marginal.25 !e General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) are WTO’s agreements with the most direct and indirect provisions on FDI. GATS creates a framework under which WTO members decide which service sectors and subsectors they will liberalize, subject to the basic
  • 140. 122 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes principles of market access and national treatment and to the conditions to which access and treatment are subject. GATS therefore oers countries the option of allowing foreign service providers entry into their markets under conditions that they pre-determine. It covers a wide range of services from the most complex to the simplest deliv-ered through four modes of supply of services. Delivery mode 3—“commercial presence”, which covers FDI by service suppliers—is the key mode for foreign investment regulation. Market access and national treatment under GATS have implications for domestic policy space, especially in di-recting foreign investment towards national development goals and in promoting domestic enterprises. Most Afri-can countries have few prospects for exporting services, especially under mode 3, and so commitments may not come with any reciprocal bene$ts. !us despite requests from other WTO member countries—mainly developed economies—most African countries have been cautious in making commitments, though some have made sweeping commitments in many sectors and sub-sectors under modes 1, 2 and 3. For example, the United States made a request to Ghana in 2002 demanding removal of all limita-tions on market access and permit national treatment in the provision of energy services under modes 1, 2 and 3. !e extent to which these agreements can help African countries to balance investment protection and wider economic development depends on their content and on whether rules and limitations they impose are consistent with countries’ broader development goals and social expectations.26 !e important question is therefore whether and how far African countries can retain the ability to make the choices and decisions necessary for promoting their na-tional development objectives by in#uencing, through direct or indirect measures, the amount and kinds of FDI that they receive, and more important, freely regulate the conduct of the foreign $rms involved. Performance requirements One area where the constraining eects of the interna-tional investment regulatory regime are patent concerns performance requirements on foreign $rms, described as “a hallmark of industrial policy”. Historically, countries have combined incentives with regulations to encour-age $rms, especially foreign, to deepen and extend their integration into local economies and to ful$l national development objectives. !ese measures have been used to pursue a range of policy objectives, including increas-ing the use of local content, especially by foreign $rms, as well as promoting export manufacturing, technology transfer and joint ventures between local and foreign $rms; developing local human resources; encouraging learning by doing; and creating jobs.27 TRIMS outlawed many performance requirements, forbid-ding those inconsistent with the international principle of national treatment or the prohibition on quantitative restrictions stated by the General Agreement on Taris and Trade (GATT). TRIMs is not intended to regulate investment speci$cally and does not directly aect WTO members’ ability to regulate and place conditions on the entry and use of foreign investment.28 From a development perspective the important point is TRIMs’ “prohibition of domestic-content requirements whereby an investor is compelled or provided an incentive to use domestically produced rather than imported products, and of foreign-trade or foreign-exchange-balancing earnings or to foreign exchange in#ows attributable to investment”.29 National policy and legal measures favouring domestic products could therefore con#ict with TRIMs measures. Developing countries strongly opposed TRIMs and many have shown little enthusiasm for eliminating the instru-ments it targets since they see them as necessary for en-couraging industrialization. Many also feel that TRIMs imposes restrictions on government action without re-ciprocal restrictions on the actions of multi-nationals. According to UNCTAD (2007: 1): “Many countries have used these performance re-quirements as a tool to maximize the bene#ts from foreign direct investment (FDI). For instance, local content requirements, which force foreign investors
  • 141. International Trade and Investment Issues 123 to purchase a proportion of their production inputs from domestic sources, are generally designed to create local jobs and training, promote the transfer of technology and ameliorate trade imbalances”. At the 2005 WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong it was agreed that least-developed countries could continue to apply existing TRIMs till 2012 subject to further extension by the WTO Council for Trade in Goods. Furthermore least-developed countries could introduce new TRIMs for $ve years from 2005, which could be extended. But all least-developed countries are to phase out all TRIMs by 2020. !ese decisions should have been signi$cant for Africa, which has 33 of the 49 countries classi$ed as least-developed countries, including mineral-rich countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. Because the Doha Round is incomplete, however, these decisions have not been implemented, though least-developed coun-tries could press for them to be treated as an early harvest from the negotiations, so that they come into force before the Doha Round negotiations are concluded. Performance and economic requirements such as those to increase linkages between foreign investors and local manufacturers would help in balancing extensive liber-alization normally promoted by international investment agreements, and it is possible to make them consistent with WTO rules. Local content and technology transfer meas-ures could help to establish upstream and downstream linkages and contribute towards the host country’s eco-nomic development.30 But performance requirements need to have clear objectives and to be eectively enforced. As seen, since the 1990s Africa’s strategy for attracting FDI into mining has involved a liberal approach to how and where companies source their inputs of goods and services. Some countries allow mining companies to retain a large slice of their foreign exchange earnings outside the producing country to cover their imports and other operational expenses. In Ghana, for instance, the central bank allowed external retention of 80 per cent in 2008 and 2009, though according to the Ghana Chamber of Mines actual external retention was only 37 per cent in 2008 and 34 per cent in 2009, and in 2008, Ghana’s LSM procured 47 per cent of inputs and 71 per cent of consumables lo-cally. 31 !e dierence between allowable retentions and actual foreign procurement in the Ghanaian case could be an example of how mining $rms are becoming more sensitive to host country interests in backward/upstream linkages. Mining companies’ local content strategies have tended to focus on their immediate scope of work, that is, those construction or management functions and activities es-sential to develop or operate the project. Policies should therefore seek to better align these strategies with aspects of public economic policy and priorities for industrial development, private sector development, investment promotion and competitiveness.32 Performance requirements and BITs Some regional and bilateral agreements are much more restrictive than TRIMs on performance requirements because they address all measures regulating FDI, not just those related to trade. NAFTA, for example, prohibits performance requirements as a condition for making, or aer making, an investment.33 BITs with the United States, exempli$ed by that with Rwanda (box 9.2), have prohibitions on investment performance requirements that go well beyond those that are only trade related.34
  • 142. 124 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 9.2 Excerpts from the 2008 US–Rwanda BIT Article 8: Performance Requirements 1. Neither Party may, in connection with the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, or sale or other disposition of an investment of an investor of a Party or of a non-Party in its territory, impose or enforce any requirement or enforce any commitment or undertaking: (a) to export a given level or percentage of goods or services; (b) to achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content; (c) to purchase, use, or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from persons in its territory; (d) to relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign exchange inflows associated with such investment; (e) to restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings; (f) to transfer a particular technology, a production process, or other proprietary knowledge to a person in its territory; or (g) to supply exclusively from the territory of the Party the goods that such investment produces or the services that it supplies to a specific regional market or to the world market. 2. Neither Party may condition the receipt or continued receipt of an advantage, in connection with the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, or sale or other disposition of an investment in its territory of an investor of a Party or of a non-Party, on compliance with any requirement: (a) to achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content; (b) to purchase, use, or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from persons in its territory; (c) to relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign exchange inflows associated with such investment; or (d) to restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings. US and Canadian BITs typically seek pre-establishment concessions, which mean that investors bene$t from most favoured nation treatment and national treatment even before they set up. !ey are therefore released from per-formance requirements, which tend to be conditions for entry. EU BITs, in contrast, tend to make most favoured nation and national treatment status subsequent to entry, making an investor more susceptible to performance requirements.35 Some BITs have started to refer to sensitive issues such as human rights and socio-economic development overall. South Africa’s more recent BITs, for example, refer to its Black Economic Empowerment programme (box 9.3).
  • 143. International Trade and Investment Issues 125 Box 9.3 South Africa’s BITs and development challenges Post-apartheid South Africa pushed for BITs to open the country to greater foreign investment. However, questions are being raised over the compatibility of some of the terms of BITs that have extensive policy measures, such as those on improving the lot of historically disadvantaged South Africans. The relationship between the country’s constitutional provisions aimed at redressing the effects of many decades of deeply entrenched social injustice and the limitations imposed by some BITs is also a subject of discussion. Some foreign investors and their governments argue that the Black Economic Empowerment programme runs counter to the guarantees provided in treaty obligations offering national treatment, most favoured nation treatment, or fair and equitable treatment. The programme has measures for employment-equity, preferential access to government contracts and licences as well as sector-specific charters that require companies to meet indicators and targets for divestiture of minority equity stakes to partners in the programme. To avoid such arguments, the BIT with the Czech Republic specifically upholds measures to promote equality or advance people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. The government’s BIT Policy Framework Review of 2009 stated that major issues for developing countries were not being addressed in the BIT negotiating process, thereby imposing rules with severe implications for sustainable development. It argued that investment provisions in BITs did not compel foreign companies to transfer technology, train local workers or obtain materials locally. Also missing were special or differential treatment clauses that would specifically provide for the economic development of treaty parties. Finally, it found that treaties appeared to favour the interests of developed countries and their business entities, and lacked adequate safeguards, exceptions and limitations necessary for legitimate government activity. Sources: Bastida and Yupari, 2009; Department of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa, 2009a, 2009b; South African Human Rights Commission, 2009; Peterson, 2006. Performance requirements in EPAs !e EPAs between the EU and some African regions— including interim EPAs with 18 African countries signed at end-2007—could restrict African countries’ policy freedom in regulating EU investors. !e interim EPAs cover only goods but contain varying provisions on trade issues, such as investment, competition, public procure-ment, services and intellectual property, which could be the subject of future negotiations under “rendezvous” clauses. !e interim EPAs of the Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community have the most comprehensive provisions.36 !e EU retains a consistency in its demands for compre-hensive EPAs with all African negotiating regions. Of the African, Caribbean and Paci$c members, only the CARIFORUM grouping has concluded a comprehensive EPA, and its provisions oer pointers to what the EU will be seeking in African EPAs. !is agreement has been described as “exceeding”, in that it goes far beyond the thresholds for determining WTO compatibility laid down in article XXIV of the GATT, article V of the GATS as well as many “WTO-plus” terms. On this basis Sauvé and Ward (2009) conclude that: “!e CARIFORUM EPA represents a signi#cant de-parture from earlier trade arrangements between the [European Commission] and the CARIFORUM region by moving beyond goods trade and incorporating ar-eas such as trade in services, investment, government procurement, competition policy and trade-related intellectual property matters. … Indeed, even while allowing for inevitable dierences in EPAs to be (pos-sibly) concluded with the African and Paci#c regions owing to dierences in economic structures, develop-ment levels and collective preferences, the argument can be made that the CARIFORUM EPA has set the
  • 144. 126 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes bar for all subsequent EPA negotiations and perhaps indeed for future preferential trade agreements (PTAs) entered into by the EU. !ere is little doubt that such a bar is quite high”. Provisions under the services, investment and competition agreements in the CARIFORUM EPA combine to limit the powers of CARIFORUM countries to regulate the entry of EU capital, and set the terms on which EU $rms enter and operate. All these agreements provide for the national treatment of EU capital in CARIFORUM countries, such that they cannot be disadvantaged in any way relative to local economic actors, by measures such as performance requirements. Under the investment agreement, the par-ties agreed to remove restrictions on foreign ownership, prohibit the use of instruments normally used to screen foreign investment for its local bene$ts and to provide na-tional treatment for foreign capital, which implies outlaw-ing performance requirements “that encourage economic linkages or protect domestic enterprises”.37 “!us, by sidelining domestic tools to encourage for-eign investment, the EPA model displaces the adapt-ability that domestic instruments oer in terms of the tailoring and staging of regulation as the costs and bene#ts of market access in dierent sectors become more apparent over time. It is in this sense that the EPA model demands that [African, Caribbean and Paci#c] states relinquish core policy space; they must accept legal restrictions in a treaty instrument that lacks adaptability and that will be very di%cult to adjust or withdraw from”.38 Expropriation provisions Expropriation ranked among the top controversial issues when international laws on investment were developed. !e basic principles of customary international law on expropriation state that foreign-owned property may not be expropriated or subject to a measure tantamount to expropriation unless four conditions are met: the measure is for public purposes; it is taken in accordance with ap-plicable laws and due process; it is non-discriminatory; and it is accompanied by compensation.39 International legal doctrine distinguishes between two broad categories of expropriation: direct expropriation, which entails the actual taking of property by direct means, including the loss of all, or almost all, useful con-trol over property; and indirect taking, where the meas-ure deprives the owner of the substantial bene$ts of the property, without formal expropriation. One important type of indirect taking is a regulatory expropriation, where a measure is taken for regulatory purposes, but has an impact on the economic value of the investment su%cient to be considered an expropriation. In recent years, the potential for investment disputes over alleged regulatory expropriation has shot up. !e literature suggests that the main challenge is how to distinguish between legitimate exercise of government authority and regulatory taking that requires compensation. Investor–state dispute settlement International investment agreements oen provide for settling disputes by negotiation between the parties. Some include provisions authorizing arbitration between foreign investors and host states without involving the investor’s home state. !e most elaborate provision for investor–state arbitration is in NAFTA (and some recent FTAs that fol-low the NAFTA model). NAFTA authorizes the investor to submit claims that the host state has breached the investment chapter of NAFTA to arbitration before the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Additional Facility or an ad hoc tribunal under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. NAFTA provisions address issues that provisions in international investment agreements are oen silent on, such as the submission of the same dispute to local courts, the place of arbitration, appointment of experts, remedies available, interim measures and enforcement of awards.40 Since the late 1990s, the number of treaty-based inves-tor– state disputes has grown enormously. Some have
  • 145. International Trade and Investment Issues 127 gone to the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, ad hoc arbitration, and the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration. !e rise in such disputes has triggered discussion on what should be the proper counterweight to investors’ rights in inter-national investment agreements. Some recent agreements emphasize public policy concerns, balancing private and public interests by including general exceptions to protect public health, safety or the environment. Policy implications As the number of trade and investment agreements contin-ues to expand, a new generation of agreements is emerg-ing with sophisticated and complex provisions in which countries and multi-national companies have to work. Developing countries may face two main challenges. 41 First is a challenge of capacity. Many lack the resources to participate fully in writing and implementing interna-tional investment rules. Without the necessary knowledge, negotiators from African (and other) developing countries may $nd it hard to take part in talks to obtain conces-sions, or may engage in them without fully grasping the consequences of any agreement they reach. Second is a challenge of content. Countries may $nd it di%cult to link the goal of creating a stable, predictable and transparent FDI policy framework that enables in-ternational $rms to advance their objectives with their own objective of retaining the margin of freedom needed to pursue their development goals. It is of overriding importance for African and other de-veloping countries to maintain a consistent eye for the full implications of the speci$c provisions of any treaties they are invited to enter, and not to sign them on the basis of what could turn out to be a naïve faith in these treaties’ objectives and signi$cance. Endnotes 1 AUC-UNECA, 2009: 7, emphasis added. 2. !e Addis Ababa Declaration on Development and Management of Africa’s Mineral Resources, adopted by the First African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development, October 2008. 3. ul Haque, 2007. 4. UNCTAD, 2006a. 5. UNCTAD, 2006a. 6. UNCTAD, 2010. 7. Chang, 2005. 8. China Cement Net, 2010; East Africa seeks higher taris for cement imports. http://www.cementchina.net/news/shownews. asp?id=7184 We must stop the Chinese onslaught- Aluworks boss. http://www.ghananewslink.com/?id=12708 9. Botswana, Egypt, Gabon, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Tunisia. 10. European Commission, 2007. 11. South Centre, 2008. 12. UNCTAD, 2006. 13. UNCTAD, 2006b. 14 WTO, 2010. 15. According to Article XI.I of GATT “No prohibitions or restrictions other than duties, taxes or other charges, whether made eective through quotas, import or export licences or other measures, shall be instituted or maintained by any contracting party on the im-portation of any product of the territory of any other contracting party or on the exportation or sale for export of any product destined for the territory of any other contracting party.” 16. Piermartini, 2004.
  • 146. 128 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes 17. O%ce of the United States Trade Representative, 2009. 18. Mandelson, 2008. 19. Stevens et al., 2008. 20. AUC, 2010. 21. !ird World Network, 2010. 22. WTO, 2009. 23. WTO, 2010. 24. Piermartini, 2004. 25. Hallward-Driemeier, 2003. 26. Mann, 2008. 27. UNCTAD, 2006b. 28. UNCTAD, 2007a. 29 Akyuz, 2005: 54. 30. Singh, 2007. 31. Ghana Chamber of Mines, 2009. 32. ODI(Overseas Development Institute), 2006. 33. Yupari, 2010. 34. Tobin and Rose-Ackerman, 2003. 35. Molineuvo et al, 2006; Malik, 2006. 36. Stevens et al., 2008. 37. Van Harten,2008. 38. Van Harten,2008. 39. UNCTAD, 2007b. 40. UNCTAD, 2006b. 41. UNCTAD, 2007b.
  • 147. 129 Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 10 CHAPTER “A well-governed mining sector contributing to an industrializing Africa”—!e Africa Mining Vision ONE OF THE central themes in this report is the need for a shi in policy focus from a concentration on extracting minerals to a broader framework that integrates policies for mining, industry and development. !is follows from the goals in the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) of a sector that is not only “a key component of a diversi$ed, vibrant and globally competitive industrializing African econo-my”, but is also “knowledge-driven” and “catalyzes and contributes to…. broad-based growth and development”. Other chapters have suggested that this central theme and these goals have implications for institutional policy. !is chapter seeks to explore these implications, as well as those relating to ful$lling the vision of a sustainable and well-governed mining sector. Rethinking the role of institutions to meet development objectives Integrated policies on industrialization and development require an analysis of the links between the institutions re-sponsible for mining and those for other sectors (such as infrastructure, agriculture, trade, industrial development, technical training, employment and health).!ey also require an analysis of these institutions’ capacities. Mkandawire (2010) re-emphasizes a conception of institutions as (potentially) “transformative instruments in the context of extreme poverty and under-development” and not merely as “constraints on social actors”.1 A recent review of the African state in post-colonial economic performance reveals the controversy over state institutions directly engaged in production, marketing and other com-mercial activities.2It also notes the impact of World Bank programmes in weakening state institutions already in cri-sis and in promoting an ideology inconsistent with build-ing a set of strong programmes to lead eorts at structural transformation. It argues for a “developmental state”—a state that “provides [leadership and] guidance in constructing … [a comprehensive development] framework”; a framework that contains “incentives and sanctions, so that economic agents who meet targets are rewarded and those who fail are penal-ized”. It recognizes that development policy requires dialogue with key social and economic agents, but argues that, because “free market forces will not drive economic transformation on their own, the developmental state must play a central role in resource allocation and in e%cient coordination of crucial economic activities”.3 Evans (2010) makes the seemingly obvious point that “only a #exible, creative process of exploration and experimenta-tion that pays careful attention to local institutional starting points” can help to establish institutional arrangements that produce a developmental state. !is approach has, however,
  • 148. 130 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes been contrasted with the actual experience of many African countries over the last three decades or more.4 !e following points therefore bear underlining: institutions are more than formal structures; transplanting borrowed institutions does not necessarily work (though a compara-tive study of others’ experiences can contribute to creative adaptation); a healthy scepticism is required to assess pro-posals for adopting models, given a tendency to create ideal constructs that ignore the limitations of the real institutions from which they are abstracted and the particular contexts in which they emerge and operate; institutions take years to make an impact, which requires a long-term view rather than short-term $xes; and the capacity of African nations to evolve successful arrangements is severely undermined to the extent that the reform process is—regardless of the rhetoric—driven by powerful external agendas. Institutions promoting mineral-based linkages !e most important institutions are those with responsibility for technical education, infrastructure development (especially power, transport and telecommunications) and $nancial re-source mobilization. Linkage development requires promotion of technical and entrepreneurial skills, support for institutions that oer training for science and technology research and development (RD), as well as a fostering of greater interac-tion between such institutions and industry.5 Upstill and Hall (2006) give an account of extensive Austral-ian government support for minerals-related RD. Some of the institutions through which this is funnelled are the Com-monwealth Scienti$c and Industrial Research Organization and the Cooperative Research Centres programme based in the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. An analogous institution for Canadian government support for RD is the Canada Mining Innovation Council. Box 10.1 discusses South Africa’s main mineral research institution.
  • 149. Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 131 Box 10.1 Mintek: World class mineral and metallurgical innovation South Africa’s national mineral research organization, Mintek, is one of the world’s leading research and development (RD) institutions specializing in mineral processing, extractive metallurgy and other mineral-related services. Mintek works closely with industry and other RD bodies, providing a complete range of process technology develop-ment services, from preliminary laboratory bench-scale investigations to large-scale pilot plant testing, and integrated mineral process flow sheet design and development in support of bankable feasibility studies. It carries out engineering design, plant construction and commissioning activities with local and international partners. Mintek’s technology services are backed by comprehensive laboratory and pilot plant facilities for sample preparation, crushing and grinding, physical separation processes, flotation, smelting, leaching, metal recovery and purification. These facilities are supported by internationally accredited analytical laboratory and mineralogical services. About 27 per cent of Mintek’s annual budget is funded by the Parliamentary Science Vote, with the rest funded by commercial activities for clients worldwide. Activities include contract RD, sales of products and services, technology-licencing agreements and running joint-venture private companies. As an RD institute, Mintek is an important part of the South African National Innovation System. After a Science White Paper in 1996, South Africa reviewed all science councils, including Mintek, to improve their science and technology competitiveness. The Government set up a National System of Innovation, along with an Innovation Fund, to evenly spread the research funds under the Parliamentary Science Vote to all players in the science, engineering and tech-nology arena through a competitive research-bidding process. This encouraged collaborative research between the Government, science councils, universities and firms. Among the criteria for accessing the Innovation Fund are potential for commercializing research results and products, a clear illustration of national economic and social benefit, and a demonstration of how South Africa’s competitive position in innovation would be improved, locally and internationally. Several mineral-based projects, with the theme of value addition, have been launched with support from the Innovation Fund. Examples include computer-aided design and manufacture of gold, platinum and diamond jewellery; research into manufacturing high-temperature platinum and manganese alloys for aerospace; and setting up alternative tech-nologies for the local titanium industry. Source: Mintek, www.mintek.co.za; National Advisory Council on Innovation, www.nacinnovation.biz/; Department of Science and Technology of the Republic of South Africa, www.dst.gov.za. International $nancial institutions have their own role to play along the value chain, including building capacity among public and private entities and providing grants and loans, including the African Development Bank (box 10.2).
  • 150. 132 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 10.2 !e African Development Bank The African Development Bank’s mission is to help to reduce poverty, improve living conditions for Africans and mobilize resources for the continent’s economic and social development. The institution aims to assist African coun-tries— individually and collectively—in their efforts to achieve sustainable economic development and social progress. Established in 1963, it supports the development agendas of its regional member countries. It has traditionally been involved in developing infrastructure. Its support for the Infrastructure Programme and Spatial Development Initiatives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the African Peer Review Mechanism and its sponsorship of the African Legal Support Facility are recent instances of initiatives linked to the broader framework for the mineral policy proposed by the Africa Mining Vision. The African Development Bank is an important player in its regional member countries. Its engagement in mining has included direct lending to private entities, equity investments and technical assistance. Projects have ranged from construction of cement plants, mining of iron deposits to bauxite processing. Source: African Development Bank Group, www.afdb.org. In 2006 the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiated a continent-wide study on spatial de-velopment initiatives (SDIs) that proposed an indicative list of development corridors across the continent, mainly anchored on mineral resources, which could underpin development in other sectors.6 Annex 2 of the AMV con-tains a summary of the SDI concept and contends that “the SDI model provides a practical way to achieve a regional approach to development which goes beyond the limitations of multi-country projects, encouraging a sustained process of integrated development within a region de$ned by its economic potential rather than its political boundaries”.7 !e SDI approach promotes the spatial “densi$cation” of resource corridors to catalyse development in other sec-tors by densifying the trunk infrastructure with feeder infrastructure to realize stranded potential in other sec-tors, particularly agriculture and agro-processing, for-estry and wood processing as well as tourism. Resource contracts need, however, to stipulate third-party access to infrastructure at non-discriminatory taris in order to realize this collateral impact. !e SDI approach also promotes sectoral deepening through backward and for-ward linkages of all resource projects (not just minerals) and infrastructure projects in a given area. (Chapter 11 summarizes the projects in which regional economic communities are harmonizing mineral policies, and SDI has a role in that.)
  • 151. Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 133 Map 10.1 Potential Resource-based African Development Corridors Nepad SDP: Source AMV, Annex 2, AU, Addis Ababa 2009. Traditional institutional roles in mining !e institutions with responsibility for more traditional mining roles, such as licensing exploration and mining, and negotiating agreements for such operations, can pro-mote linkages. !e imposition on mining companies of obligations for building open access infrastructure (see chapter 7) is one potential mechanism. Support oered by these institutions to local small-scale miners in skills training, new equipment or access to funding on so terms can also enhance development impacts. Some initia-tives, conceived and implemented in a sustained manner, could have a large impact not only on local participation in mining but also integrate mining better into national economies (see chapter 5). At least in terms of formally expressed policy prescrip-tions, we have long moved from the position where the fundamental objective was to limit state institutions on the basis of an ideology of faith in the free market.8 !at position oen led to a dogmatic insistence on cutting back public expenditure, with little regard for strategic considerations of development objectives, thus resulting in a weakening of institutions which were already under pressure from the crises facing the economies in which they operated.9 !e controversy over the role of state mining enterprises has been alluded to: many have been unsuccessful in Af-rica and have disappeared from the institutional landscape
  • 152. 134 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes (see chapter 2), but some remain both in Africa (such as Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company—see box 8.1 in chapter 8) and in other regions (see chapter 3).10 To be meaningful, discussions in Africa about creating such enterprises (similar to those in Namibia and South Africa) have to identify carefully the particular objectives to be served, take account of the variety of historical experi-ences and be ready with mechanisms for addressing the institutional weaknesses that in the past contributed to their poor performance. !e importance of government geological survey institu-tions is now widely acknowledged. !ey can provide a base of information, which improves both the quality of deci-sions and the negotiating positions of African countries when dealing with international companies. Yet many geological surveys on the continent have poor human and material resources. Institutions with responsibility for regulating the environmental impact of mineral opera-tions have become more prominent aspects of the legal landscape in Africa over the last two decades. Institutions for designing mining $scal regimes and for collecting and auditing revenue from mineral operations require attention. Skills requirements become even more pronounced in designing and administering resource rent taxes.11 Some countries have sought to improve per-formance by setting up specialized units in government revenue agencies and cooperating with the state institu-tions that have specialist knowledge. For the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative particularly, some have used private auditors. Negotiating contracts !e AMV identi$es the critical nature of the initial con-tract negotiations and the need “...to improve the capacity of African states to negotiate with the resource TNCs on the resource exploitation regime. Generally these negotia-tions are extremely asymmetrical, where the TNC is highly resourced and skilled and the state poorly”.12 It notes that these contracts tend to be long-term and negotiated early on, before mineral extraction begins, presenting serious obstacles to renegotiating them. It is therefore important for government negotiators to identify crucial issues at the outset, including those involving potential linkages, even though the local economy may not be able to take advantage of them immediately. Other important outputs are shown in box 10.3.
  • 153. Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 135 Box 10.3 !e Africa Mining Vision key outputs of mineral contracts The Africa Mining Vision recommends that negotiators should secure agreement on the following before signing any mineral contract: t An equitable share of the resource rents. t A flexible fiscal regime that is sensitive to price movements and stimulates national development. t Third-party access to the resource infrastructure (particularly transport, energy and water) at non-discriminatory tariffs. t The development of the local resource supplier/inputs sector where feasible (particularly capital goods, ser-vices and consumables) through flexible local-content milestones. t The establishment of resource processing industries through the use of flexible value-addition milestones and incentives and the upfront stipulation of competitive pricing of resource outputs/products in the domestic market for the life of the project. t The development of local human resources and technological capacity through stipulated investments in training and research and development, preferably in partnership with the state. t Provisions that safeguard transparency and good governance as well as enforce internationally accepted safety and health standards, environmental and material stewardship, corporate social responsibility, and preferential recruitment of local staff. Source: AU-UNECA, 2009: 21. Multi-lateral organizations have become involved in build-ing capacity for negotiating contracts. !e African De-velopment Bank has established an Africa Legal Support Facility (box 10.4) to provide specialist legal assistance primarily related to litigation over vulture fund claims, but also to build the capacity of resource-rich African countries to negotiate complex commercial transactions, including those for natural resources. Similarly, the World Bank has set up the Extractive Industries Technical Ad-visory Facility for resource-rich, developing-country governments. !e United Nations Development Pro-gramme has assisted several African countries through its Regional Project for Capacity Development for Negotiat-ing and Regulating Investments Contracts. !e United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, through its regional Institute for Development and Economic Plan-ning, based in Dakar, Senegal, is initiating a course in mineral-contract negotiations and policy development, based on the AMV. !e aim is to oer the course every year to senior policymakers and other stakeholders.
  • 154. 136 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 10.4 African Legal Support Facility More than 70 per cent of the nearly $1 billion dollars in judgments awarded to plaintiffs in lawsuits instituted by vulture funds have been against regional member countries (RMCs) of the African Development Bank. Partly in consequence, African finance ministers in June 2003 called for a legal technical assistance facility to be set up to help Highly Indebted Poor Countries in addressing the growing problem of vulture funds. The Commission for Africa in March 2005 also called for such a facility for African countries. The Policy Big Table in February 2007 called for a technical advisory facility to help RMCs to negotiate extractive resource contracts and to create an appropriate, enabling environment with a modern legal and regulatory framework. The African Development Report 2007, which was devoted exclusively to natural resources for sustainable development in Africa, noted the need for sound principles to guide the design of efficient contracts in Africa’s natural resource sector. Management at the African Development Bank hired an external consultant to conduct a study on the viability of such a facility. Confirming the pressing need for one, the study recommended an autonomous, independent, international organization with an approach focusing on combating vulture funds; assisting RMCs negotiate complex transactions; and building capacity of RMCs in these and related areas. Source: AMV, AU 2009, p21. !ese initiatives re#ect the glaring need to swily build capacity in this vital area. Much can also be learnt from the contributions made to developing countries by the Techni-cal Assistance Group of the Commonwealth Secretariat (later, the Economic and Legal Advisory Services Division, now incorporated into the Special Advisory Services Divi-sion). Stronger coordination would be useful, however, to avoid duplication and possible con#ict among initiatives. Regulating government discretion in awarding mineral rights How governments decide on granting mineral rights is one of the key areas that national legal systems provide rules for. !e underlying aim is to reconcile the #exibility and control that government institutions want with the demands of transparency and e%ciency that can improve the quality of decisions and help to realize economic value for the state. Some regimes leave the decision on the person to whom mineral rights are granted a matter of government dis-cretion, subject to broad constitutional and administra-tive law principles. !at it might take litigation or other contentious mechanisms for resolving disputes to assess whether they have been properly applied in a speci$c case makes them both expensive and, oen, too unpredictable to be reassuring to many applicants or other interested parties. Some criteria give more (or less) weight to the order in which applications were submitted in limiting the discretion to make an award.13 For large-scale projects, the person deciding on the grant of mineral rights in many jurisdictions is the minister responsible for mines. Provision may be made requiring him or her to consult or act on the advice of another public body or o%cial whose recommendations are submitted in writing. If the minister is permitted to and intends to disregard that recommendation, he or she must say why in writing. !ese arrangements allow for technical inputs into the decision. Some countries assign such grant decisions to o%cials below ministerial level. Some decisions may even be made locally rather than by central government—the power to grant a small-scale quarry licence, for example.
  • 155. Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 137 Another method of regulating discretion is to require it to be made by auction. Bids are submitted and a selection made from an evaluation of all quali$ed bids. !is method is meaningful for areas that have been systematically de-marcated, that possess detailed information and that have generated substantial interest among potential bidders. !e evaluation criteria have to be clearly articulated and weighted for the process to be both credible and e%cient. (A note on auction processes is attached as Appendix L.) African states could consider classifying their territories into areas of unknown mineral resources where a dis-cretionary regime may be the only feasible one; known resources where an auctioning procedure has a better chance of working; and partially known resources where further state exploration work is required. Other governance challenges Transparency in decision-making and in accounting for revenue is an area whose desirability appears to elicit near unanimity. !e practical implications, however, need to be pursued systematically. Registers of grantees of min-eral rights as well as the existence and content of mineral development agreements ought to be made available to the public in practice, not just in theory. !e Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, for example (see chap-ter 7), seeks to mobilize pressure in support of revenue transparency, and its principles can be advanced through a variety of institutional arrangements. Some countries have established bodies with separate legal personalities as the principal promoting vehicle; others have limited themselves to less formal mechanisms to coordinate and focus the work of existing institutions. What matters is whether the structures put in place are primarily rhe-torical devices to announce adherence to transparency principles—or to promote and implement them. Public participation in decision-making is another norm broadly accepted as desirable (see chapter 4). !e notion of a democratic developmental state proposes the incorpora-tion of such participation into institutional arrangements for pursuing the development agenda.14 !e role of civil society organizations in advancing such participation and deepening democratic governance is increasingly acknowledged. Mining organizations (such as national and regional chambers of mines) and trades unions have a long history of making organized representations to and in#uencing government. Since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, a broader range of civil society organizations have sought and gained legitimacy in intervening in policy formulation at international forums. In Africa, such bodies operate in areas related to minerals nationally and regionally. For speci$c projects, they have engaged in advocacy for human rights and environmental issues, sought enforcement of established norms, organ-ized community participation in environmental and social impact assessment proceedings and worked with mining companies on alternative-livelihood and community-development schemes. On policy formulation, some of their vocal issues relate to elaborating and applying human rights and environmental norms in mining operations, to revenue transparency and to the inadequacies of $scal regimes. !eir eorts have contributed to strengthen-ing voice and participation of citizens, to $lling gaps in capacities of enterprises and state organizations and in enhancing the legitimacy of the outcomes of consultative processes. Still, much remains to be done nationally and regionally to bring civil society organizations more into decision-making. Kaufmann et al. (2009) identify six broad elements in their evaluations of the state of governance in various countries. !ese are voice and accountability; political stability and absence of violence; government eectiveness; regulatory quality; the rule of law; and control of corruption. !ese elements are indeed useful in assessing the state of government institutions in a country, but a note of caution must be sounded. !e more one tries to combine them into one broad evaluation of a country’s institutions, the less useful the exercise can become. !e instruments
  • 156. 138 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes used in measuring each of them contain many aspects that are subjective and less precise than one might think initially. !e constituencies whose perceptions form the basis of particular measurements may be weighted in favour of in#uential but unrepresentative groups. Nor are the elements exhaustive: the development ends served by government institutions have to be a central part of the assessment of the state of governance. !e African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights15 and the African Peer Review Mechanism16 are two con-tinental institutions that oer possibilities for enhancing the evaluation of government performance. !e African Charter on Human and People’s Rights includes provi-sions on managing natural resources.17For the African Peer Review Mechanism, Adotey Bing-Pappoe observes that it, “by requiring governments and civil society to engage collectively over the issues that face the nation, and to do so using the evidence from development practice, should help to improve both the incidence and quality of evidence-based decision-making”.18Steps are being taken to include speci$c indices relating to the governance of ex-tractive industries in the mechanism’s evaluation process. More broadly, a dynamic approach to addressing govern-ance challenges has to incorporate the role of external actors—including businesses, shareholders and their home governments. Achieving accuracy in weighting and de-picting the relationship between internal governance limitations and the activities of external actors requires careful and concrete analysis. Furthermore, in the words of Stevens and Dietsche (2008), parsimonious explana-tions that ignore time and historical context are unlikely to capture the dynamics of the range of “variables that can induce positive institutional change.” A focus on in-ternal capacity constraints or governance limitations too oen provides a pretext for diverting attention from the obstacles that Africa’s historically determined place—as a cheap supplier of raw materials—puts in the way of its development possibilities. Policy implications Implications for policy are as follows: ' !e development agenda has to be central to es-tablishing and evaluating institutions and their arrangements. ' !e promotion of linkages between mining and other sectors must be a critical part of institution building in Africa, nationally and regionally. ' Important institutions on the continent urgently need capacity enhancement in many areas. ' A concrete analysis of the context—rather than re- #exive adoption or imposition of models—is vital to institution building. ' Attention has to be paid to improving the criteria by which dierent aspects of governance are evalu-ated to make them more meaningful, objective and representative. ' !e African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Peer Review Mechanism oer serious possibilities to improve governance.
  • 157. Mineral Management: !e Power of Institutions 139 Endnotes 1 Edigheji, 2010. 2 UNECA, 2011. 3 UNECA, 2011: 7. 4 Mkandawire, 2009. 5 For accounts of such interactions in South Africa, see Walker and Minnitt (2006) and Lydall (2009). 6 NEPAD, 2006. 7 AUC, 2009. 8 In addition to other works cited above this chapter, see, for example, Rodrik (2006) and Lall (1995). 9 Mkandawire, 2001. 10 See also Auty (1993). 11 Land, 2010; Calder, 2010. 12 AUC, 2009: 21. 13 UNECA, 2004: 81–83. 14 UNECA, 2011; Mkandawire, 2010. 15 www.achpr.org 16 http://www.aprm-international.org/ 17 http://www.humanrights.se/upload/$ les/2/MR-ins-trument/ African%20Charter%20on%20Human%20 and%20Peoples%20Rights.pdf 18 Bing-Pappoe, 2010; see also Masterson et al. (2010).
  • 159. 141 in Mineral Policy Harmonization 11 CHAPTER Regional and Sub-regional Strategies “Regional ... integration in reduc-ing transaction costs, establishing intra-regional synergies, enhanc-ing competitiveness and realizing economies of scale would catalyze minerals cluster development... For goods, services, capital and other factors to freely $ow ... there is need to expedite intra-regional harmonization of laws, regula-tions and #scal regimes, among other critical factors” — !e Africa Mining Vision INCREMENTAL, SECTOR%BASED REGIONAL eco-nomic integration has been accepted for decades as a central component of any forward-looking and all-en-compassing development strategy for Africa. Cooperation in minerals through policy harmonization is thus part of the overall process of strengthening intra–regional economic community (REC) harmonization and their eventual integration as intended by the African Union. !e bene$ts of regional minerals integration may be il-lustrated through the European Coal and Steel Com-munity, the precursor of European integration (box 11.1). Four of its features may provide useful lessons as Africa seeks to enhance integration through harmonizing its mineral policies. First, minerals and other natural resources, oen in-volved in the cause and maintenance of con#ict on the continent, can be used strategically to strengthen regional economic integration, ensure peace and security and boost cooperation. Second, collaboration of supranational institutions can help direct and expedite economic inte-gration. !ird, removing tari and non-tari barriers on goods and services enhances trade and strengthens economic integration and allows for economies of scale. And fourth, regional economic integration as well as peace and security—as promulgated in the Africa Mining Vision (AMV)—can be achieved despite historical hostilities and entrenched mistrust.
  • 160. 142 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 11.1 !e European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established by the Treaty of Paris in 1951 as a common market for coal and steel among six signatory states: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It was one of the first organizations based on supranational integration and a direct precursor to the EU. It consisted of four institutions: a High Authority (the executive), a Common Assembly, a Special Council of Ministers and a Court of Justice. In 1967 the ECSC merged with the European Economic Community (also known as the Com-mon Market) and the European Atomic Energy Community to form the European Community. In 1993 the European Community became the EU. The ECSC ceased operation in 2002 when the Treaty of Paris expired. The ECSC removed internal tariffs and other trade barriers (including on transport), created a common external tariff, regulated production and sales, and facilitated investment in coal and steel. Its life matched a period of increasing trade in coal and steel among member states, but it was largely ineffectual in regulating these industries, mainly because of fundamental changes in market conditions in the 1960s: the expected fears of supply scarcity were not borne out. Member states’ coal industry was overtaken by oil and other sources as the primary energy and the steel industry by the emergence of large international centres of steel production. Member states also often supported their national industries (including protectionism) without regard to the ECSC, which did little to stop them. It also failed to prevent new cartels from forming. Yet outweighing all this were the political accomplishments. The idea behind the ECSC was to make a third world war economically unthinkable and materially impossible: the ECSC was established to ensure longer-term peace through economic integration, and was designed to pave the way for broader supranational institutions. In these aims, it was successful: war has not been seen in Western Europe since 1945—despite the centuries of hostility between some member states—and the ECSC laid the foundation for the EU, one of the world’s most successful examples of inter-national economic integration. Sources: Alter and Steinberg, 2007. Yet Africa has peculiar attributes, including foreign po-litical interference, that needs to be factored into policy harmonization and economic integration. For example, African countries are at very dierent stages of develop-ment and have dierent colonial legacies. !e presence of many RECs also presents obstacles, especially when coordination is lacking. !e dream of an African Eco-nomic Community through a six-stage1 process envisaged in the Abuja Treaty can, however, be realized through overcoming these barriers and transforming the landscape of the various RECs, which oen have overlapping. e integration landscape in Africa Africa’s integration landscape consists of an array of RECs, including the eight that the African Union Commission (AUC) recognizes as the building blocks of an African Economic Community (table 11.1).
  • 161. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 143 Table 11.1 African regional economic communities Regional economic community Geographical spread Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) Five countries encompassing most of North Africa Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 19 countries including Egypt in North Africa, all East African countries (except Tanzania) and seven countries in Southern Africa Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) 28 countries in West, Central and Northern Africa East African Community (EAC) Five countries in East Africa Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) 10 countries in Central Africa Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 15 countries encompassing all West Africa Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 12 countries in the Horn of Africa and the northern part of East Africa Southern African Development Community (SADC) 14 countries in all Southern Africa Source: Authors. Dual or multiple membership is common. In addition to these RECs, six other groups exist: the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, the Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries, the Indian Ocean Commission, the Mano River Union (MRU), the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Given these numerous regional groupings, African leaders have in many forums stressed the need for greater coor-dination and harmonization in building an integrated continent. Chapter XIX of the Abuja Treaty stresses the importance of establishing the African Economic Com-munity “through the coordination, harmonization, and progressive integration of the activities of regional eco-nomic communities.” It further enjoins member countries “to promote the coordination and harmonization of the integration activities of regional economic communities with the activities of the Community.” Article 3 of the 2001 Constitutive Act of the AU also underscores the need “to coordinate and harmonize policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union.” !e adoption of the Minimum Integration Programme (box 11.2) demonstrates continental commitment towards integration and the acceptance that such integration must appreciate the dierences among member states and that, through harmonization, they can minimize policy dier-ences. NEPAD rea%rms the importance of creating an Africa-wide integrated socio-economic framework with the primary objectives of eradicating poverty, promoting growth, and integrating Africa into the world economy. Sectoral coordination is accepted as a viable strategy to-wards the gradual and systematic deepening of regional integration on the continent.
  • 162. 144 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Box 11.2 Minimum Integration Programme, 2009–2012 The African Union Commission (AUC) formulated, at the request of the African Union policy organs, the Minimum Integration Programme (MIP) to address the mixed results achieved in regional and continental integration. In terms of the Abuja Treaty, only some RECs have achieved beneficial outcomes. The MIP comprises initiatives that the RECs and regional integration stakeholders have prioritized to speed up integra-tion. It is intended to be implemented by RECs, member states and the AUC alongside Africa’s development partners on the basis of subsidiarity. The MIP was developed using “variable geometry” integration. This approach allows RECs to progress at different speeds. It has the following main objectives and prioritized sectors. Main objectives t Situate RECs in the context of implementation of the Abuja Treaty. t Identify priority regional and continental programmes initiated by the AUC, implementation of which falls under the purview of national or regional authorities under the principle of subsidiarity. t Identify regional and continental projects in the AUC and the RECs, implementation of which is reliant on the principle of subsidiarity. t Strengthen current inter-REC economic cooperation initiatives, and identify measures likely to accelerate integration in specific priority sectors or areas. t Identify priority areas that require bold coordination and harmonization in each REC and among RECs. t Assist the RECs in identifying and implementing the priority activities they need to fulfil to move to the different stages of integration set out in article 6 of the Abuja Treaty. t Help the RECs to implement the MIP using a clearly defined timetable. t Develop and implement other support measures to help establish a single market in the priority areas. t Identify joint inter-REC programmes and projects. Prioritized sectors t Free movement of services, goods and capital; peace and security; infrastructure and energy; agriculture; trade; industry; investment; and statistics. t Each of these sectors has sub-sectors, which outline the objectives of the first phase (2009–2012) as well as initiatives to be undertaken in that time. t Financing MIP t The MIP is expected to be financed by internal sources, including statutory contributions; contributions from pan-African financial institutions; and cooperating partners. The formation of an African Integration Fund has been proposed. Policy harmonization—in minerals particularly—as part of enhancing integration and facilitating movement of goods and services has deep historical roots in Africa. !e development of the integrated road and rail infrastructure in Southern Africa, for example, which was designed to support and integrate mining activities both nationally and internationally, illustrates physical integration at an earlier stage. !e interconnected road and rail infra-structure from colonial times, linked to the extractive industries, still forms major channels for moving goods and services in many countries. Spatial development ini-tiatives and development corridors (see chapters 8 and 10) also seek to use natural resource exploitation as part of the continent’s overall infrastructure development strategy. !e Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development for Africa, adopted in 1980, reignited consciousness of the importance of sectoral cooperation in enhancing regional
  • 163. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 145 integration. During the 1980s and 1990s, regional confer-ences of ministers responsible for mineral resources were held in attempts to develop mechanisms for coordinating the sector, with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) a key player. !e Durban Declara-tion of 1997, emphasizing harmonization of policies and collaboration in the minerals and energy sectors, was one outcome. !ese meetings, while embracing bilateral collaboration from simple information networks to more complicated attempts at common policies and harmonized legislation, standards and procedures, also advocated an Africa-wide approach for minerals. Many of the meetings recommended strengthening sub-regional public institutions, allocating additional resources to the sector and promoting mineral-based industries to help ensure that the continent bene$ted from exploitation of its abundant resources. A major weak-ness of these pronouncements was the lack of detailed time-bound action plans for member states. !e pace of implementation was le to individual member states, invariably slowing progress. Yet the vision of integration for the industry is still alive among member states and remains a key rallying point for integration. !e decision by AU heads of states and government in 2009 to merge the African Mining Partnership (AMP) with the AUC Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development and Management transformed the AMP into a recognized technical institution within the structures of the AUC. !at demonstrated the belief that sectoral integration is important to regional integra-tion. !e AMP, launched in February 2004 by 21 African ministers for mining with the purpose of concretizing and implementing the minerals and mining objectives of NEPAD, played a coordinating role in building consensus on continental strategies in minerals. !e AMV, adopted in February 2009, was in fact born out of discussions under the AMP as part of the consultative process. Many other initiatives towards integration are based on collaboration in minerals. !ese include regional organizations such as the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), established in 1977 under the UNECA umbrella. It embraces the continent’s eorts to use the sector to promote socio-economic development and strengthen integration. !e overall mission of the centre, whose membership includes Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, is to pro-mote mineral development in Southern and Eastern Africa through establishing an independent and reliable centre of knowledge, research and development (RD), services and products, training and a hub for geo-information for the sub-region. SEAMIC’s objectives with continent-wide signi$cance include setting up sub-regional networks of programmes and services to promote regional collaboration; encourag-ing mineral-based industrialization; promoting the free #ow of capital, labour, goods and services for develop-ing the minerals sector; and facilitating sub-regional harmonization of mineral policies and legislation. !e Geo-science Data compilation in Eastern and Southern Africa (GEODESA) project under SEAMIC, in which 13 countries took part, was designed to improve the quality and accessibility of geo-science and exploration infor-mation, and were executed using geological surveys. It created an inventory of regional exploration surveys and a geological information systems database. !e methods of sharing the standardized geo-scienti$c information among member states through GEODESA could be ex-tended to the whole of Africa. Similar collaborative initiatives include the Pan-African Network for a Geological Information System and PAN-FACT, which harmonizes data collection and storage methods. Networks such as the Communities and Small Scale Mining have also helped harmonize such methods, and the adoption of common positions. !e Yaoundé Declaration and the Harare Declaration are other Africa-wide approaches.
  • 164. 146 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Moves to harmonize sub-regional mineral policies African countries have pursued sub-regional policy har-monization through their RECs. Initiatives in SADC, ECOWAS, WAEMU, EAC and MRU reveal varying ex-periences in instigating or mapping out sectoral strategies for strengthening economic integration, including the many challenges involved. Strategies generally fall along three lines: policy alignment, the adoption of common standards and the enactment of common codes or common elements of mining legal and regulatory regimes. Many analysts have noted, however, that adopting these common codes or common elements is likely to be eective only aer policy has been aligned and common standards promulgated. Southern African Development Community !e Southern African Development Community mineral policy harmonization programme is anchored in the Protocol on Mining, adopted in 2000, which provides for a formal framework for cooperation and integration. !e protocol identi$es speci$c areas for cooperation in the region’s mineral industry, including harmonization of national policies, facilitation of the development of hu-man and technological capacities, promotion of private sector participation, and the observance of international standards for health, safety and environmental protec-tion. SADC ministers of mines approved a framework2 in March 2006, followed by an implementation plan3 in October 2007 to operationalize it. A review of SADC national mineral policies in 2009 iden-ti $ed national action points for each member state, and national eort is targeted at closing the policy gap. Current work is on developing a framework for certi$cation and tracking of mineral products from the sub-region, from producing areas to export points. Policy harmonization has become urgent in the face of increases in illegally acquired and traded minerals entering the export chain, resulting in member states losing signi$cant revenue. !e SADC process may oer pointers for others. First, the framework and implementation plan have been developed through a participatory process. Second, despite the non-binding nature of the framework’s recommendations and plan, the long history of collaboration within the sub-region has cemented commitment to developing uniform operating conditions to promote sustainable mineral exploitation and as part of the Protocol on Mining. !ird, although progress tracking—sustained by technical as-sistance from UNECA’s Southern African O%ce through its multi-year programme4with the SADC Secretariat—has helped overcome the Secretariat’s human resource short-ages, in the longer term SADC needs to develop capacity to run the programme (even with continued participation by UNECA and other partners). Economic Community of West African States The ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonization of Guid-ing Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector, adopted in July 2009, outlines the sub-region’s objectives in the minerals sector. The aspirations of the Directive rein-force the Revised ECOWAS Treaty signed in Cotonou in 1993 which requires member states to “harmonize DQGFRRUGLQDWHWKHLUSROLFLHVDQGSURJUDPLQWKH¿HOG of natural resources” and to “coordinate their programs for the development and utilization of mineral and water resources.” The objectives of the Directive as outlined in Article 2 are to; ' provide guiding principles for policy harmonization in the mining sector of member states to ensure high standards of accountability for mining companies and Governments, promote human rights, transparency and social equity as well as provide protection for local communities and the environment in the sub-region: ' provide a mining environment that is responsive to macro-economic circumstances and sustainable development imperatives, and balances the need to use appropriate incentives to attract investors with
  • 165. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 147 that to protect the revenue base and the resources of member states; ' improve transparency in mineral policy formulation and implementation, as well as in revenue collection and use, and to promote the participation, and en-hance the capacity, of mining communities, ' provide for a harmonized mineral policy and legal framework for member states; and ' ensure that harmonization takes into account the dierent stages of development of member states. Each Member State is expected to gazette the Directive and provide resources through the national budget for its implementation through National Action Plans. !e Directive empowers the ECOWAS Commission to su-pervise its implementation, provide member states with the necessary technical and $nancial support and report annually to the council of Ministers on progress. !e ECOWAS Commission has developed a strategy to implement the Directive, including developing the dra ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy (EMDP).5 !is was reviewed by stakeholders in April 2011, and an Ac-tion Plan to implement the Policy developed. !e EMDP consists of nine strategic axes/areas and programmes focused on the vision of harnessing mineral resource capital to facilitate sustainable economic growth and in-tegrated socio-economic development in the sub-region. !e Action Plan includes a monitoring and evaluation mechanism in which the ECOWAS Commission is the Champion. !e recent but fast-evolving ECOWAS experience under-lines the importance of designating a champion of the process (the ECOWAS president), of providing resources for supervision and assistance to member states, of setting a time frame to complete the process, and of consulting all critical stakeholders. West African Economic and Monetary Union !e policy harmonization eorts of WAEMU form part of the strategy in the sub-region for creating uniform operating conditions and promoting policy convergence within the customs union. !e harmonization eort is underpinned by the WAEMU Common Mining Policy adopted in 2000. !e speci$c objectives of the CMP in-clude: (i) the establishment of an enabling environment for mining investments; (ii) the diversi$cation of mining production; (iii) the processing of mineral products lo-cally; (iv) the co-existence of industrial mines and cottage-type mines; and (v) the preservation of the environment. !e CMP encompasses the following programmes: (i) the harmonization of regulatory frameworks; (ii) the promotion of the mining sector; (iii) the establishment of a sub-regional system on geo-mining information; (iv) the building of capacities of institutions and scienti$c research bodies; (v) the development of intra-African trade of mining products; and (vi) the protection of the environment. Under the CMP, the Council of Ministers speci$es through Regulations and Directives, the actions to be undertaken by Member States to implement these programmes. !e WAEMU Community Mining Code (CMC) gov-erns all the operations relating to the prospecting and exploration for, and the exploitation, possession, process-ing, transportation and marketing of mineral substances throughout the whole territory of the Union, !e enforce-ment of compliance with the CMC is underpinned by the WAEMU Constitutive Treaty of 1994. Harmonizing the WAEMU framework and the ECOWAS mining directive would be a key step in developing a uni-form operating environment among the 15 member states in the sub-region. Since harmonization of their sectoral programmes is already underway, this should be extended to the minerals industry as collaboration deepens.
  • 166. 148 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes East African Community !e treaty establishing the EAC emphasizes the commit-ment by member states towards: (i) creating an enabling environment for investment in the mining sector; (ii) establishment of databases, information exchange net-works and the sharing of experiences in the management and development of the mineral sector using electronic mail, internet and other means for the interactive dis-semination of mineral information; and (iii) harmonizing mining regulations to ensure environmentally friendly and sound mining practices. !e sub-region’s Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources management, through Article 18 on Management of Mineral Resources, re-emphasizes the commitment to develop and harmo-nize common policies, laws and strategies for access to and exploitation of mineral resources by member states. Further, one of the eight strategic intervention areas in the 3rd EAC Development Strategy also focuses on the management of mineral resources and commits to com-plete the harmonization of mineral policies and mining regimes within the sub-region. Although harmonizing mining policy in the EAC has yet to take root, member states show commitment, partly through the 3rd EAC Development Strategy. Sub-regional programmes and plans should incorporate the aspira-tions of the AMV. !e process should also be guided by enforceable commitments and implementable sanction mechanisms for non-compliance. Mano River Union !e re-launch of the Mano River Union (MRU) in 2004 aer years of con#ict has re-energized member states to focus on strengthening cooperation, speeding up integra-tion and promoting sustainable development. Previously, member states had operated under dierent sectoral policy frameworks even though they have had aspirations of becoming a customs union since the launch of the MRU in 1973. In this renewed spirit of regional integration, and with countries having similar geological endowments that oen cross national borders, a sub-regional approach to exploiting these resources is imperative. !e MRU commissioned the World Bank in 2008 to study the sector and recommend strategies for a harmonized policy environment. !e dra report emphasizes the need for harmonizing laws and regulations, starting with artisanal mining, as part of overall integration moves. !e MRU action plan for policy harmonization, based on the World Bank review, should be informed by initiatives already under way in West Africa and continent-wide. It should also re#ect the ECOWAS mining directive and development policy, the AMV and the recommendations to emerge from the current review of African mineral regimes spearheaded by the AU. Lessons and policy options !e above features reveal the voluntary nature of compli-ance with these initiatives. Although some of these ap-proaches have time frames, most of the policy frameworks are non-binding and depend on the pace of member states in conforming, hence the dierences in pace in each sub-regional group. SADC, for example, has made reasonable progress towards policy harmonization mainly because of the sub-region’s historical linkages. !e SADC approach, bene$ting immensely from “community spirit”, has les-sons for other countries on the continent. Elsewhere, WAEMU has made the process smoother through the Common Mining Code. !e bene$ts of the ECOWAS approach, which empow-ers its president to supervise implementation, to provide member states with the necessary technical and $nancial support as well as to report annually to the council of min-isters on progress should be studied more carefully and possibly adapted by other RECs. !e time-bound nature of the ECOWAS framework makes for easy monitoring
  • 167. Regional and Sub-regional Strategies in Mineral Policy Harmonization 149 and timely corrective action to ensure that all member states are on track. Turning to the future, the regional blocks should consider developing mechanisms to make compulsory the imple-mentation of the harmonization agenda, with penalties for non-compliance (if possible) and with a structure to monitor progress and oer assistance where required. On the other hand, making compliance to agreements mandatory might go against the spirit with which sub-regional communities and indeed the AU have operated. !is is largely intergovernmental in approach rather than supranational. As African integration deepens, the content, focus and im-plementation strategies of these regional approaches need to be harmonized to ensure that they are in conformity with the aspirations of the AMV. !e current initiatives towards the rationalization of regional economic com-munities and their programmes augur well for sectoral policy harmonization as embodied in the AMV. !e completion of these processes would eventually lead to a harmonized policy environment at the continental level, in which the minerals sector contributes to sustain-able development—as envisaged by the AMV. !e regional and continent-wide harmonization of poli-cies, laws, programmes and strategies oers other bene$ts. To cite just one example, harmonized approaches for at-tracting foreign investment would curtail the mutually destructive incentive competition to attract investors. It would also facilitate cooperation in developing mineral resources, especially where these run across borders. In addition, regional economic integration that creates larger markets, easing the movement of factor #ows and boosting intra-African cross-border economic coopera-tion, would greatly facilitate “the development of mineral resources (especially industrial minerals) for local pro-duction of consumer and industrial goods”—one of the goals of the AMV. Mineral-based industrialization in Africa will bene$t from the transformation of fragmented small economies, the expansion of national into regional markets, the overall widening of regional and continental economic spaces and the resultant economies of scale for both production and trade.6 !e regional and sub-regional experiences are key building blocks for a continent-wide framework as they represent policy convergence at a lower level. Sharing experience is thus key to the overall process. Capacity to execute these initiatives will need to be developed at national, sub-regional and continental levels. Endnotes 1 Article 6 of Chapter II of the Abuja Treaty on Mo-dalities of the Establishment of the African Economic Community provides for the following stages with varying time frames (Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, 3 June 1991, Abuja, Nigeria). First stage: strengthening existing RECs, and where they do not exist creating new ones; second stage: strengthening sectoral integration, coordinating and harmonizing activities and gradually eliminat-ing tari and non-tari barriers; third stage: estab-lishing free trade areas and then customs unions; fourth stage: coordinating and harmonizing RECs to establish a continental customs union; $h stage: establishing an African Common Market; and sixth stage: establishing the African Economic Community through monetary and economic union. 2 !e framework comprises a series of policy recom-mendations to facilitate alignment in key areas of SADC mining such as: mineral policy frameworks and mineral administrative systems; the $scal envi-ronment; mineral bene$ciation; environmental and social responsibilities; small scale mining; and human development, including RD. 3 In October 2007, SADC developed a plan for the implementation of the harmonization framework. !e plan consists of eight thematic areas each with recommended activities and outcomes. !e areas
  • 168. 150 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes are: (i) Policy, Regulation and Administration; (ii) Geological and Mining Information Systems; (iii) Human Resource Development and Institutional Capacities; (iv) Safety, Health and Environment; (v) Investment Promotion; (vi) Value Addition and Re-search and Development; (vii) Artisanal and Small Scale Mining; and (viii) Social Issues and Gender. 4 !e United Nations General Assembly in 2006 decid-ed to strengthen ECA’s sub-regional o%ces to promote integration and development. It recommended that the main vehicle for sub-regional technical coopera-tion should be a multi-year programme with the RECs that directly re#ects the priorities of their member states. 5 !e strategic areas of the EMDP are: (i) improvement in geological and mineral information; (ii) improve-ment and management of mineral revenue; (iii) local content policy of mineral operations; (iv) building institutional, human, technical and $nancial capaci-ties; (v) improvement of the institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks; (vi) sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (vii) development of infrastructure for improved access to mineral sites; (viii) development of artisanal and small-scale min-ing; and (ix) strengthening regional cooperation in the mineral sector. 6 UNECA,2010.
  • 169. 151 Looking ahead: Key Challenges and Policy Messages 12 CHAPTER THIS FRAMEWORK REPORT on Africa’s mineral development regimes has looked at African mining from dierent angles, includingits history, current features and the key arguments for driving the search for new directions based on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). !is chapter summarizes the main challenges confront-ing African mining, as well as the key policy messages. Africa’s mining legacy and the search for a new development approach !e paradox of African mining today lies in its historical structural de$ciencies.!e sector’s key characteristics— and challenges—are those of an enclave industry.Most of the industry has very weak links with the rest of the national economy, the mines’ ownership and operation are in the hands of foreign companies, most of the minerals are exported in raw form and the industry imports most of its inputs from abroad. !e report argues that the enclave mineral economy is a colonial legacy that post-independence resource na-tionalism (through new state mining enterprises) failed to redress. SubsequentWorld Bank reforms, which were designed to attract foreign private risk capital, eliminated the state’s direct role in production and further entrenched the enclave economy. Hence the search for a new mineral development approach, which accelerated aer the start of the commodity-price boom around 2002. !us some of the central premises of this report and the AMV are that mineral operations must constantly be re-evaluated for their contribution to broad and long-term development goals; that mineral operations need not and ought not to be enclave activities; and that restructuring African mining from its enclave nature is the fundamental task of African policymakers and those committed to having it play a transformative role. Optimizing mineral linkages needs a conscious policy approach !e AMV and this report argue that strengthening link-ages between mineral resource extraction and Africa’s industrial development is vital to enable these resourcesto play that transformative role. !e report $nds upstream, downstream, sidestream and lateral migration linkages are not well developed (apart from transport and energy), re#ecting the industry’s main orientation—extracting and shipping bulk minerals to overseas markets.
  • 170. 152 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes But obstacles prevent such linkage strengthening. !ey include large infrastructure de$cits, which impede move-ment of goods and services; weak African markets for mineral products, which re#ect the overall low level of Africa’s industrialization; technological de$ciencies; and wide skill gaps. Nor will linkages develop just because Africa has world-class mineral deposits. Strengthening linkages requires the right policies and strategies to leverage mineral ex-traction and processing operations into broader economic development outcomes. It requires, for example: ' Greater attention to the minerals that oer greater possibilities for national and regional industrial de-velopment and integration. ' Investment in economic infrastructure, particularly power and transport. Planning for such infrastructure needs to explore use by other economic sectors. ' Government involvement in setting terms for ac-cess to mineral resources. Such terms must impose linkage conditions on mineral rights holders and provide incentives for investors to structure pro-jects in ways that deepen project integration into the broader national—and regional—economy. !ese terms could include provisions to ensure a high level of local content. ' Investment in human resources and knowledge devel-opment, particularly to expand the higher technical skills required by the minerals industry. ' Regional integration to foster intraregional trade and investment in infrastructure for the region. e global mining industry: opportunities still exist Demand for mineral commodities has surged since early this decade, cutting across many metals, particularly alu-minium, copper, zinc, lead, nickel and tin—all with huge global demand. !e demand surge comes mainly from huge growth in China’s voracious industrial appetite, as well as from industrial expansion in Brazil and India (as well as relatively sustained consumption in industrial countries). Many analysts view mineral commodities as being in a super cycle—a prolonged period of a trend rise in prices. Such a super cycle oers to governments opportunities for increasing tax revenue (at the very least), and for diversi-fying the mining value chain (at best). Although Africa has so far failed to bene$t much from the commodity-price boom, opportunities are still there. Geopolitical competition for the continent’s mineral resources—driv-en by concerns of long-term raw material security—are boosting the opportunities for governments of African mineral countries to negotiate more favourable licencing and tax regimes, at the minimum. More boldly, they could reconsider issues of equity participation in mining ven-tures or new state entities—if these operate commercially and in competition with private $rms. In restructuring African mining towards a more develop-ment- orientated regime, as sought by the AMV, Africa’s governments could usefully absorb lessons from Latin America. !at region’s recent and current initiatives are seeking to strengthen the role of state institutions in bet-ter structuring the relations between mining activity and national development priorities. Boosting the contribution from artisanal and small-scale mining Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which is preva-lent in Africa, exploits a wide range of minerals. It sus-tains (oen poor) livelihoods and makes contributions to national economies, and has the potential to contribute much more.
  • 171. Looking ahead: Key Challenges and Policy Messages 153 Steps need to be taken to bring ASM into the mainstream of economic life, particularly in rural areas, and to oer it the $nancial and technical support that it conspicuously lacks. !e policy environment should encourage coop-eration between small- and large-scale miners, includ-ing converting ASM into viable operating enterprises. A pragmatic approach would distinguish potentially viable from marginal ASM operations. A cooperative regional approach could also bridge many of the technical and $nancial de$ciencies of ASM. Alongside wider international cooperation, it could address the chal-lenge of con#ict minerals. Locally, bans on transporting minerals that do not comply with tracking and certi$ca-tion systems need to be enforced, but capacity needs to be enhanced $rst. Finally, international norms prohibiting child labour in mining need to be enforced rigorously. Further work is required to explore and implement measures to redress discrimination against women in ASM, whether arising from legal regimes or operational practices. Preventing and managing mining impacts Poor management and regulation of the harmful envi-ronmental, social and human-rights impacts of mining have stoked critical and, in some cases, hostile attitudes among mining communities towards the industry and government. Yet these impacts can be reduced, if not eliminated altogether. More broadly, the eects on climate change of mining need greater attention from govern-ments and $rms. Governments should strengthen the frameworks that govern impact assessment, management and regulation. !ey should also enhance the capacities and eectiveness of regulatory agencies and improve the culture of how these institutions interact with citizens, especially those aected by mining. Improved impact assessment and better planning and coordination between governments and mining $rms in compensation, resettlement and re-location projects for alternative livelihood opportunities would help minimize con#ict with communities. Strengthening corporate social responsibility It is important to develop and implement corporate so-cial responsibility (CSR) for guiding mining companies’ responsibilities. CSR initiatives should complement gov-ernment development plans—beyond contributing to the socio-economic growth of mining communities—and should be carried out in a framework that is both fully consultative in conception and implementation and that is part of the broader social development agenda. Govern-ments should follow a CSR approach that makes their own and mining companies’obligations clear, and not leave CSR to adhoc decisions. Improving governance !e report endorses the normative implications of a democratic developmental state. It urges governments to recognize and harness the positive potential of state institutions while promoting democratic norms. Many African countries have made progress in boosting public participation in framing laws, and in increasing the space for community and civil society organizations to work in. Yet much more can be achieved—in enforcing existing laws, in pursuing accountability of institutions and more generally in protecting human and labour rights. Improving state and institutional capacities for mak-ing and pursuing policies and regulations is a pervasive
  • 172. 154 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes challenge, as is ensuring policy coherence and coordi-nation among institutions and sectors. !ese two chal-lenges go beyond nations to regional and other interstate frameworks. Indeed, it is important to create and maintain space for institutional arrangements nationally and sub-regionally, speci$cally to promote linkage development. Paying attention to implications of international trade and investment regimes At their meeting in Addis Ababa in October 2008, under the auspices of the African Union, Africa’s ministers re-sponsible for mineral resources called on “AU Member States to work together to ensure that international agree-ments that they enter into enhance rather than undermine Africa’s policy space for integrating mineral resources development into their economies”and urged “them and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to ensure that the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations do not limit this space”. !ese words are as relevant today as they were three years ago. If the aspirations of the AMV are to be met, African countries will need to cultivate capacities to negotiate agreements that provide the margin of free-dom they need to pursue the AMV’s development goals. Harnessing the bene!ts of regional cooperation and integration Regional cooperation and integration provide opportuni-ties for sharing development capacities and abet the move-ment of factors of production across borders. In addition, policy harmonization provides resistance to, and can even reverse, the “race to the bottom”—a prominent feature of the competition to attract foreign mining investment. Such harmonization needs to be greatly accelerated. Slow progress so far stems partly from the non-binding nature of most frameworks. It may therefore be useful to explore whether elements of such frameworks could be made binding and time bound, and to monitor the processes of policy harmonization. National and regional processes will need to be aligned and brought into conformity with the aspirations of the AMV. Final words !e AMV envisages mining becoming “a key compo-nent of a diversi$ed, vibrant and globally competitive industrializing African economy”—without doubt, an ambitious long-term goal. Yet commitment to realizing the goal does not require Africa to ignore today’s realities or wish them away. Indeed, much is happening today that reveals not only challenges, but also the potential that a shi in focus—as recommended by the AMV—could oer. !e experience of the Lagos Plan of Action reminds us that policy design works best when instruments are available to carry it out. For much of Africa, that plan remains part of the rhetoric of o%cial declarations, dissociated from real policy. Such policy—discernible in budget statements, mining legislation and agreements as well as similar in-struments— has oen expressed either short-term re-sponses to immediate concerns or maintained a focus on extracting and exporting unprocessed natural resources. !e institution of mining as an enclave was the result of a particular phase of Africa’s history, but should not be taken as an inevitable part of its destiny. !e AMV and this report propose that the continent faces up to the chal-lenge of working towards its “new directions”. !is will require looking beyond the limiting horizon of its colonial and recent history and embracing the AMV as part of a planned process of sustainable long-term development.
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  • 187. 169 Appendices Appendix A: Members of ISG and principal contributors A) Members of the ISG Name Title Organization/Country Dr. Philip Paul Jourdan Consultant Republic of South Africa Ms. Ana Elizabeth Bastida Lecturer/ Mining Programme Director CEPMLP, University of Dundee, United Kingdom Prof. Bonnie Campbell Professor Faculty of Political Science and Law, University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada Dr. Frederick !omas Cawood Professor School of Mining Engineering, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa Mr. Mensan Lawson-Hechelli Director, Industry and Mines ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria Mr. Wilfred C. Lombe Chief, Infrastructure and Natural Resources Development, RITD Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr. Oliver Maponga Economic Aairs O%cer Economic Commission for Africa, West Africa O%ce, Niamey, Niger Mr. Antonio Pedro Director Economic Commission for Africa East Africa, Kigali, Rwanda Mr. Olle Ostensson Formerly Chief, Minerals, Metals and Energy Section United Nations Conference on Trade and De-velopment (UNCTAD) , Geneva, Switzerland Mr. Magnus Ericsson Chairman Raw Materials Group, Sweden Mr. John Gara Formerly with Economic and Legal Section, Special Advisory Services Commonwealth Secretariat, United Kingdom Mr. Richard Goode Economic consultant Resource Based Technology Strategy, MESU, MINTEK, South Africa Dr. Yao Graham Executive Director !ird World Network Africa (TWN), Accra, Ghana Ms. Lois Hooge Senior Policy Advisor, Metals and Minerals Sector Natural Resources Canada, South Africa Mr. Desta Mebratu Deputy Director United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Mr. Fui S. Tsikata Consultant Accra, Ghana Mr. Patrick Mwesigye Industry Aairs O%cer United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
  • 188. 170 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Name Title Organization/Country Ms Nancy Kgengweyan Regional Advisor on Natural Resources De-velopment, RITD Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr. Ayoup Zaid Senior Policy O%cer, Department of Trade and Industry African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ms. Claudine Sigam Project Coordinator in Minerals, Metals and Energy Sector United Nations Conference on Trade and De-velopment (UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland B) Principal Contributors Name Title Organization/Country Mr. Cheickna Seydi Diawarra Consultant, Former Minister of Mines Mali Ms. Evelyn Dietsche Lecturer CEPMLP University of Dundee, Scotland, UK Ms. Aster Gebremariam Research Assistant Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ms. Tarik Kassa Consultant, RITD Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr. Mkhululi Ncube Research Assistant, RITD Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr. Ousmane Cisse Technical Specialist UNOPS, Dakar, Senegal Mr. Benjamin Aryee Chief Executive Minerals Commission, Accra, Ghana Dr. Melaku Desta Senior Lecturer in Law CEPMLP University of Dundee, Scotland, UK Mr. Saul Kavonic Consultant Australia Dr. Marian Lydall Head: Regional Mineral Development, Mineral Economics and Strategy Unit MINTEK, South Africa Mr. Hudson Mtegha Senior Lecturer University of Witwatersrand, South Africa Mr. Nehrunaman Pillay Chief Economist MINTEK, South Africa Mr. Christopher David Rogers Director of PHD Programme CEPMLP, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK Prof. !omson Sinkala Lecturer University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia Prof. John Ruggie Professor in Human Rights and International Aairs Harvard Kennedy School Prof. Salvador Mondlane Junior Chairman CASM Africa CASM - Africa, Maputo, Mozambique C) Former Research Fellows at UNECA Ms Yamrot Alemu Ethiopia Mr. Aniekan Ukpe Nigeria Ms. Constance N Wose King Cameroon Mr. Gebriel Bailetti Peru
  • 189. Appendices 171 Appendix B :Summary report on the Big Table meeting, 2007 Managing Africa’s Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction 1 February 2007 Summary Report I. Background 1. !e 2007 Big Table which was organized jointly by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) took place at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on !ursday, 1 February 2007. !e Ex-ecutive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, and the AfDB President, Mr. Donald Kaberuka jointly chaired the meeting. !e meeting brought together Ministers and senior o%cials from eleven African countries and high-level representatives from four Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) coun-tries, and regional and international organizations (ECA, AfDB, AUC, IMF, OECD-DAC, and World Bank). Also in attendance were representatives from research centres, the private sector, and NGOs. !e agenda for the meeting and the full list of participants are attached. 2. !e 2007 Big Table sought to advance discus-sions on the challenges of eectively managing Africa’s natural resources for growth and poverty reduction on the continent. It also discussed an agenda for future action. 3. A keynote presentation on “!e Challenge of Eective Management of Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction in Africa” was made, to set the stage for the discussion in the ensuing sessions. It pro-vided information on a number of issues pertaining to Africa’s mineral resources and production and their op-timal management. 4. !e informal setting of the Big Table led itself to a frank and honest exchange of ideas on $ve main themes pertaining to natural resources: Governance; Ownership, Participation and Intergenerational Equity; Bargaining Power, Value and the Role of Emerging Global Actors; Environmental Stewardship; and Capacity, Partnerships and Regional Integration. II. Highlights of the discussion 1. Natural Resources Governance 5. !e meeting noted that natural resources ex-ploitation can contribute to growth and development in Africa. For this to happen, sound governance systems, capacity to administer and monitor the sector, and better linkages between the natural resources sector and other sustainable sectors of the local economy are required. 6. Participants agreed that a concerted approach to address issues of transparency in the natural resources sector needed to be implemented under the African Peer Review Mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD/APRM). It was further recom-mended that APRM should be strengthened and expanded to incorporate natural resources governance (including revenue transparency) as a key governance performance indicator. It was found equally relevant to develop African codes of conduct and guidelines on natural resources exploitation, particularly on safety, health and environ-mental practices (SHE). !e Extractive Industries Trans-parency Initiative (EITI), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines, the Equator Banks Principles, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and other similar instruments could inform this process. 7. Several natural resource-rich countries are also fragile States. Hence, it was underscored that tools such as the Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme, the OECD Guidelines, and EITI are important safeguards to ensure good practice by hosting governments and investors. Hence, the meeting underscored the importance of en-dorsing and expanding the EITI by addressing upstream and downstream issues (such as licensing, procurement,
  • 190. 172 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes ownership, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, etc.). Participants therefore called for more countries to adhere to the EITI, and for the G-8 countries to endorse it. It was also noted that the Kimberley Process Certi$cation Scheme should be extended to other minerals such as gold, columbite-tantalite (coltan), etc. in order to break the link between con#ict/criminality and natural resources. 8. It was further agreed that the existence of an oversight mechanism was crucial. To that eect, it was noted that non-state actors such as parliaments and civil society organizations (CSOs) should be empowered. 2. Ownership, Participation and Intergenera-tional Equity 9. !e concept of ownership of natural resources projects has evolved to include local communities as important stakeholders. It was underlined that local communities should participate in the planning and de-velopment of natural resources projects to ensure that a lasting social contract will operate. 10. Furthermore, ownership and participation should also be evaluated in terms of local supply chains and employment of the local community in natural re-sources projects, as well as the stimulation of local com-panies to service the projects. 11. Participants stressed the need for a new dispen-sation in contract negotiations and for the formulation of appropriate laws with regards to ownership and local participation. !ese would require government, compa-nies, and civil society representatives to be equipped with a new set of skills. 12. !e Big Table further underscored that strate-gies such as the Mining Charter and Black Economic Empowerment mining (BEE) of South Africa could oer empowerment models for local participation that could be replicated elsewhere in Africa. In this regard, AfDB was requested to look at methods of stimulating the growth of African Junior Resource Companies (JRCs) in order to secure long-term socio-political sustainability. 13. !e meeting observed that corporate social re-sponsibility is entrenched as a business practice of some natural resources companies. However, it also noted that, particularly in fragile states, some natural resources com-panies were not observing the highest corporate standards. To address these challenges, the meeting recommended that EITI, OECD, and apex bodies such as the Interna-tional Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) should deploy greater eorts in disseminating their conduct and enforcing their application. !e meeting also noted that the involvement of the AfDB in natural resources projects served as a tool to enforce adherence to international standards by project operators. It was recommended that this trend should be maintained. 14. !e meeting also emphasized the importance of diversifying natural resources sectors throughout the value chain to ensure sustainability, particularly for $nite mineral resources. !is could be achieved through the promotion of local bene$ciation and value-addition, fo-menting the local inputs industry, and investing natural resources’ wealth in other sustainable activities, includ-ing $nancial assets, infrastructure and human resources development. 15. With regards to the use of Stabilization Funds and Non-renewable Resource Funds (NRFs) including Future Generation Funds, the meeting noted that they had the potential to insulate economic activity from #uctuations in commodity prices, address inter-generational issues, encourage $scal discipline, and protect local economies against in#ationary pressures from windfalls (Dutch disease). However, the Big Table observed that the Funds are not a panacea, and that instituting an appropriate public $nancial management framework for savings and investment such as medium-term $scal planning could achieve the same objectives. 16. !e meeting observed that in Africa, political pressure as well as the immediacy and enormity of the development challenges, including achieving the MDGs, could lead to such Funds being raided, thus defeating the purpose of their establishment. To reduce these risks, it was underlined that there was a need to establish inde-pendent, competent and accountable entities to ensure proper management and oversight of these Funds. !e
  • 191. Appendices 173 meeting also highlighted the need to divulge information about the Funds and exchange experiences on their ap-plication. To improve performance in the sector, it was further suggested that African countries could learn from positive experiences in managing natural resources wealth in Africa, notably in Botswana. Equally important are experiences from countries such as Norway and Canada, which have been successful in using natural resources funds to fuel their growth and development. 17. It was also noted that there should not be a dichotomy between the interests of current and future generations. Instead, participants agreed that the issue should be how to invest wisely to balance both interests. Participants also recognized that it was important for Africa to strengthen its capacity to harness renewable resources with a view to preserving part of the stock of non-renewable resources for future generations. 18. !e meeting also recognized the importance of addressing the interests of resource-poor and resource-rich regions within the same country, and of promoting gender equity in the use of the proceeds of natural re-sources exploitation. To reduce the potential for con#ict, there is need to develop a formula for the equitable distri-bution of bene$ts and wealth between resource-rich and resource-poor regions. !is can be informed by relevant experiences in Africa and beyond. 3. Bargaining Power, Natural Resources Value, and the Role of Emerging Global Actors 19. !e Big Table recognized that, historically, Af-rica had not gained the best possible bene$ts from the exploitation of its natural resources. In the 1990s, this was further compounded by African eorts to attract FDI to their natural resources sector, which led to the formula-tion of overly generous investment laws and regulations. !e meeting further observed that the scale of reforms in Africa did not have any historical precedent. 20. However, the meeting noted that there has been a paradigm shi in the 2000s with a surge towards a more societal-oriented development. In addition, it was observed that the natural resources sector is witness-ing a commodity price boom, fuelled by global resource scarcity and the entrance in the commodity market of new global resource-demanding players such as China and India. Given Africa’s unique resource endowment, this oers a window of opportunity for African States to extract better terms from natural resources exploitation and to catalyze growth and poverty alleviation across the continent. For this to happen, the meeting emphasized the importance of building the negotiating capacity of African countries. In this context, it recommended the establishment of a facility to help African countries de-velop skills and expertise in such contract negotiations. 21. !e meeting also underscored the fact that natu-ral resources companies were global, that the industry was cyclical, and that there was competition for capital, especially from equally endowed continents such as Latin America. !us, the need for the creation of an enabling en-vironment, modern legal and regulatory frameworks, and competitive $scal regimes was underlined. Additionally, the Big Table also recognized the importance of review-ing the current generation of natural resources laws and regulations to better accommodate the interests of African countries. !is could be informed by practices from the oil/gas sector, such as auctioning of blocks and product sharing agreements. !e international community and leading research centres in natural resources policy and law were called upon to help in this eort. 22. !e meeting con$rmed that Africa’s highest short-medium term potential lies in its mineral resource endowment. It also observed that most African countries are poorly surveyed and do not have good information about their mineral resources potential. It was agreed that for Africa to extract better terms in its negotiations with partners and enter into equitable deals, it has to have a good geological database and inventory of its mineral resources. !is requires urgent and substantial investment in geological mapping and mineral inventory. African governments and the international community, in par-ticular regional and international $nancial organizations, are encouraged to fund this eort. 23. !e meeting also noted that there are recent ex-amples in Africa where natural resources exploitation led to infrastructure development. It underscored that these practices should be replicated throughout the continent.
  • 192. 174 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes In this respect, the meeting endorsed NEPAD’s Spatial De-velopment Programme (SDP), where, due to their greater dierential rents, mineral and energy projects anchor infrastructure development in Africa, thus underpinning the viability of infrastructure projects, which could then underpin the development of other sustainable sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and resource-based manu-facturing. !e meeting urged the NEPAD Secretariat to raise awareness about the potential of SDPs and to scale-up their implementation. 24. While recognizing that Chinese and Indian com-panies might not be subject to the same checks and bal-ances and corporate social charters as their counterparts from the West, the meeting underscored the importance of engaging with them; understanding their motivation, business practices, culture, and investment drivers. !is was considered important since these countries represent an alternative source of capital and are global players in their own right. !e meeting recognized that this should result in a better compact where development outcomes would be maximized. !e importance of strengthening the individual negotiating capacity of African States, as well as that of the continent as a block to achieve this was reiterated. 25. !e Big Table observed that Africa’s traditional partners have not always supported the continent’s eort to promote local processing and value addition. !ey noted that tari and non-tari barriers imposed by the West curtailed Africa’s eorts in this direction. It was noted that this issue should be addressed during the Doha Round of negotiations and during the Economic Partner-ship Agreements (EPAs) negotiations. African Caribbean and Paci$c (ACP) countries were urged to place this issue high on their agenda for negotiations with EU. 26. Overall, the meeting noted that it was impor-tant to integrate the natural resources sector in national development plans and strategies such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) if the sector is to bet-ter contribute to growth and development. !erefore, the meeting recommended that the natural resources sector should be mainstreamed in all the PRSPs. 4. Natural Resources Exploitation and Environ-mental Stewardship 27. !e meeting noted that environmental considera-tions were moving to the top of the political agenda and that they were now central to considerations in natural resource industries. It further observed that lending insti-tutions such as the AfDB, World Bank, and international industry associations such as the ICMM could play a role in enforcing environmental compliance in Africa. It was further noted that Africa should develop its own resource exploitation SHE codes, aligned with international best practice. 28. !e meeting underscored that environmental issues were not solely the realm of governments and that, increasingly, local communities and other stakeholders should be involved in monitoring and enforcing envi-ronmental compliance. It was highlighted that there was need for more advanced and standardized systems to monitor compliance with rules and regulations. !is could be implemented through self-monitoring systems or by the creation of tripartite governance structures that would include governments, civil society organizations and private companies. In addition, information about the International Organization for Standarization (ISO) 14000 standards for environmental compliance should be better disseminated and capacity built to ensure their wider application. 29. !e meeting noted that the global market did not provide enough mechanisms to enforce environmental stewardship. It also observed that environmental trading systems and mechanisms such as the Carbon Trading System, the Clean Development Mechanism, and the Global Environment Fund were not widely known by African countries. !e meeting recommended that the international community, in particular the G-8, countries should step up eorts to disseminate information about these tools and build the capacity of African countries to use them. It was also stressed that capacity-building was needed for government institutions, NGOs and com-munity based organization (CBOs) to better monitor and enforce application of laws, regulations and environmental standards.
  • 193. Appendices 175 30. !e meeting agreed on the need to expand the mandate and scope of EITI to include environmental stewardship. III. Crosscutting Issues 5. Capacity for Natural Resources Management, Partnerships and Regional Integration 31. While acknowledging the various initiatives taken to build the capacity of African countries to man-age natural resources, the meeting identi$ed some gaps, including the lack of capacity to negotiate contracts. !e need to establish a facility to help African countries better negotiate contracts was reiterated. In addition, the estab-lishment of a peer learning group on natural resources management to promote capacity-building, exchange of experiences, identi$cation and dissemination of best practices, and creation of an appropriate knowledge base was considered a priority. 32. !e meeting noted that AfDB was conducting a survey to identify capacity gaps in Africa. !is would be instrumental in designing tailor-made and targeted capacity-building programmes for government o%cials, oversight bodies such as Parliaments, Chambers of Mines, and other stakeholders. A special area of concern is the need to enhance understanding of $scal issues in natural resources contracts and accounting practices of interna-tional companies operating in the sector. !e meeting underscored that the AfDB survey could help map exist-ing capacity-building initiatives in the region to improve co-ordination and avoid duplication of eorts. 33. !e importance of $nding ways to avert brain-drain, which aects the existing capacity, was also high-lighted. In this context, it was suggested that existing centres of excellence in Africa should be strengthened and more should be created. 34. Regarding regional integration, the necessity of building the capacity of existing regional economic com-munities (RECs) and/or building them in dierent ways that take cross-border issues into account when resources and infrastructure are not wholly within one country was emphasized. Moreover, the importance of collaborating and creating partnerships for large projects in the region (e.g. SDPs) was underlined. 35. !e meeting also noted that RECs should pay urgent attention to the harmonization of laws, regula-tions and standards in their respective sub-regions. !is was considered key to facilitating factor #ows, especially capital, human resources, goods and services. !e meet-ing also noted that some environmental problems are trans-boundary and require regional and sub-regional approaches to address them. 36. Also recognized was the need to build or strengthen partnerships and coalitions at national, re-gional and international levels with the aim of strength-ening existing capacities, inducing change, and enforcing application of international treaties, agreements, and standards to promote good governance and an e%cient use of natural resources wealth, and to reduce the pos-sibility of con#icts. IV. Conclusions and Way Forward 37. !e meeting agreed that Africa’s huge natural resources endowment could engender growth and mul-tiplier eects on the continent, if properly managed. !is hinges on ensuring Africa’s ownership of the development process, strengthening governance systems, reinforcing institutional capacity, investing natural resources wealth in the creation of knowledge for economic innovation, negotiating better terms with external partners, and integrating the natural resources sector into national development frameworks. It was recognized that many natural resources are $nite, and the wealth they generate should be invested in other forms of capital, particularly human, social and physical. !e potential of using natural resources rents to promote Africa’s infrastructure devel-opment was recognized. As a way forward, the following compact for future action was agreed: (a) Require G-8 endorsement of EITI and encourage more African countries to adhere to and implement the principles; (b) Expand the mandate and scope of EITI and beyond the oil and gas sectors and revenue
  • 194. 176 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes transparency to include other natural resources, upstream and downstream issues, and environ-mental stewardship. !e EITI Board should con-sider this; (c) Extend the Kimberley Process Certi$ca-tion Scheme to other minerals such as gold, coltan, etc.; (d) Expand the scope of the APRM process to include governance of the natural resources sector. It is proposed that the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee should consider this matter. (e) Encourage the establishment of inde-pendent oversight bodies to monitor implementa-tion of natural resources projects at the country level. !is could include representatives of NGOs, CBOs, and the private sector; (f) Mainstream the natural resources sec-tor into the second generation PRSPs in African countries. !is would require concerted action between national governments, the AfDB, World Bank, UNDP, and other stakeholders, ECA’s data-base from the PRSP Learning Group could inform this process; (g) Build Africa’s capacity to utilize envi-ronmental trading systems and mechanisms such as the Carbon Trading System, the Clean Devel-opment Mechanism and the Global Environment Fund. !e international community should help in this exercise; (h) Encourage AfDB and other regional and international $nancial institutions to participate in natural resources projects in Africa. !eir pres-ence serves as a guarantee that project operators will respect international standards; (i) Facilitate the development of African Junior Resource Companies, possibly through a dedicated $nance instrument under the AfDB. !is could contribute to an increase of local participation in and ownership of natural resources projects; (j) Strengthen Africa’s capacity to har-ness renewable resources as a means to preserving the stock of non-renewable resources for future generations; (k) Devise mechanisms for sharing bene$ts between regions in the same country based on tested formulae; (l) !e establishment of a study group to review Africa’s mining codes. !is could in-clude research centres in Africa and abroad, ECA, AfDB, ICMM, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and OECD-DAC; (m) An AUC/AFDB/ECA programme to elaborate Africa codes and standards for natural resources exploitation (To be informed by OECD Guidelines, EITI, Equatorial Banks Principles, Global Reporting Initiative, ISO, etc). !is could have an impact on AfDB’s lending guidelines; (n) !e establishment by AfDB of a grant facility to help Africa’s emerging oil and other nat-ural resources producers in contract negotiations; (o) !e establishment by ECA of a peer-learning group on natural resources management. !e work streams of this group would include seminars/workshops on oil/gas exploitation, man-agement of mineral wealth, natural resources and infrastructure development, Stabilization Funds and Non-Renewable Funds, compendia of best practices, policy briefs, e-discussion groups, etc.; (p) Tailor-made and targeted capacity-building programmes in the key areas of man-agement of natural resources funds and windfalls, monitoring and enforcement of environmental obligations, taxation, and accounting procedures of international natural resources companies. !e target group would include government o%cials,
  • 195. Appendices 177 oversight bodies such as Parliaments, Chambers of Mines, and other stakeholders; (q) Undertake better pro$ling of emerging global players such as China and India and engage them. !is could include research centres in Africa and abroad, ECA, AfDB, UNCTAD, ICMM, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and OECD-DAC; (r) Build or strengthen partnerships and coalitions at national, regional and international levels with a view to improving information shar-ing and dialogue, co-ordination and collaboration, and enforcing application of international trea-ties, agreements, and standards to promote good governance as well as an e%cient use of natural resources wealth; (s) Call on the international community to support Africa’s eort to map and create invento-ries of its natural resources. !is could impact on Africa’s capacity to obtain better terms and could lead to the establishment of an African Natural Resources Information Clearing-house. (!is would have information about Africa’s resources, production and consumption, market dynamics, etc); (t) Scaling-up awareness-raising pro-grammes on the potential of SDPs in Africa. !is could culminate in an international conference on infrastructure and natural resources development in Africa (2009). !e AfDB, the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa, AUC, NEPAD Secretar-iat, ECA, and the Regional Spatial Development Initiatives Programme (RSDIP)/Mintek could be involved in this process; (u) Maintain the momentum created by the 2007 Big Table through a co-ordinated series of follow-up events, including a discussion with Ministers of Finance during the next Annual Meet-ing of the AfDB; and (v) Develop a scorecard to measure impact and degree of implementation of recommendations agreed upon in these fora. Appendix C: Terms of reference of the ISG International Study Group to Review Africa’s Mining Regimes Background !e mineral wealth of a considerable number of countries of Africa and its potential as a stimulus to economic growth and development has been eloquently document-ed. Moreover, increased attention has been directed to the role which mineral wealth might potentially play, in the face of di%culties facing other potential leading economic sectors, notably agriculture (price instability, subsidies, etc). !e 2007 Big Table on “Managing Africa’s Natural Re-sources for Growth and Poverty Reduction” jointly organ-ized on 1 February 2007 by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) recognized that, historically, Africa had not gained the best possible bene$ts from the exploitation of its natural resources. !e meeting noted that in the 1990s, many African countries embarked on a scale of reforms - which did not have any historical precedent - and formulated generous investment laws and regulations to attract for-eign direct investment (FDI) to their natural resources sector. !e meeting also observed that there has been a paradigm shi in the 2000s with a surge towards a more societal-oriented development. In addition, the Big Table noted that the natural resources sector is witnessing a commodity price boom, fuelled by global resource scarcity and the entrance in the commodity market of new global resource-demanding players such as China and India. Given Africa’s unique resource endowment, this oers a window of opportunity for African States to extract better
  • 196. 178 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes terms from natural resources exploitation and to catalyze growth and poverty alleviation across the continent. In view of the above factors, it appeared most appropri-ate and urgent to evaluate past experiences in natural resources development in Africa and put forward recom-mendations as to how mineral rich countries of Africa might best ensure that their natural resources contribute to the economic and social development of their societies in a sustainable and equitable manner. To achieve this, the Big Table recommended the establishment of a study group to review Africa’s mining regimes. Objectives !e overall objectives of the International Study Group (ISG) are to review the extent to which Africa’s current mining regimes promote sustainable development of the mining sector, including artisanal and small-scale mining as well as the broad national and regional economy, and to propose key elements for future change in the form of templates, toolkits and guidelines to formulate the next generation of Africa’s mining regimes. For the purpose of this review, a broad view is taken of the expression “mining regime”. It includes policy statements, legislation and regulations, contracts, guidelines, codes of conduct, standards, operating practices, and international agree-ments applicable to mineral operations. Key sustainable development objectives to be taken into account include the following: 1. To secure national and regional policy space to develop regimes and options that advance developmental goals and are sensitive to national speci$cities; 2. To develop governance institutional capacity to be able to customize mining regimes to suit local devel-opmental needs; 3. To ensure that the minerals socio-economic link-ages into the local and regional economy are optimized; and 4. To develop multilateral and regional governance and regulation through e.g. the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Extractive Industries Trans-parency Initiative (EITI), and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Issues to be covered To assist in the formulation of a framework for mineral resource development, the following issues, inter alia, will be considered. governance and institutional capacity in the mineral resources sector; ' mechanisms for enhancing the integration of min-eral operations into the broader national or regional economy; ' mechanisms for enhancing local bene$ts; ' mechanisms for enhancing local and national employment; ' managing and allocating mining revenue; ' land and community rights and relations; ' gender and child labour in the context of mineral operations; ' global trade and other economic issues aecting the African mining sector; and ' security of supply. !e study will evaluate and, where judged desirable, de-velop instruments regarding the following: ' the types of licences required for mineral operations and their incidents; ' the conditions to be satis$ed for obtaining each licence; ' the processes by which these may be acquired or granted, including access to information, who makes
  • 197. Appendices 179 or participates in the decision to make a grant, who is consulted and how a decision is made; ' speci$cally, when environmental permits or licences are required; of what sort; aer what processes; and what obligations they impose; ' procedures for assessing and regulating social impacts; ' land tenure: the relationship between the general regime and the mining regime; the impact of mining operations on other interests in land; ' the various elements of the $scal regime; ' $nancial regulations, including exchange control; ' local retention of earnings from mining; ' security of tenure provisions: their scope, formulation, location and implications; ' dispute-settlement provisions; ' agreements for selling, refining or processing minerals; ' permits and processes for exporting minerals; ' industry and State reporting requirements; ' planning for mine closure including environmental, social and economic aspects of closure; and ' regulatory and monitoring institutions: their respec-tive roles, responsibilities, powers, capacities. An organising map for the range of issues set out above is attached as Annex 1. Activities /Outputs From the perspective of sustainable development: ' produce a comprehensive and up-to-date compilation and database of the principal elements of the regimes governing mineral operations in Africa; ' provide an overview of the key elements of these regimes; ' summarise any trends that they reveal; ' make a comparison with developments in other min-eral- producing regions of the world and identify best practices; ' identify evident weaknesses as well as best practices in the African regimes; ' produce case studies and pro$les of selected African countries; ' identify constraints from the international environment; ' indicate major issues in controversy or of concern, known facts and positions on these issues and either make recommendations to resolve them or suggest what further work needs to be done to advance in-formed resolution; ' develop a toolkit to assist policymakers and govern-ment negotiators involved in formulating, imple-menting, or monitoring a regulatory regime or in negotiating agreements for mineral operations;
  • 198. 180 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes ' develop reporting requirements directly linked to scorecards for monitoring performance, and measur-ing progress and impacts: ' produce a report synthesizing key $ndings of the study and recommendations for action; ' dra a declaration on key policy positions to be con-sidered for adoption by African governments; and ' draw up proposals for processes to disseminate the outcomes. Implementation strategy An international study group comprising of leading academics and practitioners of natural resources law, economics and management will conduct the review of Africa’s mining regimes. An inception meeting will be organized in October 2007 to (i) agree on the project governance, methodology, theoretical or conceptual framework of the study (what should be the subject of study and research) and work streams, (ii) clarify what sustainable development and societal-oriented development means for the purpose of the study with a view to $rming-up the criteria for study and comparison, (iii) identify roles and assign responsibili-ties to the members of the group, and (iv) decide on the deliverables, expected outcomes, and timelines. Members attending the inception meeting will assure the overall quality control of the review exercise. !e review will be conducted through desk studies and bibliographic review, assessment of perceptions of key stakeholders on legal/regulatory, economic/$scal, envi-ronmental/ social, and institutional/governance issues aecting the sector, case studies, selected country pro- $ling including risk pro$le, governance in the sector, availability of detailed geological information, the status of the authorities involved in giving licenses, the geologi-cal surveys, etc. !e preliminary results of the review of Africa’s mining regimes will be subjected to peer reviews and validation exercises at national and sub-regional lev-els involving dierent stakeholders, including members of parliament (e.g. the e-parliament forum, NGOs, the private sector, industry associations, labour, international organizations, and academia. Guiding principles !e review exercise will be guided by the following principles: ' Sensitivity to Africa’s aspirations and expectations; ' Independent, fact-driven, and balanced evaluation; ' Appreciation of concrete circumstances and features of particular countries; ' Acknowledgement of the global and competitive na-ture of the mining industry; and ' Need to engage in meaningful consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. Key milestones ' “Commissioning” of studies: Start in mid- October 2007-10-09 ' Brie$ngs on the work of the ISG: First African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development, which will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 19-23 November 2007. ' Next Meeting of the ISG: 14-16 April 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ' Sub-regional road shows and validation workshops: 3rd Quarter of 2008 ' Conclusion of the review exercise: 30 June 2009 Partners !is activity will be implemented in collaboration with the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) of the University of Dundee, the Groupe de recherché sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA) of the Université du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), the
  • 199. Appendices 181 Witwatersrand University, the Commonwealth Secre-tariat, the Raw Materials Group and other partners who will be sought to provide resource persons and materials to develop case studies, guidelines and the toolkits. Expected accomplishments It is expected that this activity will generate a body of knowledge and practices on Africa’s mineral regimes that will contribute to the draing of a future generation of mining codes that promote broader-based growth and development of the mining sector on the continent. ISG ToR: Mind Map
  • 200. 182 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Appendix D: Extracts from the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa (1980 -2000) Preamble 9. We view, with disquiet, the over-dependence of the economy of our continent on the export of basic raw materials and minerals. !is phenomenon had made African economies highly susceptible to external devel-opments and with detrimental eects on the interests of the continent. Natural resources 76. !e major problems confronting Africa in the $eld of natural resource development include: lack of information on natural resource endowment of large and unexplored areas and the activities of transnational corporations deal-ing with natural resource assessments; lack of adequate capacity (capital, skills and technology) for the develop-ment of these resources; a considerable dependence on foreign transnational corporations for the development of a narrow range of African natural resources selected by these corporations to supply new material needs of the developed countries; the inadequate share in the value added generated by the exploitation of natural resources of Member States due to imperfect pricing and marketing practices; non-integration of the raw materials exporting industries into the national economics of the Member States thus impeding backward and forward linkages; extremely low level of development and utilisation of those natural resources of no interest to foreign transnational corporations; and disappointingly low general contribu-tion of natural resources endowment to socio-economic development. Because of these factors Member States are unable to exercise meaningful and permanent sovereignty over their natural resources. 77. During the 1980s the strategy for the developing coun-tries of Africa in their natural resources development should aim at: (a) undertaking the assessment of their natural resources endowments and the use of the information on natural resource distribution and availability for national and Af-rican multinational socio-economic development projects intended to produce goods and services to meet the needs of Member States; (b) integrating natural resource development within na-tional and African multinational socioeconomic devel-opment programmes and projects, so as to encourage complementarity of dierent natural resources available in various Member States in the production process and to promote backward and forward linkages that the de-velopment of the natural resources can generate within the African economics; (c) undertaking comprehensive manpower, technology and capital needs surveys for natural resource develop-ment activities with a view to enabling the countries to pool their resources for the implementation of national and African multinational natural resource development programmes and projects; (d) strengthening existing national and African multina-tional institutions dealing with natural resource develop-ment and conservation activities at all levels including training, research, production, processing, fabrication, marketing, $nance, etc., and the establishment of new ones; (e) harmonising national natural resource development policies with a view to creating a favourable environment for co-operative eorts by the Member States in the devel-opment of their natural resources to meet socio-economic needs of their peoples; and (f) working closely with the international community and other non-African agencies involved in natural resource development in the region, so that external resources are directed principally to natural resource development projects which promote and sustain cooperative arrange-ments among Member States so as to enable the region to obtain the fullest possible development bene$ts #owing from regional linkages.
  • 201. Appendices 183 General proposals and recommendations 78. (i) In recognition of the signi$cance of natural resources in providing a sound base for national socio-economic development, Member States should take early steps to acquire a thorough knowledge of their natural resource endowments. !ese include the establishment of a man-power development and institution building programmes for the conduct of $eld studies and preparation of inven-tories of natural resources. (ii) Member States whose economy essentially depends on production of raw materials should endeavour to co-ordinate and harmonise their positions in all interna-tional negotiations on raw materials so as to protect their interests. (iii) In particular measures should be taken by each Mem-ber State to ensure that all results and basic data, especially foreign transnational companies during their mineral prospection activities in the country, are handed over to the government. (iv) To ensure the best possible storage and utilisation of these data, a documentation centre (data bank) should be established at the national level. (v) To enable African governments to exercise sovereignty over their natural resources they should take all necessary measures through the development of relevant human and institutional infrastructure, to establish indigenous technological capabilities in the exploration, processing and exploitation of their natural resources. (vi) !e constant aim of African governments should be the rational development and utilisation of their natural resources, employing technologies that are appropriate to their local conditions, and paying due regard to such aspects as conservation of natural resources. (vii) At the sub-regional and regional levels measures or policies should be adopted to ensure eective intra-African co-operation among Member States, namely: (a) harmonisation of national development programmes for the use of mineral, energy and water resources; (b) establishment of joint facilities for applied research, specialised services and training; (c) participation in multinational projects and enterprises for the exploitation, production and processing of usable natural resources. Mineral resources 79. !e main development objectives of the strategy for de-velopment of mineral resources during the 1980s would be: (i) Improved knowledge of African mineral resources through possession of an adequate inventory of existing and potential resources, better forecasting of consumption patterns and research towards rational use of known re-serves. Particular attention should be paid to those mineral raw materials with strategic importance for building up the basic industries making up intermediate products such as: iron and steel, aluminium, base metals, petrochemi-cal products and fertiliser, cement, etc. In the economic evaluation of the resources account should be taken of the structural changes which have occurred in the world due to the eect of the energy crises, the new technologies as well as the increased needs for local consumption of some raw materials. (ii) Creation, at the national and regional levels, of proper scienti$c, technical and industrial environment neces-sary for the development and expansion of the mineral extractive industries. To this end, the $rst eort should be directed towards the strengthening of the capabilities of the national geological surveys and mining depart-ments. In promoting the new methods and techniques of research the national capabilities have to be complemented by the multi-national African centres for development of mineral resources. (iii) Correlation of national programmes of geological re-search and mineral surveys at the subregional and regional levels in view of increased e%ciency and establishment of joint operational activities. Of particular importance will be co-operation among the Member States for exploitation of the resources of the sea-bed.
  • 202. 184 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes (iv) Training in all aspects of mineral resources devel-opment of high level specialized personnel as well as of medium level technicians from Member States in order to alleviate the shortage of quali$ed manpower and to reduce the dependence on overseas expertise and spe-cialised services. (v) Development of a system of transfer of know-how, and exchange of scienti$c, technical and economic data in geology, mining activities and mineral economics among Member States as well as with countries from other developing regions. Appendix E: Main mineral deposits of Africa COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and semi precious stones Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals Algeria Gold, silver Mercury, wolframite, lead, zinc, iron Phosphate, barite, kaolin, benton-ite, diatomite, feldspar, gypsum, pozzolana, salt, marble, rhyolite, sulphur, fuller’s earth Angola Diamonds, gold, silver, PGMs, Uranium, nickel, chromium, baux-ite, copper, lead, iron, zinc Phosphate, granite, marble, salt, gypsum, lignite, mica, peat, manganese Benin Gold, Marble, Botswana Diamonds, gold, platinum group metals, semi-precious gemstones, Copper, nickel, cobalt Coal, soda ash, salt Burkina Faso Gold, Lead, zinc, uranium Granite, marble, phosphate, pum-ice, salt, manganese Burundi Gold Tin, nickel, copper, cobalt, nio-bium, coltan, vanadium, tungsten Phosphate, peat Cameroon Gemstones, gold, diamonds Nickel, bauxite, iron., rutile, co-balt, uranium, tantalite, tin. Lignite, marble, mica, manganèse Cape Verde Gypsum, , pozzolana, salt, Central African Republic Diamonds, gold Copper, tin, iron, uranium Clay, graphite, ilmenite, kyanite, lignite, monazite, quartz, salt, manganese, rutile Chad Gold Salt, soda ash, Comoros Congo DR Diamonds, gold, silver Copper, zinc, tin, nickel, lead, coltan, cobalt, tungsten, niobium Coal, manganese Congo Brazzaville Diamonds, gold Copper, lead, zinc, iron, magnesium Phosphate, potash, manganese Cote d’Ivoire Gold, diamonds Cobalt, niobium coltan, nickel, copper, iron, bauxite, Manganese Djibouti Copper Salt, basalt, gypsum Egypt Gold Lead, tantalum, uranium, copper, tin , iron, zinc, magnesium, Granite, marble, phosphate, gyp-sum, sulphur, salt, soda ash, bar-ite, asbestos, bentonite, feldspar, #uorspar, kaolin, manganese, ver-miculite, coal Equatorial Guinea Diamonds, gold Bauxite Eritrea Gold, silver Copper, lead, zinc, magnesium, iron, nickel Asbestos, feldspar, potash, talc, basalt, granite, gypsum, kaolin, marble, pumice, quartz, salt Ethiopia Gold, silver, platinum, gemstones Tantalum Salt, diatomite, feldspar, gypsum, soda ash, granite, marble, pumice, rhyolite, silica sand, kaolin Gabon Gold, diamonds, PGMs, Uranium, niobium, iron Phosphate, manganese Gambia, !e Titanium Rutile, silica sand
  • 203. Appendices 185 COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and semi precious stones Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals Ghana Gold, diamonds, silver Bauxite Salt, manganese Guinea Gold, diamonds Bauxite, iron, uranium, copper, nickel Salt, graphite, manganese Guinea-Bissau Diamonds, gold Bauxite Granite, phosphate Kenya Gemstones, gold Lead, zircon, iron, titanium Soda ash, fluorspar, diatomite, salt, gypsum, mica, meerschaum, kaolin Lesotho Diamonds Uranium Dimension stone, bituminous shale, coal Liberia Diamonds, gold Iron Libya Iron Gypsum, salt, sulphur, Madagascar Gemstones, diamonds, PGMs, gold Chromium, nickel, bauxite, cop-per, cobalt, titanium, uranium, iron Coal, graphite, labradorite, quartz, agate, salt, gypsum, feldspar, mica, marble, zircon, beryl Malawi Gemstones Copper , nickel, titanium, uranium Coal, kaolin, phosphate, zircon Mali Gold, diamonds, palladium, silver, semi-precious stones Copper, lead, lithium, nickel, tin, iron, chromium, titanium, tung-sten, uranium, niobium, thorium, bauxite. Granite, gypsum, kaolinite, mar-ble, phosphate, salt, manganese, rutile, talc, zircon Mauritania Gold, diamonds, semi-precious stones, PGMs Iron, copper, chromite, titanium Gypsum, salt, sulphur Mauritius Morocco Gold, silver Lead, zinc, copper, nickel, tin, uranium, mercury, cobalt, anti-mony, iron Phosphate, coal, barite, #uorspar, bentonite, salt, talc, fuller’s earth, feldspar, gypsum, manganese Mozambique Gold, coal, gemstones, diamonds Bauxite, iron, niobium, tantalum, titanium, beryllium Diatomite, salt, quartz, Marble, bentonite, rutile, zircon, ilemenite Namibia Diamonds, gold, silver, gemstones Copper, lead, zinc, tin, uranium, tantalite, Salt, #uorspar, granite, marble, sodalite, wollastonite, manganese Niger Gold, silver, Uranium, tin Coal, gypsum, salt Nigeria Gold, , gemstones, diamondS Tin, bauxite, copper, zinc, lead, iron, tungsten Coal, barite, kaolin, feldspar, gyp-sum, granite, marble, soda ash, talc, zircon, phosphate, rutile, monazite, ilmenite, Rwanda Gold, gemstones Tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, columbium Pozzolana Sao Tome E Principe Senegal Gold Iron , titanium Phosphate, salt, silica sand, rutile Seychelles Sierra Leone Diamonds, gold, PGMs, Bauxite, titanium Gypsum, salt, ilmenite, zircon Somalia Gemstones, salt, gypsum South Africa Gold, PGMs, platinum, diamonds, gemstones, palladium Lead, zinc, bauxite, copper, nickel, iron, chromium, uranium, vana-dium, titanium, cobalt, antimony coal, phosphate, kyanite, vermic-ulite, #uorspar, ilmenite, silicon, cement, asbestos, bentonite, feld-spar, gypsum, kaolin, mica, man-ganese, rutile, zircon, Sudan Gold, silver, Chromite, Gypsum, marble, salt, mica, kaolin Swaziland Gold, diamonds Coal, kaolin, talc, soapstone Tanzania Gold, diamonds, gemstones, silver, PGMs Nickel, bauxite, copper, cobalt, uranium Coal, phosphate, gypsum, poz-zolana, soda ash, Togo Diamonds, gold bauxite, zinc, iron Phosphate, gypsum, marble, man-ganese, rutile Tunisia Silver Lead, zinc, iron Phosphate, #uorspar, zinc, barite, gypsum, lime
  • 204. 186 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes COUNTRY Precious Metals gemstones and semi precious stones Metallic Minerals Industrial Minerals Uganda Gold, diamonds Copper, tin, lead, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, uranium, niobium, tan-talum, iron Gypsum, kaolin, salt, vermiculite, pozzolana, marble, soapstone Zambia Gemstones, diamonds, gold, silver Copper, zinc, tin, nickel, cobalt, manganese, uranium Coal, sulphur, feldspar, barite Zimbabwe Gold, diamonds, PGMs, palla-dium, platinum, , silver Nickel, copper, iron, Chromium, cobalt, uranium Coal, lithium, vermiculite, phos-phate, feldspar, graphite, kyanite, perlite, mica, sulphur, talc, asbes-tos, barite Sources: US Geological Survey (Minerals Yearbook): http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/africa.html#ag Africa Atlas : http://www.unep.org/dewa/africa/AfricaAtlas/ MBendi Information Services : http://www.mbendi.com/indy/ming/af/p0005.htm UNECA: http://knowledge.uneca.org/community-of-practice/nepad-regional-integration-and-trade/natural-resources-managment/international-study- group-isg-to-review-africas-mining-codes/meetings-of-the-isg/fourth-meeting-of-the-isg-10-12-march-2009/presentations/!e%20_Min-eral% 20_Law_%20Policy_Framework%20_Algeria_Mauritania_Morocco.pdf British Geological Survey 2009; World Mineral Production 2003 – 2007 Appendix F: U.S. Mineral Materials Ranked by Net Import Reliance - 2010 Commodity Percent Major Sources (2006-091) Arsenic(trioxide) 100 Morocco, China, Belgium Asbestos 100 Canada BauxiteandAlumina 100 Jamaica,Brazil,Guinea,Australia Cesium 100 Canada Fluorspar 100 Mexico, China, SouthAfrica,Mongolia Graphite(natural) 100 China,Mexico,Canada,Brazil Indium 100 China, Canada,Japan,Belgium Manganese 100 SouthAfrica,Gabon,China,Australia Mica, sheet (natural) 100 China, Brazil, Belgium, India Niobium(columbium) 100 Brazil,Canada, Germany, Estonia QuartzCrystal(Industrial) 100 China,Japan,Russia RareEarths 100 China,France,Japan,Austria Rubidium 100 Canada Strontium 100 Mexico,Germany Tantalum 100 Australia,China,Kazakhstan, Germany !allium 100 Russia, Germany, Netherlands !orium 100 United Kingdom, France, India, Canada Yttrium 100 China,Japan,France Gallium 99 Germany, Canada, China, Ukraine Gemstones 99 Israel, India, Belgium, South Africa Bismuth 94 Belgium, China, United Kingdom, Mexico Platinum 94 South Africa, Germany, United kingdom, Canada Antimony 93 China, Mexico, Belgium
  • 205. Appendices 187 Commodity Percent Major Sources (2006-091) Germanium 90 Belgium, China, Russia, Germany Iodine 88 Chile, Japan Rhenium 86 Chile, Netherlands Diamond (dust, grit and powder) 85 China, Ireland, Russia, Rep. of Korea Stone (dimension) 85 Brazil, China, Italy, Turkey Potash 83 Canada, Belarus, Russia Cobalt 81 Norway, Russia, China, Canada Titanium Mineral Concentrates 81 South Africa, Australia, Canada, Mozambique Silicon Carbide 77 China, Venezuela, Netherlands, Romania Zinc 77 Canada, Peru, Mexico, Ireland Barite 76 China, India Tin 69 Peru, Bolivia, China, Indonesia Vanadium 69 Rep. of Korea, Czech Republic, Canada, Austria Tungsten 68 China, Canada, Germany, Bolivia Silver 65 Mexico, Canada, Peru, Chile Titanium(sponge) 54 Kazakhastan, Japan, Ukraine, Russia Peat 59 Canada Palladium 58 Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Belgium Chromium 56 South Africa, Kazakhstan, Russia, China Magnesium Compounds 53 China, Austia, Canada, Brazil Beryllium 47 Kazakhastan, Kenya, Germany, Ireland Silicon (ferrosilicon) 44 China, Russia, Venezuela, Canada Lithium 43 Chile, Argentina, China Nickel 43 Canada, Russia, Australia, Norway Nitrogen($xed),Ammonia 43 Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Canada, Ukraine Aluminium 38 Canada, Russia, China, Mexico Magnesium Metal 34 Canada, Israel, China, Russia Gold 33 Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile Copper 30 Chile, Canada, Peru, Mexico Mica,scrapand#ake(natural) 27 Canada, China, India, Finland Garnet (Industrial) 25 India, Australia, China, Canada Perlite 25 Greece Salt 24 Canada, Chile, Mexico, !e Bahamas Vermiculite 22 China, South Africa Sulfur 17 Canada, Mexico, Venezuela Gypsum 15 Canada, Mexico, Spain Phosphate Rock 15 Morroco IronandSteelSlag 10 Japan, Canada, Italy, South Africa Cement 8 China, Canada, Republic of Korea, !ailand Iron and Steel 7 Canada, European Union, China, Mexico Pumice 7 Greece, Turkey, Iceland, Mexico Diamond (natural industrial stone) 3 Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, India Lime 2 Canada, Mexico Stone (crushed) 1 Canada, Mexico, !e Bahamas Note: Excludes mineral fuels. 1 In descending order of import share. SOURCE: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2011, Updated: February 2011
  • 206. 188 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Appendix G: State/private control of mining of selected minerals 1975-2006 Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 Bauxite MEC states 17.4 24.8 26.7 18.7 13.5 13.1 CPEs 14.3 13.1 11.6 5.8 10.9 11.6 Of which China 1.04 2.5 3.4 5.8 10.9 11.6 State total 31.7 37.9 38.3 24.5 24.4 24.7 MEC private 68.3 62.1 61.7 75.5 75.6 75.3 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Coal MEC states na 8.7 8.7 13.1 11.2 12.1 CPEs na 55.4 54.2 29.1 38.5 39.0 Of which China na 18.8 21.9 28.2 37.4 38.4 State total na 64.1 62.9 42.2 49.7 51.1 MEC private na 35.9 37.1 57.8 50.3 48.9 State total + 0 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Copper MEC states 26.7 35.2 30.6 22.4 20.3 18.4 CPEs 22.0 23.5 21.9 5.3 5.2 5.9 Of which China 2.0 2.9 3.3 4.4 4.4 5.0 State total 48.7 58.7 52.5 27.7 25.5 24.3 MEC private 51.3 41.3 47.5 72.3 74.5 75.7 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Gold MEC states 2.3 3.4 2.3 6.2 4.7 4.3 CPEs 19.9 25.1 19.0 7.0 10.3 11.0 Of which China 0.1 4.0 4.3 6.3 9.1 9.8 State total 22.2 28.5 21.3 13.2 15.0 15.3 MEC private 77.8 71.5 78.7 86.8 85 84.7 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Iron ore MEC states 19.5 23 22.5 27.1 10.3 9.5 CPEs 33.9 44.5 42.4 10.9 15.0 18.5 Of which China 5.7 7.4 8.3 10.8 15.0 18.5 State total 53.4 67.5 64.9 38 25.3 28 MEC private 46.6 32.5 35.1 62 74.7 72 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Lead MEC states 8.6 12.7 8.2 4.1 2.4 2.2 CPEs 29.9 31.3 32.6 22.3 33.8 34.3 Of which China 3.9 6.2 11.1 21.6 33.5 34.3 State total 38.5 44 40.8 26.4 36.2 36.5 MEC private 61.5 56 59.2 73.6 63.8 63.5 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Manganese MEC states 22.8 13.1 13.4 14.1 10.6 11.0 CPEs 41.9 55.1 48.7 17.9 24.1 24.0 Of which China 4.2 12.1 12.6 17.9 24.1 24.0
  • 207. Appendices 189 Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % State total 64.7 68.2 62.1 32.0 34.7 35.0 MEC private 35.3 31.8 37.9 68.0 65.3 65.0 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Entity Controlled share of world production % 1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 Nickel MEC states 2.8 14.2 12.2 8.7 7.9 7.7 CPEs 23.4 31.1 32.8 10.1 9.9 10 Of which China na 2.4 3.8 4.3 4.3 4.7 State total 26.2 45.3 45 18.8 17.8 17.7 MEC private 73.8 54.7 55 81.2 82.2 82.3 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Tin MEC states 22.1 24.0 15.7 17.4 15.7 19.8 CPEs 16.6 18.9 22.0 40.5 35.8 36.4 Of which China 9.2 8.9 14.8 38.8 34.3 34.8 State total 38.7 42.9 37.7 57.9 51.5 56.2 MEC private 61.3 57.1 62.3 42.1 48.5 43.8 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Zinc MEC states 10.6 14.0 11.7 9.5 4.2 4.1 CPEs 27.4 25.9 29.2 20.9 25.9 28.4 Of which China 2.2 4.3 9.2 20.2 25.2 27.7 State total 38 39.9 40.9 30.4 30.1 32.5 MEC private 62 60.1 59.1 69.6 69.9 67.5 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Sources: Ericsson and Tegen 1992, Raw Materials Data 2008. Note: na: not available MEC states: Market Economy Countries, state owned companies. MEC private: Market Economy Countries, private owned companies. CPE: Central Planned Economies, state owned companies. Appendix H: State/private control of re!ning of selected minerals 1975-2006 Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % 1975 1984 1989 2000 2005 2006 Alumina MEC states 9.6 17.5 18.6 13.6 9.8 9.7 CPEs 16.6 18.2 19.8 8.1 13.1 19.0 Of which China 1.5 3.4 3.4 8.1 13.1 19.0 State total 26.2 35.7 38.4 21.7 22.9 28.7 MEC private 73.8 64.3 61.6 78.3 77.1 71.3 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Aluminium MEC states 11.9 22.7 26.5 22.1 20.4 20.3
  • 208. 190 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Mineral Entity Controlled share of world production % CPEs 20.7 20.2 20.2 12.1 24.5 27.6 Of which China na 2.8 3.9 12.1 24.5 27.6 State total 32.6 42.9 46.7 34.2 44.9 47.9 MEC private 67.4 57.1 53.3 65.8 55.1 52.1 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Copper MEC states 16.2 24.7 22.8 19.9 17.0 16.1 CPEs 24.9 24.6 22.8 9.0 14.9 16.9 Of which China 2.9 3.4 4.3 9.0 14.9 16.9 State total 41.1 49.3 45.6 28.9 31.9 32.9 MEC private 58.9 50.7 54.4 71.1 68.1 67.1 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Nickel MEC states 1.0 8.7 9.8 4.2 3.1 3.5 CPEs 24.0 32.3 33.4 8.1 10.6 10.9 Of which China na 2.4 3.1 4.6 7.6 8.0 State total 25.0 41.0 43.2 12.3 13.7 14.4 MEC private 75.0 59.0 56.8 87.7 86.3 85.6 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Tin MEC states 11.4 21.3 20.2 19.6 15.7 14.2 CPEs 17.4 23.2 21.6 43.0 34.5 40.4 Of which China 9.7 13.3 12.3 42.3 33.5 39.2 State total 28.8 44.5 41.8 62.6 50.2 54.6 MEC private 71.2 55.5 58.2 37.4 49.8 45.4 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Zinc MEC states 9.7 13.8 10.4 9.1 4.6 4.7 CPEs 31.3 26.5 27.9 21.8 27.4 30.0 Of which China 2.6 3.6 6.7 21.4 26.8 29.4 State total 41.0 40.3 38.3 30.9 32.0 34.7 MEC private 59.0 59.7 61.7 69.1 68.0 65.3 State total + 100 100 100 100 100 100 MEC private Sources: Ericsson and Tegen 1992, Raw Materials Data 2008. Note: na: not available MEC states: Market Economy Countries, state owned companies. MEC private: Market Economy Countries, private owned companies. CPE: Central Planned Economies, state owned companies.
  • 209. Appendices 191 Appendix I: Environmental and Social issues in mining regimes in se-lected African countries Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are environmen-tal requirements integrated into the mining legislation? Yes, the Minister of minerals, energy and water resourc-es, before granting a prospecting li-cence must be sat-is $ed that that the proposed program of prospecting operations is ad-equate and makes proper provision for environmental protection. Yes Under the Mining Proc. No 52/1993, Article 26(3), min-ing right holders are required to observe the health and safety of their agents, employees and other person in their operations and to minimise environmental pollution. No Under the Miner-als and Mining Act 2006, sec 18 and 49(2)(d) the mineral right holder is re-quired to obtain the necessary approvals and permits required from the Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of natural resources, public health and the environment before undertaking an activity or opera-tion under a mineral right. Yes. Mine and quarry operations must be carried out in such a way as to ensure environ-mental protection in accordance with the Environ-ment Code. Enter-prises are required to take all steps necessary to prevent pollution of the en-vironment, to treat wastes, emanations and e*uence, and to preserve the forest and water resources. Yes. See Mining Law 2002, Chap-ter V Are there manda-tory environmental pre-conditions to obtain exploration rights? Yes No. !e ap-plication for an Ex-ploration Licence is not subject to technical and envi-ronmental evaluations. No No !ere is no manda-tory environmental precondition set to obtain exploration rights. However, the mineral right holder is required to obtain the necessary approval required from the Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency before undertaking any activity. No No
  • 210. 192 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are there manda-tory environmen-tal pre-conditions to obtain mining rights? Yes, the applicant for a mining li-cence is required to submit a com-prehensive EIA as part of the project feasibility study report. Yes, an ap-plicant for exploita-tion licence is required to submit with his/ her appli-cation an Environ-mental Im-pact Study (EIS) and the Envi-ronmental Manage-ment Plan o f t h e Project (EMPP). Under the Mining Proc. No 52/1993, Article 46(2)(h) and the Mining Regulation, Article 5(2)(d),applicants for large scale min-ing licences are re-quired to submit an environmental impact study before licence is granted. No Under the mineral and mining Act, there are no manda-tory environmental prerequisites that need to be ful$lled to get mining rights. Nonetheless, the EIA regulation requires any person before commencing any of the undertakings speci$ed in Schedule 1 of the Regulation, to get the undertak-ing registered by the Agency and obtain an environmental permit. For any of the under-takings mentioned under Schedule 2 of this Regulation an EIA is required be-fore an environmen-tal permit is issued. No No Are there manda-tory environmen-tal prerequisites to maintain mining rights? Section 65 of the Mines and Min-erals Act puts an obligation on the holder of a mining licence to conduct his operations in such manner as to preserve in as far as possible the natural environ-ment, minimize and control waste or undue loss of or damage to natural and biological re-sources, to prevent and promptly treat pollution and con-tamination of the environment. No According to the EIA proc. 299/2002, Article 12,where one fails to imple-ment the project in compliance with commitments and obligations entered into or imposed, the relevant Authority has the power to suspend or cancel the licence issued in favour of a project. No Environmental re-quirements are not set as preconditions to maintain mining rights, however, the mining lease au-thorizes the holder of the lease to stack or dump a mineral or waste product as ap-proved in the holder’s Environmental Im-pact Statement. No Yes. Unless the holder of the mining conces-sion obtains an environmental permit within the speci$ed period, the concession will be revoked. Holders of min-ing certificate or pass are also required to ob-serve health and safety regula-tions as well as obligations for environmental protection.
  • 211. Appendices 193 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Is there a re-qui rement for developing a n environmental management plan to obtain mining rights? Yes, according to section 65 of the Mines and Miner-als Act, an appli-cant for a mining licence is required to prepare and sub-mit a comprehen-sive EIA. !is EIA will be prepared as it is indicated un-der section 10 of the EIA Act. . Yes, the ap-plicant will be required to submit with his application an envi-ronmental manage-ment plan. !e licensing Au-thority requires the applicant for min-ing right to submit an EIA which is required to con-tain, among other things, measures proposed to elimi-nate, minimize or mitigate negative impacts (environ-mental manage-ment plan). No Submitting an en-vironmental man-agement plan is not a prerequisite to obtain mineral rights. However, the person responsible for an undertaking in respect of which a preliminary envi-ronmental report or an environmental impact statement has been approved shall submit to the Agency an environ-mental management plan in respect of his operations within 18 months of com-mencement of opera-tions and thereaer every 3 years. No For activities cat-egorized as Level 2 under the min-ing act, there is a requirement to develop an envi-ronmental man-agement plan which is subject to prior approval by the competent entity. Is there a require-ment for updating the information presented in the environmental impact study dur-ing the course of the development of the project? No No !e relevant envi-ronmental agency is required to pe-riodically monitor the implementa-tion of authorised projects to ensure compliance with set commitments and obligations. How-ever the agency during monitoring can require the EIA report to be revised or updated, where necessary. No In the event of occur-rence of fundamen-tal changes in the environment due to natural causes before or during the imple-mentation of the un-dertaking; and upon such change the en-vironmental assess-ment report and the environmental man-agement plan shall be revised on the basis of the new environ-mental condition. No No
  • 212. 194 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Which institutions or officials par-ticipate in or are consulted in the decision to grant a mineral right? The Minister of Ministry of Min-erals Energy and Water Aairs, the department of Geological Survey and department of Mines take part in decision-making with regard to granting/denying a mineral right. The Min-i s t e r i n charge of mines and quarries, Geological Depart-ment, Min-ing Regis-try, Head of the Pro-vincial Au-thority of Mines, De-partment in charge of the pro-tection of mining environ-ment and the Inter-ministerial Committee appointed by the Min-ister and Directorate of Mines. The Mines and Energy Bureau of national regional Self-Government is responsible for issuing artisanal mining as well as construction minerals mining licenses under-taken by domestic investors while the Ministry of Mines and Energy issues licenses for other mining operations. Under the Mines and Minerals Act sec. 137 the Minister of mines or any other respon-sible Minister ,mining com-missioner and the mining af-fairs board are responsible for the granting or denial of min-ing leases. Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines, on behalf of the President and upon receipt of recom-mendation from the Minerals Commis-sion, may negotiate, grant, revoke, sus-pend or renew min-eral rights in accord-ance with this Act. Minister of Mines and Center of Pro-motion and Min-ing Development (CPMD) are respon-sible for granting of mineral rights. The relevant authority is in charge of grant-ing or denying of mining titles and permits. !ere is no public par-t icipat ion i n decision-making. The Council of Ministers has the powers to re g u l ate t he mining law as well as approve environmental regulations for the mining activ-ity and those for technical mining safety. The National Council for Sus-tainable devel-opment has the power to propose mechanisms for the simpli$cation and e%ciency of the process of licensing activi-ties related to the use of natural resources. What about in monitoring and enforc ing t he environmental regulations? The Department of Environmental Aairs (the com-petent authority) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the EIA Act. The De-partment in charge of the pro-tection of mining en-vironment !e Environmen-tal Protection Au-thority (EPA) and Regional Environ-mental Agencies as well as Environ-mental Inspectors to be assigned by EPA or by the rel-evant regional en-vironmental agency are responsible for the enforcement of the environmental regulations. !e Minister of Environment and Tourism or any other Minis-ter to whom the President may assign, Envi-ronmental Man-agement Board, the National Environmental Council, the Environmental Management Agency, offic-ers and inspec-tors and the Standards and Enforcement Committee are responsible for controlling and enforcing environmental regulations. !e Environmental Protection Agency is responsible to ensure compliance with and laid down environ-mental impact as-sessment procedures in the planning and execution of devel-opment projects, in-cluding compliance in respect of existing projects. Not Known The Council of Ministers, the National Coun-cil for Sustainable Development (a consultative or-gan of the Coun-cil of Ministers), civil society, local communities and associations.
  • 213. Appendices 195 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique What are the main environmental le-gal compliance in-struments to which mineral operations have to adhere ? Environmental Impact Assess-ment Act 2005. Not Known !e Environmen-tal Impact Assess-ment Proclamation No 299/2002 and Environmental Pollution Control Proclamation No 300/2002. Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] !e Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 and the Environmental As-sessment Regula-tions 1999. Not Known Environmental Law of Septem-ber 1997 Are there prereq-uisite for obtaining an environmental permit? If the competent authority deter-mines that a pro-posed activity is likely to have a signi$cant adverse environmental impact, it shall require that such activity undergo an environmental impact assess-ment. Based on a review of the EIA the authority may approve and grant authorization to the applicant. Not Known If the proposed project falls in any category listed un-der the directive issued pursuant to the EIA proclama-tion, an applicant will be required to undertake an envi-ronmental impact assessment and submit the EIA re-port to the Author-ity or the relevant regional environ-mental agency. To implement the projects list-ed under First Schedule of the Act, the project developer re-quires a certi$- cate in respect of the project aer submitting an EIA report in accordance with sec. 99 of the Environmental Management Act. A person required by the regulations to register an undertak-ing and obtain an environmental per-mit shall submit the Agency an applica-tion in such form, as the Agency shall de-termine. !e Agency may also require an applicant to submit such other informa-tion on the under-taking as the Agency considers necessary for the initial assess-ment of the environ-mental impact of the undertaking. Not Known Yes, all activi-ties, which are susceptible of signi$cant envi-ronmental im-pact, are required to be licensed and registered. The issuance of the environmental licence is subject to the submis-sion of an envi-ronmental im-pact assessment of the proposed activity.
  • 214. 196 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are there pre-con-ditions for main-taining an envi-ronmental permit? The authorized person, while im-plementing the project, is required to avoid the occur-rence of adverse environmental im-pact and to comply with any terms or conditions author-ization was subject to. Otherwise, the authorisation may be revoked or modi$ed. Not Known !e environmental inspectors assigned by the Author-ity or the relevant regional environ-menta l agenc y have the power to ensure compliance with environmental standards and re-lated requirements. If the inspector suspects that any activity may cause damage to the en-vironment, he shall order the taking of corrective meas-ures up to the im-mediate cessation of the activity. The Authority or the relevant envi-ronmental agency has also the power to cancel or sus-pend the license in case where the license holder fails to implement the project in compli-ance with the com-mitments he has entered into. Every developer with a certifi-cate is required to take all steps to prevent or mitigate any un-desirable eects of the project on the environ-ment. Other-wise, the Direc-tor General has the right to can-cel or suspend the certi$cate. !e holder of the en-vironmental permit should take all the necessary measures so that his/her un-dertaking doesn’t pose a serious threat to the environment or to public health. If the Agency $nds out that a certain under-taking for which an environmental per-mit has been granted poses a serious risk to the environment, it may serve on the person responsible for the undertaking an enforcement no-tice requiring him/ her to take such steps as the Agency thinks necessary to prevent or stop the activities. !e Agency may also direct the immediate cessation of the of-fending activity. Not Known No
  • 215. Appendices 197 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Which regulatory and monitoring institutions are in-volved in reviewing the environmental impact assessment report submit-ted by a mining project developer/ applicant? The Department of Environmental Affairs, relevant government de-partments and lo-cal authorities. Depart-ment i n charge of the Protec-tion of the Mining En-vironment within the Ministry of Mines is the organ deal-ing with the technical evaluation of the EIS, MRP and the EMPP presented by the ap-plicants requesting mining or quarry ex-ploitation rights. The Authorit y (EPA) is responsible for the evaluation of an environmental impact study report and the monitoring of projects which are subject to li-censing, execution and supervision by a federal agency or which is likely to produce trans-regional impact. its implementation when !e regional environmental agencies are re-sponsible for pro-jects which are not subject to licens-ing, execution and supervision by a federal agency and which are unlikely to produce trans-regional impact It is the General- Director of the Environmental Management Agency that is responsible to review the EIA reports submit-ted by the project developer. It is stated that the Forestry Commis-sion and the Envi-ronmental Protec-tion Agency are responsible organs to give approv-als and permits to mineral right holder before undertaking an activity or opera-tion under the right. !e Agency will also hold public hearing to solicit comments on the submitted EIA before approving it and give an environ-mental permit. Not Known For Level 2 min-ing activities, un-der Article 37 of the Mining Law, the competent entity is responsi-ble for approving the environmen-tal management plan. The National Council for Sus-tainable devel-opment may give recommendation with regard to as-sessment on an EIA submitted by a mining project developer.
  • 216. 198 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are there laid down rules to hold public hearings and con-sultation before project approval? !e competent au-thority, within 60 days of receiving an EIA statement, is obliged to place a noti$cation in the Gazette and in a newspaper circu-lating at least once weekly, for four consecutive weeks, inviting comments or objections of those person who are most likely to be aected by the proposed activity and other inter-ested persons. !e competent au-thority may hold public hearing af-ter examining the EIA statement if it is of the opinion that the activity is of such a nature that the public should have the opportunity to make submissions or comments at a public hearing. NNo No The Authority or the relevant region-al environmental agency is required to make any EIA study available to the public and en-sure that the com-ments made by the public and in par-ticular by the com-munities likely to be aected by the implementation of a project are in-corporated into the environmental impact study re-port as well as in its evaluation. No No, there is no public hearing and consul-tation to grant min-eral right. However, before the issuance of an environmental permit, the Environ-mental Agency shall hold a public hear-ing in respect of an application where there appears to be public reaction to the commencement of the proposed un-dertaking; where the undertaking will involve the dis-location, relocation or resettlement of communities; or where the Agency considers that the undertaking could have extensive and far reaching eects on the environment No No Can potentially af-fected persons pre-vent the grant of a mineral right or an environmental permit? The competent authority, in its decision making to grant or deny au-thorization based on the EIA state-ment submitted, should consider the comments or objections raised by persons who are likely to be aected by the proposed activity and other interested person. No In case of the grant-ing of an environ-mental permit, the potentially aected persons will be giv-en the opportunity to comment on the EIA report submit-ted by an applicant. However, during the assessment of an application for mining license, the people likely to be aected by the min-ing project are not consulted by the decision making body. No Regarding the grant of mineral rights, potentially aected communities do not take part. In the case of the issuance of an environmental per-mit, at least a third of the panel members shall be residents of the geographical area of the proposed un-dertaking and shall re#ect representation of varying opinions, if any, on the subject of the hearing. No No
  • 217. Appendices 199 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are there strate-gies for inspection and enforcement of compl iance with the EIA and/ or environmental standards that have been submitted by an applicant? !e relevant tech-nical department or local authority is under the obli-gation to monitor the implementa-tion of the activ-ity to determine compliance with the agreed miti-gation measures, both during and aer implementa-tion of an activity. !ey are also re-quired to carry out an environmental audit biennially and demand the developer to take specific mitiga-tion measures to address the envi-ronmental impact of their activities. No !e Authority or the relevant re-gional environ-mental agency and their environmen-tal inspectors have the responsibility to monitor the im-plementation of an authorized project in order to evaluate compliance with all commitments made by, and obli-gations imposed on the proponent dur-ing authorization The Director- General is re-quired to carry out environmen-tal audits of any project, in con-sultation with such authorities as he considers appropriate, to ensure that the implementation of the projects complies with the require-ments of this Act. As per the Environ-mental Protection Agency Act, one of the functions of the Agency is to ensure compliance with any laid down environ-mental impact as-sessment procedures in the planning and execution of devel-opment projects. Likewise, the envi-ronmental permit holder will be re-quired by the agency to submit an annual report in respect of his undertaking. No !ere is no par-ticular provision with regard to strategies for in-spection of com-pliance of the de-veloper with the EIA that he/she has submitted. Is there a docu-ment setting out social policy in the context of mineral operations? No No No No No No No
  • 218. 200 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are social provi-sions integrated into the mining legislation? Yes Yes License holders are required to give preference to Ethiopian nation-als when hiring provided that such persons have the required quali$ca-tions. They shall also provide train-ing and education necessary for min-ing operations and also provide them with appropriate clothing and pro-tective equipments, health and medical facilities. Yes Yes Under articles 18 and 19 of the Min-ing Code, mine or quarry title holders and all enterprises working for them must give prefer-ence to Guinean enterprises for all construction, sup-ply or service con-tracts, provided that such enter-prises oer prices, quantities, quali-ties and delivery schedules that are at least compara-ble. Mine or quarry title holders and all enterprises working for them must give preference to Guin-ean workers where suitable. Yes, holders of reconnaissance licence, mining concession and mining certifi-cate are required to compensate the land users for damage caused to their land or property result-ing from their activities in the area. What social re-quirements must be satis$ed before a mining right is granted? The Mini s ter before granting minerals permit should ascertain whether the con-sent of the owner of the area ap-plied for has been obtained. An appli-cation for exploita-tion licence should in-corporate, among oth-er things, the plan as to how the project will contribute to the de-velopment of the sur-rounding communi-ties. !ere are no social requirements set as a precondition to get a mining concession. There are no social require-ments set under the mines and minerals Act. An application for a mineral right shall be submitted to the Minerals Commis-sion in the prescribed form and shall be accompanied with a statement provid-ing, among other things, particulars of the applicant’s proposals with re-spect to the employ-ment and training of Ghanaians in the mining industry. A detailed program for the recruitment and training of Ghanaian personnel is a condi-tion for the grant of a mining lease. No social precondi-tions are set in order to get mining right. !ere are no so-cial requirements set as precondi-tions in order to get mining concession. How are the rights and interests of the communities to be affected by min-ing be taken in to account? Section 60(a)(ii) of the Mines and Minerals Act puts a provision that restricts the holder of a mineral con-cession from ex-ercising any right bestowed upon him/her without the written con-sent of the owner or lawful occupier of the area. Nothing is mentioned under the mining code with regard to the pro-tection of rights of communi-ties likely to be af-fected by the mining activity. !e licensee has an obligation to take proper precaution not to interfere with legitimate occupants of the li-cense area, the land covered by the lease and adjacent land. Where occupants have to displaced, compensation shall be made payable. Under the Mines and Minerals Act, any owner or occupier of reserved ground who is injurious-ly aected by any mining opera-tions shall be en-titled to recover compensation !e Act entitles the owner or lawful oc-cupier of any land subject to a mineral right to get com-pensation for the disturbance of the rights of the owner or occupier. Mining titleholders must indemnify the eventual legitimate occupants of such land for all loss of enjoyment result-ing there from their activities. Any dam-age caused by a min-ing title holder to owners, usufructu-aries and legitimate occupants of the soil or their representa-tives gives right to a claim for indemnity. They will be entitled to com-pensation for any damage caused to their land or property as a re-sult of the mining activity.
  • 219. Appendices 201 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are the mining companies re-quired to consult with the groups and communities to be aected by the project to get their free and informed prior consent? The companies are not obligated to consult the communities to be aected by the project in order to get a mining concession. No No No. However by sec 123 of the Mines and Min-erals Act, the owner or occu-pier has a right to lodge objections to the Board with regard to the grant of the application. No No No, the mining companies are not required to consult with the communities to be affected by project and get their informed consent. Is there any kind of support for dia-logue and negotia-tion of compensa-tion aer consent is granted by groups and communities directly affected by mining? No No No No With regard to the amount of compen-sation payable, it is to be determined by an agreement between the parties or by the Ministers in case they are unable to reach an agreement. Inhabitants who prefer to be compen-sated by way of reset-tlement as a result of being displaced by a proposed mineral operation should be settled on suitable alternate land. No No
  • 220. 202 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Is a plan for mine closure required? Does it cover en-vironmental and social aspects? Both holders of a prospecting and retention licence are required to remove any camp, temporary build-ings or machinery erected or installed by him, upon ex-piry or termina-tion of his licence, and repair or oth-erwise make good any damage to the surface of the ground occasioned by such removal, to the reasonable satisfaction of the Director of Geo-logical Survey. At the end of opera-tions in any mine, excavation, waste dump or bond, the holder of a mineral concession shall take all neces-sary measures to maintain and re-store the topsoil of aected areas and the land sub-stantially to the condition in which it was prior to the commencement of operation. During ap-plication for mining licence, the applicant is required to submit MRP along with his/ her appli-cation and submit it for approv-al. This is a plan for rehabilita-tion of the environ-ment after the mining activity. Licensees are re-quired to submit restoration plans as speci$ed by direc-tive. No directive is yet issued. !ey are to make safe all tunnels, pits and other installations of a potentially dangerous nature. !ey must, on sur-render of license, fence and safe-guard any pits and such other works in the health, life and property of persons may not be endan-gered. !ey should also completely re-store or reclaim the land covered by the license for bene$- cial future use. No A plan for mining closure is not a re-quirement during application, none-theless, the Act puts an obligation on the holder of a pros-pecting licence to remove within sixty days from the date of the expiration of the licence a camp, tem-porary building or machinery erected or installed and make good to damages to the surface of the ground occasioned by the removal. No !ough there are no mandatory environmental preconditions imposed on an applicant for mine closure, there are require-ments imposed on the holders of mining con-cession, mining certi$cate as well as mining pass to comply with the obligations for environmental protection and management during the life-cycle of the min-ing activity and restoration of the environment during mining closure. Does the law incor-porate rules, which oblige the mineral right holder to con-duct an assessment of the environmen-tal impacts of min-ing activity during mine closure? No An explora-tion licence holder is not re - lieved from his respon-sibilities with regard to environ-mental rehabilita-tion after the expiry of his title. No No No No No What about as-sessment of social impacts? No No No No No No No
  • 221. Appendices 203 Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Are there require-ments to post a se-curity bond upon issuance of mining authorization cov-ering reclamation and remediation of the environment? No As part of the MRP, an appli-cant for a mineral or quarry ex-ploration right or a temporary Quarry Ex-ploitation is required to provide a financial guarantee to cover or guarantee the mitiga-tion and re-habilitation costs of the environ-ment. The Licensing Authority may re-quire the applicant for renewal, trans-fer, assignment or encumbrance of a license to provide cash, bank or other guarantee to secure the applicant’s ob-ligations. One of the obligations of a miner is to restore the mining area prior to termina-tion of the license. No No No No If not what reme-diation/ rehabilita-tion requirements are prescribed for miners? The holder of a prospecting and a retention licence is required to make good any damage to the surface area of the grant oc-casioned by such removal to the satisfaction of the Director of Mines. - The holder of a small scale or large- scale mining license is required to progressively re-store or reclaim the land covered by the license so that prior to termination of the license, the area has been completely restored for bene$- cial future use. - !ere are no reme-diation or rehabilita-tion requirements set for miners under the Mineral and Mining Act. Holders of mining titles remain liable for any obligations incumbent upon them with respect to the environment and rehabilitation of the developed sites, even aer the sur-render takes eect. The different mining licence holders will be re-quired to comply with obligations for environmen-tal restoration. What about on holder of an envi-ronmental permit? The department of environment and conservation, aer carrying out an environmental audit, may require an applicant who has been granted an environmen-tal permit to take speci$c mitigation measures to ensure compliance with predications made in the statement or mitigation meas-ures to address environmental impacts not antici-pated at the time of the authorization. Not Known No rehabilitation requirements are imposed on the en-vironmental permit holder under the EIA proclamation. No rehabilita-tion requirement is imposed on the holder of a decision letter. An environmental impact statement for mining and other extractive industry shall include recla-mation plans. Not Known !e environmen-tal law of 1997 does not impose any obligation on the holder of an environmental permit to post security bond or to come up with any rehabilita-tion measures upon issuance of the permit.
  • 222. 204 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Issues/Topics/ Questions Countries Botswana Democrat-ic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Gabon Ghana Guinea Mozambique Source Mines and Miner-als Act 1999 and Environmental Impact Assess-ment Act 2005 L aw No 007/2002 of July 11, 2002 relat-ing to the mining code Mining Proclama-tion No 52/1993, Mining (Amend-ment) Proclama-tion No 22/1996, Mining Regulation No 182/1994, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Proclamation No 299/2000 and Environmental Pollution Control Proclamation No.300/2002 Mining Law No 005/2000, Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27], Mines and Min-erals Act Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Environ-mental Protection Agency Act 1994 and Environmental Assessment Regula-tions 1999 Mining Code 1995 Mining L aw 2002, Environmental Law 1997 Appendix J: Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Canadian Extractive Industries in Developing Countries !e Canadian Roundtable Process on CSR and the Ca-nadian Extractive Industries in Developing Countries was developed in response to complaints against Cana-dian companies operating overseas in the areas of social, human rights and environmental responsibility. Trade unions, faith-based groups, environmentalists, human rights groups and other civil society groups were ac-tive in expressing these complaints. In June 2005, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Aairs and International Trade issued a report titled Mining in Developing Countries—Corporate Social Responsibility, which called for the institution of a multi-stakeholder pro-cess to consider what policies and programmes needed to be strengthened and which new ones created in this area. A seventeen person Advisory Group was established for the process. It consisted of persons from academia, civil society, the extractive industries, the $nancial sector and labour. It worked with an inter-departmental committee made up of Canadian Government o%cials in establishing how the process would be conducted, what the agenda of the various components would be, the list of presenters, experts, etc. Meetings were held in four locations between June and November 2006 – in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. !ese were structured into (a) open pub-lic sessions where presentations were made by various organizations or members of the public and (b) issue focused sessions which involved more detailed discussions with particular experts. Over 100 written representations were also received as part of the process, which was also organized around $ve themes identi$ed by the report of the Parliamentary committee: ' CSR Standards and Best Practices ' Incentives Supportive of the Implementation of CSR Standards ' Assistance to Companies to Implement CSR Stand-ards and Best Practices ' CSR Monitoring and Dispute Resolution and ' Capacity Building for Resource Governance in De-veloping Countries Civil society and mining sector focal points were estab-lished as channels for inputs and to contribute to the selec-tion of participants and the draing of reports. Civil so-ciety groups formed the Canadian Network on Corporate
  • 223. Appendices 205 Accountability (CNCA) to engage in the process. A report was produced to summarise the discussions at each of the four roundtables held. According to the Advisory Group, “[e]very Roundtable participant, both at the Open Sessions and the Issue Focus Sessions, was reminded that the focus of the process was on developing potentially actionable ideas to be carried out by government, industry and civil society to enhance the CSR performance of the Canadian extractive sector operating in developing countries.” (p.2 of the Advisory Group Report.) !e Report of the Advisory Group was published in March 2007. Its “central recommendation” is that “the Govern-ment of Canada, in cooperation with key stakeholders, … adopt a set of CSR Standards that Ca-nadian extractive-sector companies operating abroad are expected to meet and that is reinforced through ap-propriate reporting, compliance and other mechanisms.” It identi$es the main components and key attributes of a Canadian CSR Framework as follows, using the words of the Executive Summary: ' !e Canadian CSR Standards, for initial application, based on existing international standards that are supported by ongoing multi-stakeholder and mul-tilateral dialogue. ' CSR reporting obligations based on the Global Re-porting Initiative, or its equivalent during an initial phase-in period, at a level that re#ects the size of the operation. ' An independent ombudsman o%ce to provide advi-sory services, fact $nding and reporting regarding complaints with respect to the operations in devel-oping countries of Canadian extractive companies. ' A tripartite Compliance Review Committee to deter-mine the nature and degree of company non-com-pliance with the Canadian CSR Standards, based upon $ndings of the ombudsman with respect to complaints, and to make recommendations regarding appropriate responses in such cases. ' !e development of policies and guidelines for meas-uring serious failure by a company to meet the Ca-nadian CSR Standards, including $ndings by the Compliance Review Committee. In the event of a serious failure and when steps to bring the company into compliance have also failed, government support for the company should be withdrawn. ' A multi-stakeholder Canadian Extractive Sector Ad-visory Group to advise government on the imple-mentation and further development of the Canadian CSR Framework (p.iii of the Report.) On March 26, 2009, almost two years aer the Roundtable Advisory Group’s report was published, the Canadian government responded with a press release announcing new measures to help Canadian mining, oil and gas com-panies meet and exceed their social and environmental responsibilities when operating abroad. !e press released noted that the Canadian government wanted to provide tools, guidance and advise to Canadian companies in terms of their impact on mining-aected communities. !e measures supported by the Canadian government would assist companies to “meet and exceed their ob-ligations with respect to corporate social responsibil-ity”.( www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm. news-communiques/2009/38...) Initiatives announced include the creation of a new O%ce of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor to assist in resolving social and environmental issues relating to Canadian companies operating abroad in this $eld; supporting a new Centre of Excellence to be established outside government to provide information for companies, non-governmental organizations and others; continuing Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) assistance for foreign governments to develop their capacity to manage natural resource development in a sustainable and responsible manner; and promoting internationally recognized, voluntary guidelines for cor-porate social responsibility performance and reporting.
  • 224. 206 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Appendix K: Extracts from YAOUNDE VISION (Yaoundé, Cameroon, 19-22 November 2002) STATEMENT Contribute to sustainably reduce poverty and improve livelihood in African Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) communities by the year 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals. GOALS: ' Acknowledge and re#ect the ASM sectorial issues in national legislation, and codes; ' Mainstream poverty reduction strategies into mining policy inclusive of ASM policies. ' Integrate ASM policy into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process with linkages to other rural sectors, and develop a strategic framework for PRSPs ' Revisit existing thinking on ASM legislation (tradi-tional land rights, and modern land use legislation nexus) and role of central government; ' Strengthen Institutions: ' Improve the availability of appropriate technologies ' Develop analytical business skills ' Undertake necessary reforms of the ASM sector: Improve policies, institutions, processes and the ASM stakeholders’ livelihood, develop partnerships, pro-mote sustainable use of natural resources, infrastruc-ture development and land use management. Appendix L: Auction systems for mineral licensing Introduction Transparency is one of the auction system’s strongest points. A properly designed auction system implies the licence is awarded according to relatively objective criteria made available in advance. Auction systems have not usually been applied in mining regimes. At the exploration stage, $rst-come $rst-served and discretionary procedures have been generally adopted, with an automatic entitlement to mine upon discovery of an economic resource subject to compliance with appli-cable mining regulations. !ey are, however, frequently applied for the award of petroleum exploration rights. Two main dierences between mining and petroleum operations which could impact the applicability of having an auction format are the relatively lower dollar values involved with mining, and also geological site informa-tion availability. Generally, mining projects involve lower dollar values than their petroleum counterparts. !is may mean that the costs associated with implementing an auction process are not justi$ed. Whether an area is prospective enough to warrant the cost of an auction procedure requires some preliminary geological data. !e success of an auction system is greatly enhanced with increasing geological information. At a minimum, enough information to de$ne the area for auction is re-quired. Auction systems are likely to function best when geological risk is relatively lower and bidders can base their assessment more on development, operational and market risk factors, with greater potential to attribute higher value on a risked basis. For existing mining sites, and high value highly prospective areas, the auction sys-tem has been used in a number of instances: in Liberia and India, as well as in privatization eorts in Zambia
  • 225. Appendices 207 and Ghana. When auctioning of exploration licenses was recommended in Australia (although ultimately not adopted), it was accompanied by recommendation for government investment in the acquisition and dissemina-tion of pre-competitive geological data. Di#erentiation of Resource Terrains based on Potential/Risk Within a jurisdiction, dierent areas based upon dierent geological risk will exist. Government can apply a dierent licensing regime to each dierent type of area. A country can be divided into dierent classi$ed areas, depending upon the geological information available, and the known value of any mineral deposits. !ese classi$cations can range from areas of low risk (existing/abandoned min-ing sites, well explored parts of the African Goldbelts, coal$elds, the Zambia/Congo Copperbelt etc), to areas of high risk (where no exploration activities have ever been carried out or where initial exploration work did not identify a deposit justifying further exploration). Classi$cation can also depend upon the type of mineral involved. Each classi$cation is then treated dierently for licensing allocation purposes: the low risk sites gener-ally being subject to auction, while the high risk sites are subject to more discretionary systems. A classi!cation system of this kind has recently been introduced in China. Auctions apply to areas where government funded explo-ration has resulted in a viable deposit being found; mining rights previously held by an entity have been extinguished; exploration rights have been extinguished, but explora-tion was taken to an advanced stage and a viable deposit is present; as well as other areas as the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources may determine. 'HVLJQ$SSURDFKDQG3URGXFW'H¿QLWLRQ Preliminary !e success of auctions in achieving a variety of policy and $scal goals depends to a large extent on the design and the number of participants in the auction. Auction design involves a multitude of issues such as the need for pre-quali$cation and guarantees in addition to auction form and biddable factor. Before any auction (or licensing generally) can be considered, government policy objectives need to be in place. Primary objectives for an auction can include: maximizing long term government rent, raising short term cash as quickly as possible, increasing local employment, focusing on infrastructure investment etc. Site De!nition Before an auction can be administered, the licence to be auctioned must be de$ned. !is includes the physical or geographical aspect, and the license conditions. !e geographical de$nition of the site can vary. In cases of existing or expired mining sites, the previous site de$ni-tion could logically be used. At sites where mineral depos-its are known to exist but at least some degree of explora-tion would be required to fully appraise the resource, the site could be de$ned according to existing geological and geographical attributes, or more simply and practically as aggregates of graticular blocks (a graticular block may be 1km x1km or 1 min x 1 min or 5 min x 5 min). Sites of su%ciently large size and high value can be separated into a number of blocks, as done in the petroleum context. If necessary, to assist governments in de$ning areas most in demand, an “invitation for expressions of interest” could be oered to the investor market to gain an under-standing of which areas the investors consider the most appealing, as is oen done in the petroleum context. !is information would serve two purposes: it assists government in de$ning the areas to be auctioned, and it gives some guidance on the likely level of interest and competitive pressure in a future auction process. !e licence conditions include such factors as minimum work program requirements and the ‘$xed’ $scal regime including taxes which are not being subjected to auc-tion. Speci$c development conditions and targets can be incorporated.
  • 226. 208 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Approaching the Process An auction process begins with public advertisement of the auction. The procedure for awarding the license LVGHVFULEHGLQFOXGLQJSUHTXDOL¿FDWLRQSURFHGXUHV auction rules alongside the details of the license site and conditions. This should be done well in advance of the auction. A clear and complete statement of the auction process is essential to bidder participation. Conducting the Auction !e relevant mining department can conduct the auction itself. Alternatively, a specialized separate government body can undertake this task. Transparency and objec-tivity are crucial to the auction process, and su%cient government capacity is required to conduct the auction. It is quite possible to outsource the process itself to special-ized third party auction managers. !is can reduce the burden upon government institutions, as well as alleviate potential concerns that some prospective applicants may have regarding transparency. !ere exist commercial platforms for auctions to be conducted electronically and via the internet. Pre-quali!cation Mining operations require substantial technical and $nancial capability to conduct an e%cient operation, and thereby maximize the value of a nation’s resources. Furthermore, mining activity involves signi$cant envi-ronmental and health and safety risks. Many potential environmental and safety disasters can only be addressed by adequately $nanced and competent implementation of preventative measures, and are very costly or impos-sible to redress aer the event. Hence, governments may want to ensure that any company awarded a mining li-cence has met minimum technical and $nancial capac-ity requirements. !is is in order to safeguard against signi$cant damage being caused and society being le without redress, in the situation that a company may be unable to remedy the situation (either because the damage caused is unable to be $xed retrospectively, or because the company lacks funds to do so). Pre-quali$cation is a tool government can use to achieve this. (In addition, the imposition of a bond and perhaps an insurance premium can be considered.) It is better to have $nancial and technical capacity dealt with as a pre-quali$cation issue, rather than as a biddable factor. Other issues about the ‘character’ of a potential ap-plicant, such as national security concerns should be dealt with in pre-quali$cation. Such pre-quali$cation condi-tions should be stated up front. However, it is important that pre-quali$cation is used only in a limited way to set minimum hurdles and should be objective. Otherwise, it risks becoming a process lacking transparency, inviting corruption and ultimately mitigating against the bene$ts of an auction system. Reservation Price and Penalties for Default If bidding competition for licences is strong, reservation prices are usually unnecessary. But if bidding competi-tion for licences is not adequate, reservation prices at the auction can be used to simulate additional bidders, thus enhancing the prospect of increasing revenues. Reservation prices can be set in advance as an open mini-mum bid requirement, or remain withheld from auction participants. !e reservation price can also be determined only aer the bidding, so that it may be informed by in-formation garnered from the bidding process (as is done in the U.S for petroleum.) Experience has also shown that the success of an auction depends on the existence of penalties for bidders who default on their bids - such as requiring a deposit to ac-company a bid. In cases where the biddable factor does not involve an upfront cash payment, bank guarantees or letters of credit could be used to achieve this. Mini-mum work programme requirements (accompanied by penalties for default) also function similarly to a form of penalty. It is important to have penalties to prevent companies merely bidding for ‘options’, perhaps look-ing to sell rights later on if mineral prices increase. !is has occurred in spectrum and satellite television license auctions in the U.S and India, and Australia respectively,
  • 227. Appendices 209 and resulted in long delays in ultimately implementing socially desirable projects. However, the requirement for some kind of deposit can pose a small barrier to entry for less capitalized applicants. Biddable Factor !e biddable factor refers to the factor that is actually the subject of competitive bidding. Other factors exist but are not subject to bidding. (!ey are referred to as $xed in this sense. However this does not mean they are static. A $scal regime may not be subject to bidding but still be dynamic. For example, a tax could be pegged to mineral prices or other dynamic objective values). Potential biddable factors include: an up-front cash pay-ment, resource rent tax rate ($xed royalty, ad valorem, or pro$t share), corporate tax rate, state equity share, progressive resource rent tax rate/levels, level of capital investment and multi-user infrastructure investment, degree of linkages and CSR investment. Other factors could also be devised and used. Combinations of dif-ferent factors, with each assigned a speci$c weighting, can be used. !e $scal regime will contain a number of these factors as $xed, with the auction of only one (or a combination) as a biddable factor as a possibility. In the petroleum context, ad valorem royalty, pro$t share and pure cash bidding have been used internationally. Up-front cash payment Pure cash bidding has been put forward as a theoretically ‘optimal system’ in terms of allocation e%ciency, rent capture and neutrality. It involves no ongoing adminis-trative costs (in terms of rent collection; there would still be for example environmental regulatory ongoing costs). Pure cash bidding also removes the need for some pre-quali $cation. It is also appealing to countries suering from an immediate budget short fall. However, pure cash bidding involves transfer of all the risk to the mining company. Assuming a state’s discount rate is lower than that of industry, then front-loading the rent in this way may not be optimal in that a higher risk premium will be factored into the bids made. !ere is also a signi$cant perceived ‘political risk’ that aer the upfront money is paid there will be pressure to tax again in the future. !is system also acts as a barrier to smaller entrants who may lack access to capital requirements to make the large up-front cash payments. Furthermore, as the money is paid up front, there is a concern that it will not be equitably distributed over a period of time to bene$t people over the life of the mine and into the future. Many of these problems can be partially overcome if the cash biddable factor is combined with a $xed resource rent tax. !is way much of the rent is back loaded and risk is shared, while the cash payment serves primarily to capture excess rent and allocate the license e%ciently. !is type of $scal regime was recommended in Australia two decades ago although ultimately not implemented. Resource Rent Tax A resource rent tax is used to denote three typical forms of taxation of minerals: the $xed royalty which is a $xed value per unit weight of extracted ore, the ad valorem royalty which is a percentage of the value of the extracted ore, and pro$t sharing which is a percentage of the pro$t made by the mining company from the speci$c ‘ring fenced’ resource. !ere are various ways of calculating these taxes, oen with provision for recouping capital investment and other costs at an accelerated rate. !e resource rent tax is back-loaded. !is shares the risk and ensures a more equitable disbursement of revenue into the future. However, without a signi$cant up-front cash component, signi$cant pre-quali$cation and work programme requirements would need to be mandated and monitored. !ere is also a risk that during mineral price downturns there will exist strong pressure to renegotiate the resource rent tax if it is not pro$ts related. (!is is a problem associated generally with resource rent taxes, regardless of whether they are auctioned or not). Having a reservation price or ‘#oor’ resource rent tax is particularly important to ensure government receives a fair minimum value from its natural resources.
  • 228. 210 MINERALS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT !e International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes Capital investment and infrastructure investment Bidding on capital expenditure on multi-user infrastruc-ture could encourage infrastructure development. With appropriate conditions, this could lead to bene$ts for related and unrelated industries and in turn the pub-lic. !e relatively low incremental cost associated with increasing capacity for large infrastructure investment makes the focus on multi-user infrastructure an e%cient and synergistic mechanism to promote wider economic development. !is is especially so given the large con-straints the current inadequate levels of infrastructure pose across Africa. Auctioning this factor can lead to ‘gold plating’ and inef- $cient over investment in infrastructure. !us its potential should be analysed in the context of the speci$c site and likely infrastructure demand and associated synergies deemed present.
  • 230. Printed by the ECA Documents Publishing Unit