Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal最新文献

{"title":"Toward safer gold: Policy pathways for reducing mercury related health risks in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Ghana","authors":"Cyril M Gbeli ,&nbsp;Francis Xavier D. Tuokuu","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101817","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101817","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although small-scale gold mining plays a vital role in supporting livelihoods and local economies in Ghana, it is associated with the widespread use of mercury, which poses significant environmental and public health risks across the country. This study examines artisanal miners’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices related to mercury use, with particular attention to its health and sustainability implications. Based on qualitative interviews conducted during field work in Ghana, the study reveals that while miners are aware of some immediate risks associated with mercury use, there is limited understanding of the long-term environmental and health consequences. The study explains the importance of incorporating local perspectives into policy responses to better align economic development with environmental protection in artisanal mining communities. It concludes by proposing a comprehensive policy framework to phase out mercury use in artisanal small-scale mining and offers avenues for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101817"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145519767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Titanium mining activities in Kenya: Reported impacts on household livelihoods","authors":"Linda Were,&nbsp;Joseph Onjala,&nbsp;Rosemary Atieno","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101804","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101804","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, mining is reported to contribute significantly to the gross domestic product of many countries and the livelihoods of communities affected by mine operations, through employment, infrastructure development, and business opportunities. Despite these gains, there are persistent debates on the overall socioeconomic impacts of mining. This paper interrogates this thesis by looking at the livelihood (social and economic) impacts of Titanium mining on the households affected by the mining activities in Kwale<span><span>¹</span></span> county in Kenya. The empirical question here is how household livelihood assets are impacted by mining activities and how social differentiation shapes the experience of these impacts at a household level in the face of existing mining legislation. The research has utilised a case study research design, which involves collecting both qualitative and quantitative data in Mvimoni, Kinondo, and Bwiti in Kwale County, Kenya. The qualitative method involved collecting data through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a literature review, while the quantitative method utilised ODK Collect to collect data from the household survey. The study's findings reveal that households' livelihoods are affected both positively and negatively. Even with the existence of mining legislation aimed at promoting employment, business opportunities, and training, only a handful of households are impacted positively and there are no proper mechanisms to monitor the impacts created. From a negative perspective, agricultural activities are impaired as household members shift away from regular crop production due to dust generation, consequently affecting crop production and new social influences. Pollution of rivers, destruction of forests, and loss of land due to displacement have also catalysed social and economic transformation among households as they embrace new livelihoods. The study recommends robust monitoring mechanisms that incorporate community views and perceptions of the benefits received from mining companies and the impacts they create. Additionally, having vulnerability as a criterion for distributing benefits by mining companies enhances equity in development of communities; thus, more vulnerable people can be positively impacted by the benefits accrued from mining operations. In addition, mining companies should have clear and transparent procedures communicated to all stakeholders regarding the benefits, enabling positive impacts on the livelihoods of communities. It is also recommended that the resettlement process be properly planned to avoid affecting the school calendar. Additionally, non-tangible losses should be factored into the resettlement process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101804"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145362663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Large-scale mining, territories, and development: A case study from Áncash, Peru","authors":"Matthew Himley","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101790","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101790","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper uses the case of a large-scale gold mine in Andean Peru that is currently in closure to analyze the interrelations among mining, territory, and development. Drawing on long-term research in the study area, I document how large-scale mining was enabled by and generated a collection of territorial transformations that included the enactment of new corporate and state systems of development governance. I question, however, whether the product of these transformations has been a singular, coherent “mining territory.” I do so by highlighting how local and regional actors have reconfigured official development territorialities as well as how everyday labor, livelihood, and mobility practices exceed these territorialities and have been shaped by non-mining dynamics. Based on these findings and inspired by insights from recent scholarly efforts to decolonize territory, I argue for a relational “mining-and-territories” orientation that encompasses how extraction relies on and drives territorial reconfigurations as well as how it relates to diverse, multi-scalar forms of territory-making at different sites along mineral production networks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101790"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145320929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Labor outsourcing in the mining-metallurgical industry in Mexico, 2003-2018: Territorial, sectoral and social evolution","authors":"Isidro Téllez-Ramírez,&nbsp;María Teresa Sánchez-Salazar","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101821","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101821","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study analyzes, at the national scale, the territorial, sectoral, and social evolution, and the magnitude of labor outsourcing in the mining-metallurgical industry in Mexico between 2003 and 2018, as well as its main implications for workers. Using census data, company reports, interviews, and document reviews, the analysis shows a 550.7 % growth in outsourced work in extractive mining, concentrated in precious metals and in states such as Colima, with little presence in the metallurgical industry. The consolidation of this model was driven by large companies that, taking advantage of regulatory flexibility and union fragmentation, managed to reduce costs at the expense of lower wages, instability, and loss of labor rights of thousands of workers. Likewise, this study documents the extreme use of outsourcing as a strategy to incorporate women into mining, which accentuated specific barriers related to motherhood, workplace violence and unequal access to training and promotion, thereby reproducing structural gender inequalities. In also reveals a marked asymmetry in the use of this scheme between companies operating in Mexico, Peru, Canada, and the United States: in more institutionally flexible contexts, outsourcing is widely used, whereas in settings with stricter regulation and oversight its use is considerably lower. It is concluded that outsourcing contributed to the increase in precariousness among mine workers and that the 2021 labor reform was an effective response to its abuses, although mechanisms of labour precarisation persist and require complementary policies to strengthen labor justice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101821"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modified spatial network approach to predict mobilisation emissions from upstream mineral exploration: applications to British Columbia’s critical mineral sector","authors":"Daniel Coutts ,&nbsp;Christopher Lawley ,&nbsp;Qian Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101779","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101779","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reaching global climate targets and the energy transition will require new sources of critical minerals. Exploration and mining activities generate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the relative contribution of emissions from all portions of the mining value chain remains poorly understood. Here, we divide the upstream portion of the mining value chain (i.e., mineral exploration) into six activities, representative of most Scope 1 emissions. We present spatial methods to estimate GHG emissions for ground and air transport and apply these methods to constrain emissions of three of the six exploration activities. A ground-transport model is informed by a spatial network analysis finding least-cost paths and fuel economy; whereas the air-transport model is informed by straight-line proximity to start locations and aircraft burn rate. We use these models in two applications. First, producing continuous maps of a single exploration activity with an example of field work mobilisation in British Columbia, Canada (i.e., mobilising a single vehicle) that can be used in a comparative fashion, where emissions of the activity can be compared between any two points in the modelling area. Second, a detailed emissions estimation contrasting two hypothetical drill programs, analogous to a GHG inventory when fuel use is not detailed in exploration reports. The methods and example data products presented here demonstrate how large-scale emissions inventories could be completed for the upstream exploration sector and used to define exploration areas prospective for critical minerals that will generate the lowest amount of GHG emissions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101779"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The future of coal mining landscape in children´s imagination: Using drawings as a research tool in post-mining land use planning","authors":"Daniel Kaplan ,&nbsp;Bohumil Frantál","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101785","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101785","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The post-mining landscape restoration is a global challenge which involves many dilemmas and arouses land use conflicts. While the potential of natural succession and the importance of participatory planning have been emphasized, the voices of local stakeholders - particularly the young generation - remain absent from decision-making processes. This study addresses this gap by exploring how children aged 6–12 living near a large surface coal mine envision the future of landscape, using drawings as a research method. Based on visual content analysis of 46 images, we examine the diversity of children's preferences and their alignment with adult-oriented plans. The pictures reveal a wide spectrum of ideas, from low-intervention natural landscapes to highly anthropogenic designs featuring waterparks, or housing developments. Statistically significant differences were observed between younger and older children, with older ones showing a greater preference for natural landscapes. Children’s visions were influenced by existing local features yet also expressed imaginative alternatives beyond conventional planning frameworks. The study demonstrates the methodological value of using drawings to map spatial perceptions and highlights the potential for meaningful child participation in post-mining land use, thus rather than dismissing children’s ideas as unrealistic, planners should consider their contributions as legitimate and insightful.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101785"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geopolitical discrimination and institutional governance of strategic and critical minerals: Implications for Africa","authors":"Christopher Vandome","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101765","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101765","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Geopolitical discrimination is shaping the race for strategic and critical minerals (SCMs), particularly in Africa. Western governments energy security concerns are leading to the formation of exclusive alliances to secure SCMs while excluding China due to geopolitical tensions. This creates a dilemma for African nations, which possess vast mineral reserves but maintain strong economic ties across these geopolitical divides. The nature of transnational supply chains and important role of both western and eastern partners for African states, have resulted in complicated trading relationships. African governments face a choice: join geopolitical groupings in expectation of enhanced support on developmental ambitions around processing and industrialisation; or to maintain a‘non-aligned’ stance to maximise the benefits of diverse relationships. This article argues that the current economic incentives are insufficient for African states to limit their geopolitical alignments. Western financing is insufficient to guarantee supply security from African producers and doesn’t reflect commercial realities. Promises of developmental benefits and enhanced ESG criteria are often unsubstantiated or lack detail. As a result, African nations will likely continue to balance their international partnerships to benefit from extractive opportunities, while potentially missing out on longer term benefits of inclusion into deeper and higher value energy security partnerships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101765"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Governing property rights and extractivism in the Nordics under the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act","authors":"Gustav Sigeman","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101795","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Nordic countries significant deposits of raw materials are becoming increasingly attractive to extract fueled by growing global demand, geopolitical pressures and increasing market volatility. Yet mining faces a growing number of legal disputes driven by social, economic and environmental concerns. Property-rights theory offers a framework for understanding how hierarchies of rightsholders contributes to environmental conflicts. By applying a macro-level (EU policy), meso‑level (national mining strategies), and micro-level (conflicts involving Indigenous rights) perspective, this paper analyses how high-level objectives are translated into national strategies and their potential impacts on local actors. The paper contributes to existing research by connecting literature on the evolution of property rights, Extractivism and resistance to mining in Sweden, Norway and Finland. It shows that supreme court rulings regarding Girjas (2020), Vetsijoki river (2022) and Karasjok (2024) points to a fragmented legal landscape, where the Sámi can sometimes be considered as proprietors in Sweden, but only authorized users in Norway and Finland. This indicates that the slow degradation of second order property rights which began in the 18th century as part of state building processes, create vulnerabilities which indigenous communities currently are trying to mitigate through court action. The results are important to avoid expansion of legal disputes tied to the Critical Raw Materials Act and national mining policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101795"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145320923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Narrative warfare in critical minerals: Information manipulation and governance challenges","authors":"Vlado Vivoda ,&nbsp;Lachlan Nieboer ,&nbsp;Rowan Bisshop","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101798","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101798","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As global demand for critical minerals accelerates, so does the strategic manipulation of information surrounding their governance and supply chains. Owing to their complexity, opacity, and geopolitical significance, critical minerals uniquely lend themselves to information manipulation. This paper explores how disinformation, misinformation, greenwashing, and narrative warfare shape the politics of perception in critical minerals governance. Drawing on 15 empirical vignettes spanning diverse geographies, it develops a typology of narrative manipulation, categorising techniques such as geopolitical disinformation, ESG distortion, criminal obfuscation, and community-level misinformation. The analysis reveals how information asymmetries are not peripheral to the sector but central to how legitimacy, consent, and value are constructed—making the governance of perception as consequential as the governance of material flows<em>.</em> The paper argues that information integrity is an emerging frontier of resource governance, requiring not only technical transparency but also epistemic pluralism and accountability in framing, consultation, and oversight. It concludes by proposing a conceptual shift toward governance models that treat narrative control as a site of political power and regulatory concern.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101798"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145320922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Critical minerals or criminal miners? The (in)formalization of artisanal and small-scale copper mining in Peru","authors":"Sandra McKay","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101811","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101811","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has been at the center of international and national policy efforts aimed at addressing the problems in this sector. Peru has ASM in every region of the country and a mixed record of ASM formalization, with more success in <em>in</em>formalizing the miners and legalizing the commodities that enter the global market. Within the context of increased demand for copper in decarbonization efforts, this paper illustrates the expansion of the critical mineral frontier through informal copper ASM. I argue that the temporary yet unending <em>in</em>formalization policies of ASM constitute an institutionalized frontier moment<em>,</em> whereby informal miners are positioned in a limbo between criticality and criminality: their products enter the global supply chain as “legal-enough” critical minerals, but the miners remain not fully legal, effectively delinking resource users from the costs of extraction. To illustrate this, this paper analyzes Peru’s ASM formalization policies to showcase how the state has structurally created ASM informality. Then, empirically grounded on a “following the thing” methodology of informal mining in northern Peru, the paper highlights the implications of this frontier moment on miners and their communities, including elite capture through financing systems and shadow ownership, and increased vulnerability to violence, theft, and extortion by illegal miners and criminal organizations. Lastly, this paper highlights the contradictions between securing critical minerals and criminalizing the miners who extract them.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101811"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145416862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}