A policy and practice divide? Zambia's artisanal and small-scale mining sector and the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Zambia continues to promote resource-based development through mineral exploration and exploitation. Whilst expanding copper production remains a top priority, recent Government announcements have signalled an intent to diversify export revenue by scaling-up exploitation of other minerals (e.g. gemstones, manganese, gold). The development of its artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector has been pinpointed as a strategy to do so. This paper investigates, firstly, whether Zambia's policy ambitions for the sector are, in theory, compatible with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and secondly, to what extent it has, in practice, achieved progress. An original framework was developed to map Zambia's ASM-related policies to the SDGs. We find that, on paper, the ASM policy framework is compatible with most SDGs. However, an overemphasis on large-scale mining and economic growth persists, whilst other positive socioeconomic and environmental synergies are missed. Additionally, a new sector bias has emerged towards artisanal and small-scale gold mining, with less attention paid to other minerals in the policy framework. The findings also reveal that some policies with high social impact potential have, so far, been inadequately implemented. Consequently, issues relating to availability and accessibility of finance, inadequate equipment and training, unsafe mining conditions, gender and child labour concerns, as well as poor environmental performance, persist. The study concludes that Zambia's ASM sector is still far from achieving the SDGs and reiterates the need for targeted policies that foster socioeconomic transformation of the sector.

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