Multinational mining enterprises and artisanal small-scale miners: From confrontation to cooperation

In many developing countries, multinational enterprises (MNEs) in mining operate alongside fast-growing communities of informal artisanal, small-scale miners. This has led to direct conflict and competition for mineral resources. This paper introduces the Salience and Institutional Analysis and Design framework as a means to analyze the MNE strategies used to address informal miners across different governance levels in the gold mining sector of Ghana and discusses the implications of these strategies for sustainability. We identify the emergence of a cooperative strategy with informal miners as a sustainable alternative to the political strategy of reliance on the state to protect tenure.