The gold mining sector in West Africa has increased significantly in recent years. But this is also a region bereft by political instability following several recent coups, extremist groups, foreign criminal actors and organized crime networks all operate here, artisanal and small-scale miners are often targeted by such groups.
According to the Global Organized Crime Index, there are high levels of criminality across the region in non-renewable resource crimes, the category which illegal gold mining falls under. Burkina Faso reaches 8.5 out of 10; Mali, 8 out of 10.
Whereas Resilience levels across the region are low, but particularly in Mali, at just 2.38 out of 10.
In this episode Thin will discuss the differences between informal and illegal gold mining, and the role criminal groups play in exploiting miners across West Africa, and the possibility of formalising the informal gold mining sector.