Paper short abstract:

While a transition from artisanal to industrial gold mining in the DRC has increased productivity, a narrow managerial class captures most of the gains accruing to labour, while the remaining value has flowed primarily overseas, and local attempts to mechanise production have been suppressed.

Paper long abstract:

A rising gold price and World Bank-structured neoliberal mining reform have stimulated a process of foreign-controlled gold sector (re)industrialisation in many African LDCs. Located within a set of theoretical debates around which groups and regions stand to benefit from the productivity gains induced by gold sector (re)industrialisation, the proposed paper seeks to explain how the arrival of MNCs into local LDC artisanal gold mining economies influences the distribution and use of productivity between and within different groups of labour and capital, and the effects of this redistribution on processes of class formation and domestic accumulation.

Through a typical case study of the Canadian MNC Banro's Twangiza gold project in the DRC, the paper argues that while Banro's arrival has increased productivity, it has also unleashed new processes of domestic polarisation and marginalisation. Industrial workers' wages have demonstrated a tendency towards stagnation, while a narrow, externally-oriented managerial class captures most of the productivity accruing to labour. The remaining value has flowed primarily overseas, to foreign firms, management and shareholders. Further, Banro's arrival has excluded artisanal miners from the best deposits, and local attempts by an emergent class of artisanal shaft managers to mechanise production have been suppressed. Productivity, then, has been diverted away from a domestic and industrialising capitalist class, and towards foreign fractions of industrial, merchant and financial capital. These findings suggest the need to re-think the theoretical foundations of the African 'minerals consensus', and to reorient African LDC gold mining policy towards greater domestic retention of the sector's productivity.

Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the inequalities in the mining sector of Ghana and how mineral governance can promote inclusive development. How can women, the physically challenged and the unskilled be included in development?

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on mineral governance and how it can contribute to promoting equitable participation by Ghanaians in the mining sector. The paper argues that, the current inequalities in the mining sector of Ghana is a colonial legacy and does not promote human development in Ghana. The study, whilst recognizing the legacies of colonialism, argues that in order for mineral resources to be managed responsibly to promote equality, there should be a paradigm shift to focus on how mineral resources are governed. As a result, the paper, relying on the human centered development approach investigates how mineral resources can be governed to promote inclusive development in Ghana, with specific focus on the mineral wealth Western Region of the country.The Ghanaian society, like any other society has vulnerable and minority members, and the extent to which the various sectors of the economy create opportunities and enabling environment for such people is pertinent in development studies and practice. Due to the finite nature of mineral resources, the paper argues for active participation of stakeholders throughout the mine life cycle and the development of a comprehensive local content policy framework. Although this paper is a case study of mineral governance in Ghana, it can serve as a springboard to appreciate the role mineral governance can play in promoting people centered development in other sub - Saharan mineral wealth countries.

Paper short abstract:

In the light of e-mobility, the DR Congo remains an attractive hotspot in terms of commodities, despite political instability. Nonetheless, it is a fragile state, which is featured by a failure of the welfare state.

Paper long abstract:

The DR Congo remains a major rent-based economy in Africa. On March 9, 2018, President Kabila promulgated the 2018 mining code, after a six-year review of the 2002 mining code. In the meantime, the Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), particularly Chinese mining companies, have massively invested in the copper-cobalt belt of the ex-Katanga province. Hence, the country is at the heart of the green technology development, notably the Electric Vehicles (EVs), given its strategic commodities, mainly cobalt.

From 2004 to 2014, the DR Congo recorded a decade of non-inclusive growth. Despite its vast mineral potential, it is listed among the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Moreover, the country has faced severe social and humanitarian crises resulting from growing poverty and inequality, mainly due to the collapse of the welfare state.

Overall, a better governance of the mining sector should contribute to increasing Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) to improve delivery of public services, such as health and education.

Paper short abstract:

The research findings reveal that the oil exploitation and exploration have unleashed significant environmental damage and public health hazards to the communities in the Ogoniland.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation examined the nexus between the role of central government, oil companies and community conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria as well as the factors that led to the conflict. Since the discovery of oil in 1956, the Niger Delta has been entrapped in environmental degradation as a result of oil mining, spurring a wide range of developmental challenges. Subsequently, by the 1990s, deepening poverty and underdevelopment, exacerbated by ecological problems, opened the space for the emergence of youth restiveness and a violent arms struggle by the Niger-Delta youth to challenge the legitimacy of the Nigerian state and the corporate irresponsibility of Multinational Oil Companies (MNCs). The region faces security challenges, championed by environmental vanguards and armed youth groups, which are triggered by neglect on the part of international and local oil companies and the failure of Nigeria's central government to meet the developmental, environmental and security demands of local communities.

To achieve the objectives of the study, the study used triangulation approach and primary data was sourced through in-depth and focus group interviews which were conceptualised within the grounded theory method. The research was carried out mainly using qualitative data, supplemented by secondary quantitative data. Primary data used were gathered from the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.

Paper short abstract:

This paper, interrogates how investors have succeeded in preventing any fair distribution of the economic benefits of copper to Zambians. It highlights what Zambia can do in order for the mines to be more beneficial to the Citizens with emphasis on Management Buyout as a more viable option.

Paper long abstract:

Zambia has a long history of mining and a rich resource base of copper, emeralds, and other deposits. In fact, the sector has over the years been Zambia's major productive industry. The importance of the sector is confirmed by the fact that in 2017, mining alone constituted 47% of exports, 18% of Government Revenue, 10% of GDP and 0.8% of Direct Employment. Despite this situation, the yields from the mining activity don't benefit Zambia as was the case in the past. Government has made various attempts to introduce measures aimed at making mining to become more beneficial to Zambia. Unfortunately, these attempts have not yielded the desired results. In a documentary by Alice Odiot and Audrey Gallet produced in 2009, titled Zambia; Good Copper Bad, Cooper, it was reported that one of the reasons that Zambia is not developed is that its minerals have historically been exploited to benefit western countries. As such, even after attaining political independence, Zambia's minerals are continuously exploited to an extent that mine owners always find a way of evading and avoiding tax. This paper, therefore, attempts to explore how best Zambia can benefit from mining operations taking a leap on how Copperbelt Energy Cooperation is managed to benefit Zambia, having also been in government hands as a power division of ZCCM, which, instead of being sold to foreign investors, government applied the Management Buyout method. The company is 77% owned former employees and is one of the most profitable companies in the country.

Paper short abstract:

The case study compares two international oil companies´ CSR initiatives in peripheral Ghana to explore the success and sustainability of CSR projects that ground in either universal or locally adapted policies. Thus, the study relates to ideas of the policy mobilisation discourse.

Paper long abstract:

The International Oil Companies (IOCs) ENI and Kosmos currently invest in numerous projects to improve healthcare provision in the peripheral Ghanaian districts Ellembelle and Nzema East as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. In Ghana, though, no comprehensive national CSR policy is available to manage private sector social investments that support governmental efforts to overcome severe service provision shortages in the peripheries. Thus, the IOCs base their interventions on company-internal and universally applied policies (Anku-Tsede and Deffor, 2014; Boon and Ababio, 2009). Against this background, the questions arise how, to which extent, and how successful ENI and Kosmos adapted their universal CSR strategies to the local context in Ghana. Therefore, this study explores the differences between the IOCs´ initiatives´ level of alteration and sustainability. In doing so, it relates to a recent social-constructivist approach to policy mobilisation that emphasises the necessity of adapting policies to local contexts through mutation and assemblage to avoid policy failure (Brownhill, 2013; McCann and Ward, 2013; Peck, 2011; Stone, 2017). The case study discloses different outcome of the IOCs´ initiatives. Despite minor grievances, the constant perpetuation and positive local perception of ENI's healthcare projects suggest a fruitful adaptation of the IOC´s universal CSR strategy to local requirements. Contrarily several difficulties lessen Kosmos´ success in supporting healthcare structures and indicate little alteration of the IOC´s company-internal CSR policy. With regard to the policy mobilisation discourse, these observations evoke recommendations for possible governmental mediations to guarantee successful CSR interventions on local level.

Paper short abstract:

Does the development of a new industry lead to equitable economic growth in developing countries? This research provides an insight on this question by investigating the impacts of Ghana's offshore oil discovery across households with different socioeconomic backgrounds and spatial locations.

Paper long abstract:

We examine the local economic impacts of Ghana's oil discovery in 2007 using a difference in difference strategy that exploits variation in time and geographic location of oil fields. Our results suggest a positive effect of the oil discovery on real income and employment for households in oil extraction areas. However, the effects on employment are largely found in the manufacturing and construction sectors. The findings imply that the new discovery has a potential of being a blessing if participation of local firms through local procurement is enhanced.