Guinea
ASM Population: 350,000
Published data is in the range of 250-300,000 ASM miners, with UBC-16 calculation 250,000 for gold only. The UNECA Country profile reports USD 300 million ASM gold production value in 2016, equivalent to 350,000 GNIs (gross national incomes). Similarly, a diamond export value of USD 36 million is equivalent to 42,000 GNIs. Totaling 392,000 GNIs. Given predominantly manual ASM work, not more than 10% of the production value might be spent on consumables, resulting in an estimation of 350,000 ASM miners in gold and diamonds, without counting ASM on development minerals (maybe another 50,000). → 350,000
Min/max: As total estimate is well aligned to earlier data (HIL-16), range might be low with +/- 50,000
Female participation: UNECA indicates “Women involvement in the sector is as much as men” (whereby this might be rather the case for gold than for diamonds) Estimation: 50% of 300,000 i.e. 150,000
Gold: 300,000
Data sources for estimation
publ. 2020
UN-ECA Guinea ASM Profile (https://knowledge.uneca.org/ASM/Guinea), retrieved Feb. 2020: “There are no official ASM production numbers in Guinea, however estimates of diamond exports in 2013 were at 197000 carats valued at 36 million according to EITI. … The artisanal diamond sector is particularly governed by customary practices which are not recognised by Guinea’s mining legislation and regulations such as the Mining code. A study of gold mining in Guinea Conakry reveals that the economic value of artisanal gold mining in 2016 was estimated at $300 million. … Women involvement in the sector is as much as men’s, it is believed that 70% of the active labor in the Eastern region are women. Their activity is concentrated in downstream and labour intensive activities. Repors have called for more attention to be given to women in ASM.”
2018: 300,000
(IGF-18): Table 3
Directly working in ASM: 300,000 Estimated number of dependants: 1,500,000 Main Minerals: Gold, Diamonds
2016: 300,000
(HIL-16): Directly working in ASM: 300,000
Estimated number of dependants: 1,500,000
2014: 250,000
(UBC-14): Gold-only data produced by statistic modelling:
Expected ASM population: 200,000 - 300,000 Estimated ASM gold production: 6 - 9 t/a
1999: 40,000
(ILO-99): Employment: 40,000
Number of mines: n/a
Illegal mines: +/- 80%
Publications
| Reference | Year | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| ARM-18 | 2018 | Barreto, M.L.,Schein, P., Hinton, J., Hruschka, F. (2018): The Impact of Small-Scale Mining Operations on Economies and Livelihoods in Low- to Middle-Income Countries. ARM, Envigado, PACT, Westcombe. |
| IGF-18 | 2018 | IGF (2018): Global Trends in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM): A review of key numbers and issues. IIED/IISD, London, Winnipeg. |
| GMA-18 | 2018 | UNEP (2018): Global Mercury Assessment 2018. Technical Background Report E-Annex. Chapter 3.2. UNEP, Geneva. |
| HIL-16 | 2016 | Hilson, G. (2016): Artisanal and small-scale mining and agriculture: Exploring their links in rural sub-Saharan Africa. IIED, London. |
| UBC-14 | 2014 | Seccatore, J., Veiga, M., et al. (Univ. of British Columbia - UBC) (2014): An estimation of the artisanal small-scale production of gold in the world. Scitotenv. 496. |
| ILO-99 | 1999 | Jennings, N. (1999): Social and labour issues in small-scale mines. Report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting on Social and Labour Issues in Small-scale Mines. ILO, Geneva. |
Further Materials
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCud1SFowOE&list=PLW0k64ZQOWlrCW7-iulfuePJhlo4WhCgT
Articles:
UN-ECA Guinea ASM Profile (https://knowledge.uneca.org/ASM/Guinea)
Data section
| ASM DATA - Country Database Record | |
|---|---|
| Country Code | GIN |
| Country | Guinea |
| ASM Status | Existing (data assessed) |
| Country Count | 1 |
| Data year | 2016 |
| Publ. year | 2018 |
| ASM Miners | 350,000 |
| - gold | 300 ,000 |
| Data curation | extrapolated |
| Inc. DevMin | no |
| - min. | 300,000 |
| - max. | 400,000 |
| - female | 150 ,000 |
| ASM Commodities | gold, diamonds |