Artisanal gold mining in South Sudan ’employs’ more than 60.000 people and might indirectly benefit almost half a million people.
To boost income for the cash-strapped government, artisanal mining was formalized under the Mining Act and subsequent Mineral Regulations.
However, owing to inadequate information-sharing and a lack of government mining sector staff at local level, artisanal miners and local communities are not aware of these rules. In reality there is almost no official monitoring of artisanal or even small-scale mining activities.
These are some of the findings of an assessment conducted between February and May 2015 in two states of South Sudan. With this report, based on dozens of interviews, focus group discussions and community meetings, a multi-disciplinary team of civil society and government representatives from South Sudan are for the first time shedding light on the country’s artisanal and small-scale mining sector.
