Geoforum 126 (2021) 267–276

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Geoforum
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geoforum

The cyanide revolution: Efficiency gains and exclusion in artisanal- and

small-scale gold mining
Boris Verbrugge a, Cristiano Lanzano b, Matthew Libassi c
a
HIVA-KU Leuven, Parkstraat 47, Leuven, Belgium
b
The Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
c
Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management, UC Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Since its advent at the end of the nineteenth century, cyanide processing facilitated the intensification and global
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) expansion of industrial gold mining. Today, there are important indications that artisanal and small-scale gold
Cyanide mining (ASGM) is on the verge of a similar cyanide revolution: while ASGM is typically associated with mercury-
Mining labor
based processing, mercury amalgamation is increasingly replaced with, or complemented by, cyanidation.
Gold mining
Gold processing
Relying on evidence from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Burkina Faso, we demonstrate how this transition is
having a deeply transformative impact on ASGM communities. On the one hand, cyanidation produces clear
efficiency gains. Together with rising gold prices, it is fueling a dramatic expansion of ASGM by enabling the
profitable extraction of lower-grade gold deposits. On the other hand, it contributes to the emergence of new and
often highly unequal labor and revenue-sharing arrangements. More broadly, these findings demonstrate the
highly uneven impact of socio-technical transformations. Consequently, the growing number of efforts to
intervene in the technological make-up of ASGM, usually in the name of efficiency and sustainability, should be
wary of having unintended consequences.

1. Introduction evidence is emerging that it is increasingly complemented or even

replaced with cyanide processing methods (Gonçalves et al., 2017;
In recent decades, gold mining expanded from its historical core Massaro and De Theije, 2018). In line with research on mercury use in
(South Africa, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Russia) into a ASGM, existing studies have focused mostly on how cyanidation impacts
wide range of new gold mining regions, many of them located in the human health and/or the environment, while paying only scant atten­
global South (Verbrugge and Geenen, 2020). In addition to the expan­ tion to the social impacts of cyanidation (Guimaraes et al., 2011; Leung
sion of large-scale industrial mining, many of these regions have wit­ and Lu, 2016; Nyanza et al., 2017; Knoblauch et al., 2020). Where this
nessed a notable increase in artisanal and small-scale gold mining impact has been considered, the focus lies on emerging inequalities be­
(ASGM). Commonly described as low-tech, labor-intensive gold extrac­ tween ASGM producers, on the one hand, and the owners of processing
tion, ASGM has become a catch-all term for an exceedingly wide range of facilities on the other (Veiga et al., 2014; Bansah et al., 2018).
activities that operate with varying degrees of capital and labor intensity This article sets out to explore how the diffusion of cyanide pro­
(e.g., Ferring et al., 2016; Verbrugge and Geenen, 2020; Libassi, 2020a). cessing affects dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in gold mining areas.
While considerable attention has been devoted to technological in­ In doing so, it extends previous scholarly critiques that argue dominant
novations in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (e.g., Mabhena, 2012), modes of ASGM governance are often overly technical, and thus gloss
technological innovations in gold processing have hitherto received less over social unevenness and power dynamics within the sector (e.g.,
attention. Instead, the predominant focus of academics and Fisher, 2007; Hilson, 2008; Spiegel, 2017; Buss et al., 2021). We start
policy-makers continues to be ‘the mercury problem’ (Esdaile and with a short historical overview of cyanide processing in industrial gold
Chalker, 2018). Mercury, which is used to extract gold from ores, is often mining, where it facilitated trends towards consolidation and expansion.
released during processing activities, with potentially dire consequences In the third section, we present three case studies of how cyanidation is
for human health and for the environment. While mercury amalgam­ changing the face of ASGM the Southern Philippines, West Java
ation remains the processing method of choice in many ASGM-regions, (Indonesia), and Burkina Faso. The cases highlight that, although

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. Verbrugge), [email protected] (C. Lanzano), [email protected] (M. Libassi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.030
Received 1 October 2020; Received in revised form 28 July 2021; Accepted 30 July 2021
Available online 28 August 2021
0016-7185/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
B. Verbrugge et al. Geoforum 126 (2021) 267–276

cyanidation has typically led to an intensification of gold production, the and more bioavailable (i.e., it can be more easily absorbed by living
distribution of benefits from this innovation is often highly skewed. In organisms), and therefore poses exponentially greater health risks. In
the final section, we consider the policy implications of our findings. short, reprocessing mercury-contaminated tailings with cyanide, in an
environment where health and safety regulations are limited to non-
2. Cyanide in industrial gold mining existent, is a dangerous practice (Veiga et al., 2014).
While some of these processes (including the mechanisms through
2.1. History which mercury-cyanide complexes become methylated) are still not
entirely understood, there exists broad consensus about the potential
Until the end of the nineteenth century, mercury amalgamation was human and environmental toll of inappropriate mercury- and cyanide
the most widely used processing method in industrial gold mining. In use. What is lacking, however, is a critical analysis of how the diffusion
1887, a team of chemists and physicians from Glasgow developed what of cyanide processing intersects with local, context-specific social dy­
became known as the Macarthur-Forrest cyanidation process. In namics in gold mining. In industrial gold mining, the introduction of
essence, it involves the dissolution of gold in a dilute cyanide solution, more efficient cyanidation methods in the second half of the twentieth
which is then brought into contact with zinc, so that the gold will pre­ century dramatically improved value-to-volume ratios, which in turn
cipitate (Habashi, 2016). The introduction of cyanide processing revi­ cleared the way for a broader shift from labor-intensive underground
talized the South African mining industry. By the 1880s, higher-grade mining to ‘low-grade, super-large, high-tonnage, and ultra-mechanized’
near surface deposits in the country had nearly been exhausted, and the open-pit mining (Darling, 2011p. 4). In the gold mining industry, open-
deeper and more fine-grained gold could not be extracted using tradi­ pit mining now accounts for approximately three quarters of global mine
tional (surface) mining methods and mercury amalgamation. The production (World Gold Council, 2018). While working conditions in
introduction of the Macarthur-Forrest process in 1890 enabled the open-pit mines are generally safer than in underground mines, their
profitable extraction of lower-grade ores, which in turn led to the labor intensity is lower, as open-pit mines require fewer workers to mine
emergence of deep-shaft mines that were controlled by a small number the same amount of ore (Nelson, 2011). Moreover, due to its sheer scale,
of large, vertically organized finance houses (Richardson and van Hel­ open-pit mining tends to be more environmentally destructive and can
ten, 1984). In other words, the advent of cyanide processing contributed have a profound (and lasting) impact on local livelihoods systems (Bury,
to a process of expansion and consolidation in the South African gold 2004). Such operations require considerable investments, which plays
mining industry (Fivaz, 1988). into the hands of large ‘diversified’ mining giants like Glencore and Rio
Throughout the twentieth century, the cyanidation process under­ Tinto that have gradually expanded their control over the global mining
went further improvements. In the 1950s, the US Bureau of Mines industry (Humphreys, 2015). Still, compared to other mining sectors,
developed new methods that involved applying activated carbon to a the gold mining industry has a relatively large number of small- to mid-
cyanide solution in order to capture gold particles (Habashi, 2016). In tier producers.
the 1980s, heap leaching (which involves a large pile or ‘heap’ of ores
being sprayed with a cyanide solution) and activated carbon-based
technologies (prime amongst which is carbon-in-pulp processing, 2.3. Cyanide in ASGM: An exploration
which takes place inside large tanks) became increasingly widespread
(Mooiman et al., 2016). Combined with increased demand and rising In recent years, a growing body of evidence suggests that cyanidation
prices, these innovations in cyanide processing led to dramatically is spreading from industrial gold mining to smaller mining operations,
improved value-to-volume ratios in gold mining. This, in turn, facili­ including those that are conventionally understood as ASGM. In some
tated the revival of older gold mining destinations like the US and cases, cyanide is used directly by miners (Langston et al., 2015), in
Australia, as well as the expansion of gold mining into new gold mining others it is deployed only at centralized processing centers (Veiga et al.,
destinations (Mudd, 2007; Verbrugge and Geenen, 2020). 2014), and in still other cases it remains the exclusive purview of in­
dustrial mining companies who purchase and reprocess ASGM tailings
(Bansah et al., 2018). The technologies used by ASGM participants
2.2. Social and environmental impacts mimic those used by industrial operations, if often in smaller and slightly
less intricate forms. Carbon-in-leach techniques, whether in tanks with
Despite this improved efficiency, accidents at mines around the globe agitating mechanisms or simply in soaking ponds, predominate. Gold
raised alarm over cyanide processing. In most cases, cyanide was ores or tailings are mixed with water, cyanide salts, caustic agents, and
released into the environment due to damages in heap leach liners or activated carbon (also called activated charcoal). After being ’cooked’
spillages from overflowing solution ponds or tailings storage areas for several days, the gold-laden carbon will be removed and heated to
(Hilson and Monhemius, 2006). The most infamous example is the Baia release the precious metal. As illustrated by the case of Burkina Faso
Mare cyanide spill in Romania in 2000, where 50–100 tons of cyanide shared below, zinc precipitation methods are also used in some cases.
were released. While cyanide occurs and degrades naturally in the Research on the use of these processes in ASGM has thus far been
environment, high concentrations of cyanide pose significant (and overwhelmingly technical in focus. Analyses have detailed the increased
possibly lethal) threats to the human and non-human environment. The efficiencies associated with cyanide, thereby suggesting a promising
chemical properties and toxicity of cyanide depend on various factors, opportunity for reducing mercury use; or have catalogued the toxico­
including its exposure to light and air, and the presence of other metals. logical dangers of using cyanide in conjunction with mercury (e.g.,
One combination that is particularly relevant to ASGM are mercury- Veiga et al., 2009; Velásquez-López et al., 2011; Guimaraes et al., 2011).
cyanide complexes, which form and persist when mercury- We address a rather different, but equally important set of social and
contaminated tailings are reprocessed with cyanide (Veiga et al., political-economic questions. Building on the above observations about
2014). The addition of cyanide makes mercury more easily methylated cyanidation and the intensification of industrial gold mining, the

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following sections will explore how the diffusion of cyanide processing senior company officials initiated what they referred to as ‘the outside
in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Burkina Faso1 intersects with struc­ project’: buying ores and ball mill tailings from surrounding ASGM areas
tural dynamics in ASGM, and how these structural dynamics in turn and processing them inside the company compound using cyanidation
affect dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Methodologically, we techniques.
ground our analysis in extended periods of fieldwork in mining regions
in each of the countries discussed. We use data collected through semi- 3.2. Cyanidation and the advent of medium-scale gold mining
structured interviews and oral histories with ASGM participants
throughout the gold production process, cyanidation plant owners and Soon, chemists and engineers from APEX mining and from other
operators, gold buyers, and local community leaders, as well as through industrial mining operations decided to set up their own, independent
observation of work and everyday life in active mining sites. For each of company: Value Minerals. They constructed what was likely to be the
the countries, we start with a short historical overview of ASGM- first cyanide processing plant in the Philippines that was not directly
expansion, before zooming in on how the advent of cyanidation has linked to an industrial mining operation.2 Shortly thereafter, a growing
differentially affected the fate of those involved. number of plantas (cyanide processing plants) were constructed in other
towns and villages. It is interesting to note that in addition to ‘ordinary’
3. The Philippines: The cradle of cyanidation in ASGM? mining financiers, local politicians also became heavily invested in cy­
anide processing. At least in part, this may be due to the fact that setting
3.1. The informalization of mining up a cyanidation plant requires the authorization of local authorities, in
the form of business permits, land use permits, etc (Verbrugge, 2015b).
The history of gold mining in the Philippines dates back to pre- By the early 2010s, when a second gold rush enveloped Mindanao,
colonial times (Caballero, 1996). With the advent of US colonialism at plantas could be found in almost every mining village. By 2012, the
the turn of the twentieth century, the country saw the emergence of a provincial town of Nabunturan (the capital of present-day Davao de Oro
modern mining industry that gradually expanded across the peninsula province) alone was claimed to be home to 64 plantas, each with one or
(Lopez, 1992). While ASGM persisted in different shapes and forms, it several tanks with a capacity to process 10–20 tons of ores (or tailings)
started to expand dramatically in the 1980s, notably in Benguet Prov­ every few days.3 By that time, several assay laboratories had been
ince on the northern island of Luzon, and in the Davao region on the established where miners could have their ore samples analyzed by
southern island of Mindanao. Several factors contributed to this professional chemists.
expansion, including high gold prices and a depressed economic context, Cyanide processing typically takes longer than mercury amalgam­
in which a growing number of people were on the lookout for attractive ation, as ore-bearing material has to be ‘cooked’ for several days with
livelihood opportunities (Verbrugge, 2014). Yet ASGM also attracted the carbon, limestone, and cyanide, before it can be processed further. Yet
attention of local elites, and over time also Chinese and Korean in­ the average capacity of a tank is also much higher. In addition to having
vestors, for whom ASGM offered exciting investment opportunities. higher recovery rates (most respondents mentioned 90–95%) than
This boom in ASGM cannot be understood without taking into ac­ mercury amalgamation (30–35%), cyanidation facilitates the extraction
count the crisis in industrial mining (Verbrugge, 2015a). Like many of silver, which typically represents around 10–15% of the recovered
other sectors, by the 1980s the mining industry had fallen prey to rent- minerals. The possibility of having ore samples tested in laboratories
seeking behavior on the part of a small group of ‘cronies’ connected to also meant that miners were no longer limited to looking for gold veins,
dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and was increasingly facing structural debt but could instead extract more diffuse ‘fine gold’ that is not readily
issues (Clad, 1992). As a growing number of industrial mines across the visible to the naked eye. Finally, cyanidation meant that the tailings
country shut down, skilled and semi-skilled mine workers would sub­ (waste) of hundreds or even thousands of ball mills across the region
sequently deploy their skills in ASGM. In several cases, they were joined could now be re-processed using cyanide to extract remnant gold, sud­
by chemists and engineers, who brought along valuable mining exper­ denly acquired new value.
tise, and sometimes even mining equipment from the moribund indus­ In short, cyanidation led to dramatically improved value-to-volume
trial mining operations. ratios in ASGM, while rising gold prices further increased its profit­
This process was particularly apparent in the Davao region in ability, and assay analysis reduced uncertainty. Together, these factors
Mindanao. In the decades following World War II, this region had been increased the appeal of investing in ASGM, which in turn facilitated the
home to a number of industrial mining operations. At that time, ASGM expansion of what is locally referred to as medium-scale mining. Con­
mostly took the form of rudimentary operations involving digging and trary to smaller mining activities that are undertaken by groups of
panning for ‘free gold’. While the 1970s and early 1980s saw the friends or family, medium-scale mining involves bigger tunnels that
introduction of ball mills and mercury amalgamation, processing branch out into side-tunnels (destinos) and employ dozens or even
remained relatively basic as well. This started to change in the mid- hundreds of workers. To varying extents, these mining operations make
1980s, when the biggest industrial mine in the region, APEX mining, use of modern technologies like automatic drills, dump trucks (sad­
fell into disarray. As a growing number of workers turned to ASGM, dams), mine carts, and explosives.

3.3. Exclusion and the persistence of mercury use

1
In all three cases considered, use of cyanide in ASGM largely takes place in
spite of, and against, local legislation. In Burkina Faso, the latest version of the While there should be no doubt that cyanidation has increased the
national mining code (promulgated in 2015) explicitly forbids the use of cya­ profitability of ASGM, it also had profound effects on who stands (not) to
nide for operators who possess an artisanal mining permit. In the Philippines, benefit from it. To understand this, we need to delve into some of the
cyanide is regulated through the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear intricacies of revenue-sharing. In some of the smaller mining operations,
Wastes Control Act of 1990. Similarly, cyanide use is restricted in Indonesia
the practice of graba (ore) sharing is still practiced. In graba sharing, ores
under Government Regulation No. 101 of 2014 on Management of Hazardous
are divided between the actual mine workers (who together form a
and Toxic Waste and Law No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and
Management. While cyanide can legally be used in these countries, including in
mining team or corpo) and their financier(s) (who may similarly unite in
(but not limited to) the mining industry, its use is subject to strict registration, a legally registered corporation) according to an agreed-upon revenue-
licensing, and monitoring requirements—typically not the type of requirements
that ASGM-operators meet. Moreover, most of the ASGM activities in these
2
contexts operate informally, without permits of any kind, let alone those Interviews held with the staff of VMI mining, Nabunturan,
3
required for cyanide use. Interview with owner of processing plant in Nabunturan, 12–2-2012.

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sharing scheme. Over time, cash sharing, whereby revenues are distrib­ weaker actors in the value chain to counteract the exclusionary practices
uted once the gold has been processed and sold, became more common. of stronger actors (notably big financiers). A telling example comes from
In both cases, ores typically undergo a first round of processing near the the northern Province of Benguet, where Benguet Corporation worked
mine site. After ores are grinded in a ball mill, mercury is applied to out a highly unequal arrangement with ASGM-contractors. While the
capture the gold. In some cases, cash sharing takes place directly after latter are responsible for the actual mining, the company is in charge of
this first round of processing, so that miners themselves do not benefit maintaining the main tunnel portal, and of processing and selling the
from cyanidation. Instead, the tailings accrue to the ball mill owner, who gold. In exchange, Benguet Corporation retains a disproportionate share
brings them to a cyanidation plant once enough tailings have been of the revenues (for more details on this arrangement see Verbrugge,
accumulated. The owner of the plant will charge a ‘custom milling fee’ 2017). Confronted with these exclusionary practices, some of the
that ranges from PHP 30,000–60,000 (USD 600–1200) per tank with a workers have reverted to a process known as ‘highgrading’: processing
10-ton capacity. Over time, a growing number of financiers has invested high-grade ores using mercury inside the tunnel. In short, our analysis of
not only in their own ball mill facility, but also in a cyanidation plant. In cyanidation in the Philippines also sheds light on the social origins of
some cases, this meant that the initial round of mercury amalgamation is persistent mercury use.
skipped and instead ores are taken straight from mine to plant.
In these cases, cash sharing takes place after the second round of 4. Indonesia: uneven impacts of cyanide’s socio-technical
processing in the cyanidation plant. Theoretically speaking, this should transformation
allow miners to benefit from the higher recovery rates achieved by
cyanidation. In practice, this is not necessarily the case. Bigger opera­ 4.1. Gold histories and the spread of cyanide
tions tend to have highly skewed revenue-sharing mechanisms, whereby
the financier(s)—different financiers sometimes form a legally recog­ The Indonesian islands have been famed for gold since antiquity,
nized corporation—take(s) anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of the rev­ when Hindu and Arab merchants traded for gold from the Sumatran
enues. Any expenses incurred by the financier(s), such as food and highlands. This artisanal extraction blossomed into a modern, informal
shelter for workers, materials, gasoline, processing, etc., are usually mining boom beginning in the late 1980s as ASGM activities expanded
deducted from the gross revenues, so that revenue-sharing effectively alongside an influx of foreign-financed corporate mining expeditions
becomes profit-sharing, and investment risk is shared with the workers. (see Aspinall, 2001; Williams, 1988). Shortly thereafter, informal gold
The fact that some financiers own their own plant enables them to avoid mining experienced a spike in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial
the cost of custom milling, which is instead displaced onto the workers. crisis, becoming both a livelihood refuge and an investment opportunity
Moreover, revenues from any silver contained in the ores are not (McMahon et al., 2000). Since then, persistently high gold prices and the
included in the revenue-sharing. More broadly, cash sharing leaves introduction of more advanced mining techniques, including gold cya­
ample scope for cheating on the part of the financiers. At least in part, nidation, have further consolidated the strength of the sector. Today,
this is related to the process of cyanidation itself: as ores from different ASGM is a massive and highly mobile sector that spans the Indonesian
tunnels and operations (but from the same financier) are mixed together nation. Approximately one million people depend on the sector for
in one ‘batch’, it becomes virtually impossible for workers to determine livelihoods across some 900 locations in 27 of Indonesia’s 34 provinces
the revenues their tunnel has generated. As a result, miners have to (BaliFokus, 2017). Remarkably, Indonesia’s most significant recent gold
content themselves with an envelope that contains a seemingly arbitrary discoveries—those in Bombana, Sulawesi (2008), and Gunung Botak,
sum of money. This situation also explains why many (mostly informal) Maluku (2011)—were made by ASGM participants, and not by indus­
landowners attempt to negotiate their royalty share in graba (rather than trial mining.
cash), which is subsequently processed in their own ball mill. Although mercury amalgamation continues to be the most ubiqui­
In addition to financiers and plant owners—who are sometimes one tous form of ASGM processing in Indonesia, at least two gold cyanida­
and the same person—there are other rent-seekers that directly or tion techniques are commonly used. Tong (or gentong, named after the
indirectly benefited from the advent of cyanidation. Local politicians cylindrical vat used) is a method best suited for extracting remnant gold
can impose taxes and fees on processing plants, or on ore transport from from tailings which have already been treated with mercury. Tailings
the mines to the processing plant. In other cases, local politicians or are mixed with sodium-cyanide pellets, caustic lime, and activated
communist rebels of the New People’s Army send people to processing charcoal and agitated in a large tank for approximately two days. Af­
plants to collect ‘campaign contributions’ or ‘revolutionary taxes’. Most terwards, the carbon is removed and either superheated or amalgamated
importantly, many politicians are not only heavily invested in gold with mercury to recover the gold. A second technique, called rendaman
mining and/or gold buying, but also in gold processing. In these activ­ (‘soaker’), involves treating gold ore in a tarp-lined pool dug into the
ities, they use their prerogatives as local politicians to maintain and ground. This method requires similar inputs to the tong method, but is
expand their control over the local gold mining economy (Verbrugge, used for processing large volumes of low-grade ores, generally in looser
2015b). sediments, that have not yet been treated with mercury.
As was already indicated in the description in the preceding section, These cyanidation techniques have become increasingly widespread
cyanidation has by no means led to the phasing out of mercury. Why is it since the mid-2000s. One theory posits that the technologies were im­
that despite the widespread availability of cyanide processing, mercury ported from the Philippines, spreading across the Celebes Sea and first
amalgamation is still so widely used? In some cases, mercury is used as becoming established in North Sulawesi around 2001 (see Whitehouse
part of the exploration process, to assess the gold content of an ore et al., 2006). From there, gold cyanidation has disseminated to most
sample. In other cases, the persistence of mercury amalgamation can be other ASGM regions in Indonesia, including West Java, Banten, Central
seen as a by-product of the exclusionary nature of cyanidation. For many Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, and Maluku
of the smaller operations, cyanidation is simply inaccessible: they are (Krisnayanti et al., 2012; Spiegel et al., 2018; author’s fieldwork). In
unable to amass the amounts of ore needed to fill a tank, and even if they many of these regions, the socio-technical organization of gold pro­
could, they would be unable to afford the custom milling fee. More duction has historically been oriented around mercury processing. Little
importantly, they need regular cash income to survive and to maintain is known about how the expansion of cyanide-based processing has
their mining operations. Mercury amalgamation provides quicker affected the social relations and experiences of mining participants.
returns than cyanidation, and requires far fewer capital inputs. Below, we explore this influence through the case of Pongkor, a region in
In still other cases, like the example of landowners demanding roy­ West Java where ASGM activities have persisted for over twenty-five
alty shares in graba rather than cash to process ores in their own ball years.
mill, the use of mercury can be seen as a desperate attempt on the part of

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4.2. The emergence of the tailings economy expansion has had significant knock-on effects. In the Pongkor region,
the highest concentrations of gold are located on a mining concession
Cyanidation technologies first appeared in Pongkor around 2007. By controlled and policed by an industrial mining company. With cyanide,
that time, mercury-based ASGM activities had been common in the re­ lower-grade ore operations are now popping up outside the mining
gion for at least a decade and informal gold production had coalesced concession. These areas have significantly less pressure from police and
into a relatively ordered, and socially embedded, part of the local miners there operate with relative impunity. For example, whereas
economy (Libassi, 2020b). The introduction of cyanidation techniques mining on the concession cannot involve permanent ‘camps’, operations
had a transformative effect on this sector almost immediately. Local outside the concession construct lodging for laborers and processing
stories indicate a Korean or Chinese man4 opened the first cyanide centers directly adjacent to their tunnels. Free of the need for discretion,
processing plant in Pongkor. He moved to a local village and quickly these operations experience significant cost savings and can work at
began buying up all the tailings he could find. These tailings, having larger scales.
already been processed with mercury once or twice, were considered While cyanidation has improved gold yields, it has simultaneously
worthless. The common name for tailings, lumpur, suggests as much—it reproduced and exacerbated some forms of inequality in Pongkor. Cy­
simply means ‘mud’. The man was able to purchase huge quantities of anide processing requires significant amounts of capital, equipment, and
tailings at a low price and, after re-processing them with his more effi­ expertise. Its benefits are also correlated with scale: relatively large
cient tong cyanidation technique, accumulated huge profits from the volumes of tailings or ore are needed for a single batch.6 These factors
residual gold extracted. Miners at this time recall the bewilderment, mean that only those who are already well-positioned—such as wealthy
first, at having someone interested in buying their lumpur, and, second, mining bosses and other local elites—typically own cyanidation facil­
at the realization that they had been swindled out of significant quan­ ities. The majority of miners continue to primarily use mercury amal­
tities of gold. gamation. Thus, relatively few ASGM participants are poised to accrue
Soon, the use of cyanidation techniques spread and the price of the full benefits of cyanide. The reprocessing of tailings is illustrative of
tailings grew. The advantage of cyanide’s early adopters diminished, but this unevenness. Miners who operate at modest scales typically wait
the community’s relationship to lumpur had forever changed. Tailings weeks or months to accumulate enough lumpur for one round of cyani­
became a valued resource—even a traded commodity—around which dation. After they have, they then sell these tailings to a trader (receiving
new markets, jobs, and business opportunities arose. Whereas previ­ 30,000–50,000 rupiah per sack) or pay a rental fee for the use of tong
ously tailings were disposed of haphazardly, today it is meticulously equipment. Either way, they lose a significant portion of their potential
collected in basins adjacent to the rotating mills, called gelundung,5 used revenues. Highly capitalized operations, on the other hand, utilize their
for mercury processing. In fact, these tailings are now an important own cyanidation equipment and have sufficient stockpiles of inputs to
source of income for the many families in Pongkor who own gelundung. operate them almost continuously. Additionally, only well-financed
These families invite miners to process ore in their mills at no cost, operations can take advantage of newly profitable low-grade ores that
having previously charged a ‘rental’ fee, and keep the tailings as necessitate the use of cyanidation techniques. More common miners,
compensation for the use of their equipment. Those collecting lumpur who must rely on cheaper mercury processing, continue to be limited to
can sell it for cash or try to re-process it themselves, generally paying a higher grade ores, which are both more difficult to find and are more
tong entrepreneur for cyanidation services. Lumpur traders scour the heavily policed.
villages in small trucks, brokering with gelundung owners for the tailings Cyanidation has also sparked new inequalities inside mining opera­
they have accumulated. Owners who are in immediate need of cash will tions. This is most evident in the altered labor relations found in the most
readily sell. Those who can afford to will wait, knowing better returns intensified, cyanide-deploying mining operations. Historically, most
can be had by cutting out the middleman. Traders, meanwhile, derive tunnel workers in Pongkor have been compensated via ore sharing ar­
profits by carefully assessing the gold contents of the mud. Some even rangements: laborers receive a portion of the rock collected each day
claim that they can determine where the original ore was extracted by and, after returning to the village, process it using their own mercury
simply smelling the sediments. Other men make their livelihood simply amalgamation equipment (see also Libassi, 2020b). With the introduc­
in the transportation of tailings. They can often be seen riding their tion of cyanidation techniques, more operations are now processing
motorcycles up and down the narrow village paths, covered from head their ore in a collective batch. This is particularly true for operations that
to toe in mud. Finally, some local residents attempt to make a buck by process large volumes of sediments with relatively low concentrations of
searching for, and digging up, gold-laden tailings disposed of and gold, as these ores can only be processed using the rendaman technique.
forgotten in local soils decades prior. All such operations now pay their workers in cash, rather than the
customary ore. In theory, these cash payments represent shares, but, in
4.3. Intensification and differentiation practice, they appear increasingly wage-like. Laborers are often paid a
relatively stable amount in cash every two weeks. Calculations are
In addition to spawning a parallel gold economy oriented around opaque, and this has raised suspicions about how compensation is
tailings, cyanidation techniques have enabled the intensification and determined and how much revenue is being diverted to financiers. La­
expansion of primary ore extraction in Pongkor. First, greater effi­ borers in these types of mining operations also tend to have less au­
ciencies mean more gold is extracted from the same ore. For well- tonomy than others in Pongkor and are easily replaced. In general, they
capitalized operations that produce large volumes of ore, this has had are more dependent on the mining elites that employ them, often
a dramatic effect. These intensified operations can bring all processing including living and purchasing rations at barracks constructed by their
steps—from crushing, to mercury amalgamation, to cyanidation—‘in- bosses. Cyanidation has thus led to less preferable terms of employment
house’, resulting in significant economies of scale. A second effect of for some poorer mining participants, further exemplifying how the
cyanide is the expansion of the sector into lower-grade primary ores. distribution of benefits from cyanide processing has been highly uneven.
With improved efficiencies, miners can now profitably dig tunnels in
areas once considered devoid of meaningful gold content. This spatial

4 6
Because of the way race and ethnicity are commonly spoken about in Tong and rendaman equipment vary dramatically in size, with capacities
Indonesia, it is difficult to determine if this man was indeed a foreign national, ranging from 25 to 300 sacks of ore or tailings. The smaller sizes are more
or rather an Indonesian citizen of East Asian descent. accessible to less-wealthy miners, but even they require a much greater volume
5
In other parts of Indonesia this equipment may be referred to as a tromol. of inputs than mercury processing.

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5. Burkina Faso: cyanide and reconfigurations of power in ASGM likely to encounter many obstacles in practice (Konkobo and Sawadogo,
2020; Medinilla et al., 2020). General recent developments in the Sahel,
5.1. The rise of ‘orpaillage’ since the 1980s with mounting insecurity and the proliferation of non-state groups and
violent incidents in mining regions (International Crisis Group, 2019),
Despite debates on the exact locations and impacts of early historical are an additional source of concern (see also Lanzano, Luning and
extractive activities, scholars agree that alluvial gold mining has a long Ouédraogo, forthcoming).
history in certain regions of present-day Burkina Faso (cf. Werthmann,
2007). Attempts by the French colonial government to promote and
5.2. Cyanidation, conflicts around ownership and the decline of
industrialize gold mining were limited: a mine was opened in Poura in
‘comptoirs’
1938 but remained unproductive and was closed shortly after the
country’s independence (cf. Bantenga, 1995; Kevane, 2015). In the early
In this historical path, where different governance patterns suc­
1980s, while industrial activities in Poura were briefly—though
ceeded one another, socio-technical innovation—and particularly the
unsuccessfully—revived by the government, more intensive forms of
shift from mercury to cyanide processing—played an important role.
ASGM appeared in northern Burkina Faso, with the digging of shafts and
While it is difficult to trace the exact trajectories of the arrival and
underground tunnels to target hard-rock deposits. The French word
diffusion of cyanidation in ASGM in Burkina Faso, its presence was
orpaillage, originally referring to manual panning near rivers, started to
confirmed by the early 2010s. At that time, most ASGM operations
indicate any non-industrial form of gold mining, including the increas­
revolved around mercury-based processing, with mechanical grinding
ingly sophisticated techniques used by these diggers. The peak in gold
and “washing” through sluice boxes performed on the ore extracted in
prices offered an important incentive to this development, but so did a
the shafts. As a chemical substance, mercury was at the center not only
series of drought years in the Sahelian regions that pushed many people
of material production, but also of the political debate about environ­
out of subsistence farming in search of alternative livelihoods. Artisanal
mental risks associated with the sector. Basic cyanidation techniques
mining gradually expanded to other regions of the country, and by the
could be performed on the final residues—called garga or nyeka (‘mud’
early 2000s ASGM was a consolidated sector with hundreds of active
in the Mooré language)—accumulated after processing with mercury:
mining sites and thousands of workers across the country.
this usually happened far away from the mining sites, in areas with
In the meantime, with the mining acts (codes miniers) of 1997 and
restricted access (Lanzano and di Balme, 2021). The private comptoirs
2003, the government revised legislation to encourage the growth of a
that dominated the ASGM arena controlled most of these areas, some­
competitive mining industry (Luning, 2008). These reforms also affected
times informally and sometimes through official permits for
ASGM, as the gradual demise and the final abolition (in 2006) of the
semi-mechanized mining. The comptoirs used their networks and con­
Comptoir Burkinabè des Métaux Précieux (CBMP), the state marketing
nections to keep a hold of the necessary inputs and knowledge, and thus
board in charge of buying all gold produced in the country, cleared the
acted as gatekeepers.
way for a growing dominance of national small- and middle-sized pri­
Progressively, cyanide-based processing became a source of disputes.
vate companies (Côte, 2013; Werthmann, 2017). These companies could
In the years 2013–2015, the Burkinabe press started to report cases of
obtain permits from the Ministry of Mines and could control artisanal
conflicts involving owners of private comptoirs and informal processing
mineral production in limited areas under certain conditions.
entrepreneurs (e.g., Kiemtoré, 2013; Ouédraogo, 2015). Most of the
While the mining acts offered instruments for artisanal miners to
latter were women who had been able to thrive on the business of
operate within the law, relations of production on the ground often
washing ores and selling residues for reprocessing (Ouédraogo, 2020).
looked different from those envisaged by legislators. Private companies
Conflicts concerned the ownership of these residues and the conditions
obtained official permits to control production and sale, but in practice
under which they were sold to outsiders (who would then submit them
they acted merely as comptoirs, establishing control over the commer­
to cyanidation) (Lanzano and di Balme, 2021). While private comptoirs
cialization of gold, while leaving extraction and processing largely in the
claimed an exclusive property of the ‘muds’, many miners and pro­
hands of self-organized teams of diggers and informal processing en­
cessing entrepreneurs resisted these claims, determined to maintain
trepreneurs (di Balme and Lanzano, 2013; Côte and Korf, 2018).
control over each by-product of the processing chain, and to stick to
Competition became fierce, with most gold-rich regions of the country
previously existing informal trading practices. These conflicts, which in
not only being targeted by foreign junior companies, but also by arti­
some cases led to court trials, made it clear that cyanide was assuming a
sanal mining companies. By the early 2010s, the ASGM sector was
central role in the organization of production. Even if mercury was still
dominated by a handful of private companies, which tried to consolidate
employed at earlier stages of processing, cyanidation became an essen­
their position by accumulating different types of permits through the
tial factor in determining the value of the different by-products of the
actions of subsidiaries and strawmen (cf. Luning, 2020). Competition
production chain. In a context of increasing competition for space and
over available land made this system increasingly less viable. An addi­
for permits, declining gold prices (after 2012), and increasing scarcity
tional threat came from the political turmoil experienced by the country,
(of easily accessible deposits), the intensification made possible by
when the 27-year-old regime led by Blaise Compaoré was overturned by
cyanidation seemed an attractive option for all actors involved. This
a popular uprising in October 2014. Two years later, a parliamentary
evolution radically questioned the hybrid governance model that had
committee investigated crimes in the mining sector, exposing illicit
been able to marry, up to that point, corporate profits with the liveli­
practices in ASGM and abuses committed by private comptoirs
hoods of less powerful and often informal actors.
(Assemblée Nationale du Burkina Faso, 2016; cf. Werthmann, 2017).
While some of the comptoirs initially won the court cases concerning
Today, while private comptoirs are still active, their influence and ter­
their new claims, in general terms their position weakened. On the one
ritorial control has diminished considerably, to the benefit of local
hand, pressure from industrial mining companies operating in the same
informal committees that have replaced some of their functions.
areas grew considerably. On the other hand, informal miners and pro­
Meanwhile, the government has formed a national agency to explore
cessing entrepreneurs resisted their efforts to tighten control over pro­
options for formalizing of ASGM. While this development is often
duction by relocating to areas outside the influence of the comptoirs. The
interpreted as a move back to a model of state control over artisanal gold
partial decline of private comptoirs since at least 2015 went hand in hand
production and commercialization, attempts to formalize the sector are
with a transition to cyanidation as the main processing method and

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B. Verbrugge et al. Geoforum 126 (2021) 267–276

source of profit. This can probably be explained by the comptoirs’ remain more limited compared to the cases of the Philippines and
diminishing presence on the ground, and their consequent inability to Indonesia, entry barriers for new investors are likely to rise, and the
restrict access to ‘new’ processing techniques. Being able to escape or process of marginalization of certain actors, e.g., the women processors,
circumvent the control previously exerted on them, cyanide technicians will not necessarily be reversed.
started to bring their expertise to other mining areas. In this context, a progressive shift from in-kind remuneration and
In the last few years, rudimentary cyanidation plants appeared in equal sharing of the ore after extraction, toward cash remuneration and
most ASGM sites, usually set up by local mining sponsors and experi­ profit-sharing after cyanidation, has also been observed (Lanzano,
enced miners reinvesting some of their gains from earlier activities. 2020).7 A complex combination of mutual trust and profit-oriented
These generally consist of fenced fields, where ponds dug in the ground strategies used to inspire working and sharing practices among
are used for decantation of the ‘muds’ immersed in solutions of water miners, balancing out incentives for teamwork and for individual
and cyanide. The result of the leaching process is left to drip in smaller monetary gain. In that model, receiving compensation in kind—and
central ponds, where it is collected in U-shaped plastic tubes and mixed more specifically, in shares of unprocessed gold ore—symbolized the
together with zinc dust. The final result is then mixed with other participation, even if from unequal positions, in a shared enterprise. The
chemical products—mostly sulfuric and nitric acid—and is ‘cooked’ by shift to cyanidation will likely affect not only the mechanisms of creation
miners on charcoal stoves in the open. Alternative methods of post- and distribution of value along the production chain, but also miners’
leaching processing, based on activated carbon, have made their first subjectivities and identities.
appearance in very recent times (after 2017–8). It is still too early to say if these trends represent a mere adaptation of
In most mining sites, cyanidation areas include several similar ponds pre-existing patterns to a new technological landscape, or a transition
located at small distance from each other, belonging to different owners. towards waged work and more structural inequalities. As resource
Sometimes, these are specialized operators that process other miners’ depletion looms in many artisanal mining areas, cyanidation has rep­
ore in exchange for a compensation, or buy ore from others to process. In resented a tool to intensify the extraction of value and to readapt mining
other cases, miners owning extraction pits or active in other stages of practices to the incoming bust phase. In short, under the influence of
production also invest in cyanidation plants to be able to process the ore technological change and decreasing reserves, the egalitarian and risk-
that they extracted. prone ethos for which orpaillage became famous in the first boom pha­
ses (see for ex. Grätz, 2009) may experience profound transformations.
5.3. Filling the void: vertical integration and the shift towards cash
6. Conclusion and policy implications
In this latest phase, technological and institutional innovation
appear to proceed together. In many cases, the power vacuum left In all three countries, cyanidation is rapidly changing the face of
behind by the comptoirs was filled by informal committees, often ASGM, just as it changed the face and fate of industrial gold mining in
composed of local personalities and experienced miners. These com­ the twentieth century. In table 1, we summarize the key findings
mittees assumed some of the functions—coordination, but also price emerging from each of the case studies in relation to four variables:
fixation, gatekeeping or informal taxation—that were previously per­ timing (when did cyanidation first emerge and when did it expand?),
formed by the comptoirs. While committees, and other informal leader­ type of cyanidation methods used, ownership structures, and key social
ship structures of this kind, generally enjoyed recognition at the local impacts.
level, they could not claim a formal status or pursue legal action to the While the impacts of cyanidation vary across cases, a number of
same extent that the comptoirs did. Their methods to secure consensus cross-cutting findings emerge. Due to dramatic improvements in value-
among miners had to be ‘softer’. Yet, prices at which residues should be to-volume ratios, ASGM is no longer limited to easily accessible and
sold, or individual operators’ freedom to choose their own clients, high-grade deposits, but can target more complex and lower-grade de­
remained contentious issues, especially now that mining was undergo­ posits. Moreover, cyanidation has transformed previously worthless
ing a cyanide revolution. tailings into a precious resource. In Burkina Faso and Indonesia, a wide
At the same time, the centrality assumed by cyanidation determined range of actors became involved in the trade and the processing of
new dynamics in the relations and transactions within the production tailings. In the Philippines, where cyanidation was introduced as early as
chain (see Lanzano and di Balme, 2021). With most of the profit now the 1980s, access to the tailings trade and to processing activities has
realized at the end of the chain, i.e., after the final residues have un­ always been more constrained.
dergone cyanidation, mercury-based processing has become compara­ At the same time, our exploratory analysis indicates that the advent
tively less attractive. While still practiced, it is now seen as relatively of cyanidation and the evolution towards more advanced operations
marginal. Miners and processors, especially the wealthiest and most may contribute to exclusionary tendencies within ASGM. To the extent
powerful, strive to retain control over the entire process in order to that this issue has received attention in earlier research, the focus was on
submit all their gold ore to cyanidation. Incentives to minimize trans­ how the owners of cyanidation facilities are ‘exploiting’ artisanal miners
action costs and to integrate the different steps of production for the sake (e.g. Veiga et al., 2014; Bansah et al., 2018). Our findings suggest that
of scale economies have thus multiplied, producing an informal process dynamics of inclusion and exclusion are much more complex, and
of vertical integration (at a different scale but similar to the one imag­ require an understanding of the intricate linkages between mining,
ined by Williamson, 1971). In practice, this meant that many informal processing, labor arrangements and revenue-sharing schemes. In the
entrepreneurs previously specialized in one single activity—for Philippines and Indonesia, we seem to be witnessing a transition from
example, the financial sponsors or leaders of a mining team, or the revenue-sharing towards casualized and wage-like labor arrangements.
owners of a washing stall or a cyanidation plant—invested in internal­ Even in Burkina Faso, where the advent of cyanidation facilitated the
izing most or all phases of production within a single economic enter­ emancipation of miners and processing entrepreneurs from the private
prise. Many mining sites are now marked by a competition between comptoirs, new arrangements similarly embody exclusionary traits. In all
parallel informal businesses, each of which oversee a complete pro­
duction chain, from the extraction of gold ore in the shafts, through
crushing and washing, to final cyanidation performed on the nyeka. 7
Unlike the Indonesian case, in the mining sites observed in Burkina Faso
Even if the comptoirs have lost most of their influence, power has remuneration is still proportional to the profit made from each batch. It is not
concentrated anew, this time in the hands of miners and sponsors who conceptualized as a wage, although miners seem to fear an increased discre­
possess more capital to invest or have wider networks to rely upon. tionary power of business owners in defining a “pay” level that could not reflect
While the extent of technological innovation and capital concentration the real profits.

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B. Verbrugge et al. Geoforum 126 (2021) 267–276

Table 1 technology in ASGM. First, policymakers should be wary of treating

Key findings from the case studies. cyanidation as a viable, cleaner alternative to mercury amalgamation. In
Philippines Indonesia Burkina Faso the three cases described here, cyanidation complements rather than
replaces mercury amalgamation. As Spiegel et al. (2018) argue, cyanide-
Timing Started as early as In use since at least Limited use as early as
1980s, but 2001 in North the mid- to late 2000s. based tailings reprocessing needs inefficient mercury processing, and
became Sulawesi, Gradual diffusion in vested interests in the processing industry could actually be an imped­
widespread spreading to West early 2010s, iment to eradicating mercury use. Secondly, as illustrated particularly
starting late Java around 2007, acceleration after by the Philippines and Indonesia cases, the continued use of mercury
2000s. and thereafter 2013–4.
becoming common
may be a part and parcel of weaker actors’ strategies to maintain a
nationwide. foothold in an increasingly capital-intensive and exclusionary ASGM
Methods Vat leaching in Carbon-in-leach Basic ponds dug in the economy. Existing initiatives aimed at managing cyanide use in gold
tanks of different processing, either ground used for mining, such as the Cyanide Code or the Minamata Convention (a
sizes. Heap in large cylindrical leaching and zinc
multilateral treaty focused on reducing global mercury emissions, which
leaching can also tanks (tong) or in precipitation. Other
be found in some tarp-lined pools chemical includes a note about eliminating cyanide use when paired with mercury
parts of the (rendaman). products—mostly in ASGM processing), tend to neglect these uneven social dynamics
country (notably sulfuric and nitric while focusing on environmental and public health goals. Moreover,
in the North). acid—are also used. certification schemes like the Cyanide Code are designed for legally
The result is ‘cooked’
by miners on charcoal
recognized mining operations (see Nyanza et al., 2017), whereas most
stoves. After 2017–8, ASGM sites worldwide, and all of the cases described here, remain
other methods of post- informal. While environmental concerns associated with cyanide—­
leaching processing which is both toxic and magnifies the danger of mercury—are war­
(activated carbon)
ranted, our cases demonstrate that management endeavors must also
have appeared.
Ownership CIP plants require Cyanidation Before 2013–4, fewer account for cyanide’s social consequences. More broadly, the case
structures significant facilities vary in plants controlled by studies in this article indicate that the adoption and diffusion of a new
investments. scale and cost, private technology—such as cyanidation—is not merely a matter of rational
Typically owned however most concessionaires choice and increased efficiency (see also Pfaffenberger, 1992). Rather, it
by big financiers, plants are owned (comptoirs). In recent
is a complex social phenomenon embedded in power relations and
local politicians, by local elites and years, several
or any wealthier miners. cyanidation facilities reflecting underlying socio-institutional arrangements (Smith, 2019;
combination of Non-owners may in each mining site Verbrugge and Geenen, 2020). In both Burkina Faso and the Philippines,
those. ‘rent’ cyanidation owned by different different actors use or have used, at least temporarily, their political and
equipment or sell operators. Ore belongs
legal power to maintain a relative monopoly on cyanide-based pro­
tailings to plant to (or is bought by) the
owners. Poorer owner of each pond, or cessing. In short, our analysis indicates that any effort to change the
miners have can be processed in technological set-up of ASGM needs to consider how it may differentially
limited access. exchange for payment. affect the actors involved.
Key social Contributed to Created a market Initially conflicts
impacts further expansion for ASGM tailings, between comptoirs and
of ASGM, resulting in new informal miners, often CRediT authorship contribution statement
including income leading to
emergence of new opportunities. marginalization of Boris Verbrugge: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – re­
and more unequal However, most certain actors (notably
view & editing. Cristiano Lanzano: Conceptualization, Investigation.
revenue-sharing benefits accrue to women processors).
systems, and local elites who With the decline of the Matthew Libassi: Conceptualization, Investigation.
apparent trend own cyanidation comptoirs access
towards wage equipment. Gold became more
labor. production equitable, but Declaration of Competing Interest
processes are cyanidation was
increasingly accompanied by trend
consolidated and toward concentration
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
wage-like labor is of power, and “vertical interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
more common. integration” of the the work reported in this paper.
different stages of
production.
Acknowledgement

three cases, cyanidation fits in with a broader trend towards vertical This work was supported by the Nordic Africa Institute (Uppsala,
integration and consolidation in the value chain, whereby a limited Sweden), the Research Foundation Flanders (grant number G038718N),
number of actors with access to capital (and in some cases to political the Belmont Forum and NORFACE joint research programme on
power) succeed in capturing most of the value added by cyanidation. Transformations to Sustainability (co-funded by VR, DLR/BMBF, ESRC,
Poorer miners and laborers, meanwhile, can only gain access to these FAPESP, ISC, NOW and the European Commission through Horizon
benefits by accepting partial losses in the forms of milling fees, trans­ 2020) (grant number 462.17.201), The Fulbright Program, the Amer­
action costs, or worsening labor terms. These findings suggest that the ican Institute for Indonesian Studies, and the Institute of International
spread of cyanidation risks undermining some of the ‘democratizing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
trends’ that have been attributed to ASGM (Bryceson et al., 2013).
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