Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining: Whither the workforce?

• Ongoing efforts to formalize ASM target mineral tenure rights.
• They neglect the ASM-workforce and complex organizational arrangements.
• Need to develop more inclusive formalization frameworks that also target labor.
• However, various challenges prevent the easy formalization of the ASM-workforce.

This article develops a critique of ongoing formalization efforts in the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector. By departing from erroneous assumptions about a homogeneous ASM-sector, and by focusing on the recognition of mineral property rights, these formalization efforts tend to overlook the massive informal ASMworkforce, and the complex sets of organizational arrangements in which it is involved. On the basis of a critical case study in the Southern Philippines, the article then identifies some of the opportunities and challenges associated with moving towards more inclusive formalization efforts, which target both mineral tenure- as well as labor-relations.