Abstract
This paper explores how artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral processing and extraction – has evolved in sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades. The analysis focuses specifically on the types of entrepreneurs who pursue work at, and innovation that occurs in, the region's ASM sites, using ideas debated heavily in the management literature, as well as complementary theories and concepts from other disciplines, including development studies, anthropology and human geography. Drawing on findings from ongoing research in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the locations of two of the largest and most complex ASM economies in sub-Saharan Africa, it is argued that legal and policy frameworks implemented for the sector are not aligned with the needs and capabilities of operators, and have therefore impeded efforts to formalize activities. In both countries, these frameworks have created and subsequently galvanized the boundary between two very different ‘worlds’: on the one hand, that of a burgeoning semi-formal artisanal group with limited capacity to mechanize, and on the other hand, that of a small number of individuals who have managed to overcome crippling financial barriers to secure titles to mine using more advanced technology.