Artisanal Mining and Sustainable Development

Article 1 of the Ivorian law n 2014-390 of June 20, 2014, of orientation on sustainable development hastens to precisely define this one by apprehending it as the development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The same article apprehends the social responsibility of organizations through the prism of the voluntary approach in which any organization integrates social, environmental and economic concerns in its activity and in its interactions with the actors of sustainable development. Artisanal mining, on the other hand, is an age-old form of mining. However, its legal and formal consecration is relatively recent. In Ivorian mining law, it dates from the advent of the mining code of 2014. This exploitation is supposed to be done on a small scale and according to an authorization issued by the authorities in charge of the mines. The conditions of access to this form of exploitation are quite flexible in order to allow clandestine gold washers to integrate the official circuit through artisanal mining. This cannot be done without questions of sustainable development or the social responsibility of organizations. The latter are not just the business of large mining companies. These are more pressing issues in the context of artisanal mining, where there seem to be fewer obligations on artisanal miners in terms of sustainable development. Of course, the use of chemicals and explosives is prohibited. But in practice, this prohibition is not respected. This poses problems of sustainable development but also of social responsibility to which any mining organization is subject. It will reveal the inextricable links between sustainable development and mining. It will also be a question of showing how the social responsibility of organizations can help artisanal mining not to lose sight of the requirements of sustainable development, by becoming more fortunately a key player in sustainable development.