ASM Risk Management: Moving from Reactive to Continuous Intelligence

Aug 16 2026

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is increasingly cited by mining firms as a significant risk, yet it is frequently handled with insufficient data and only after operations have been disrupted, boundaries have been crossed, or environmental and social liabilities have emerged, according to an op-ed published on Mining.com on August 16, 2026.

Gold Fields has identified illegal and artisanal mining across portions of its Ghana, Peru, and South Africa operations, noting potential security, reputational, environmental, social, and financial consequences. AngloGold Ashanti has identified ASM as a possible source of operational interruption, with implications for the environment, health, safety, security, and liability. Southern Copper has indicated that illegal mining at its Los Chancas project in Peru must stop before resource verification drilling and environmental, hydrogeological and geotechnical assessments can proceed.

The issue also carries weight for governments. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) observes that ASM supports the livelihoods of over 40 million people worldwide, but remains mostly unregulated in many resource-rich developing nations, leaving authorities with scant data on output, revenue, employment, and activities.

ASM does not constitute a uniform risk category; it spans from individual informal miners to organized, licensed small-scale enterprises. In certain settings, it is lawful and regulated, while in others it is informal, unlicensed, environmentally harmful, or connected to illicit supply chains. The risk profile hinges on the location, the existence of rights and permits, how materials reach the market, and whether basic environmental, labor, health, and safety safeguards are in place.

The financial stakes can be considerable. SwissAid calculated that at least 435 tonnes of gold, valued at roughly $31 billion, departed Africa without declaration in 2022. Reuters noted that the SwissAid study identified a 229-metric-ton discrepancy over five years between Ghana's declared gold exports and corresponding imports recorded by trading partners, with an estimated worth of about $11.4 billion, much of which was thought to have passed through Dubai. Ghana's recent traceability measures are designed to channel more artisanal gold into formal systems. In Burkina Faso, EITI references a national assessment that placed illicit financial flows from five minerals at $4.92 billion from 2012 to 2021.

Environmental impacts are equally substantial. A 2025 global inventory connected 5.4 million hectares of deforestation to mining between 2001 and 2020, with roughly 70% originating from operations smaller than one square kilometer. In the Peruvian Amazon, MAAP estimated 139,169 hectares of gold-mining deforestation across nine regions by mid-2025 and subsequently urged changes to Peru's ASM legislation and a purge of the REINFO registry. UNEP estimates that artisanal and small-scale gold mining contributes 37% of global mercury emissions, making it the largest source worldwide.

ASM-related risks can also extend beyond mining activities. In eastern DRC, artisanal production has coexisted with armed groups, informal taxation, and cross-border smuggling. Reuters reported in 2024 that M23 rebels were earning approximately $300,000 monthly from taxing the Rubaya coltan area. Colombia presents a different scenario, where licit gold mining has become a funding source for illegal armed groups.

The op-ed contends that governments, companies, and supply-chain participants may be aware of ASM's presence but often lack a dependable, up-to-date understanding of its expansion, pace, and interactions. Earlier visibility could aid in determining where formalization might be advantageous, where enforcement is necessary, where environmental oversight should be prioritized, where operators face encroachment threats, and where supply-chain due diligence requires more robust evidence. Regular, landscape-level observation, including satellite monitoring, should be integrated into a transition from periodic reporting to continuous risk intelligence.

The author, Steve Davis, serves as Director of Mining and Energy at EarthDaily, a mining transformation and strategy expert who leads global market engagement for EarthDaily's mining technologies.

Source: https://www.indexbox.io/