The Political Economy of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining

A Comparative Study of Ghana and South Africa

Series: 

Why does artisanal gold mining expand rapidly across Africa despite criminalisation? This book takes you inside an occupation of Obuasi, a historic mining town in Ghana’s and South Africa’s ‘zama zama’ in deindustrialising Ekurhuleni. You will delve deep into cases where large-scale gold mines were in decline how these localised trends are a direct product of free-market reforms and intersecting ecological and social reproduction crisis. Weaving together the theories of Karl Marx, Jarius Banaji, and Max Ajl, I argue that artisanal mining fills a vacuum left by states and large corporations. For a ground-breaking analysis that links local mining struggles to global capitalism’s crises, this is your essential read.
Copyright Year:
2026
E-Book (PDF)
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ISBN:
978-90-04-76375-3
Publication:
27 Aug 2026
Hardback
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ISBN:
978-90-04-76371-5
Publication:
17 Sep 2026
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Hibist Wendemu Kassa, Ph.D. (2019), is a Research Associate at Department of Higher Education and Training -National Research Fund SARChI Chair in Community, Adult & Workers’ Education. She is also a member of the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester. She has published on artisanal mining policy and social reproduction. She also edited a Special Issue on African Resource Sovereignty: Development or Environmental Vandalism? in the New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy published by the Institute for African Alternatives.
Acknowledgement of Funders
List of Illustrations and Tables
Acronyms

1 Introduction and Background
 1 Introduction
 2 Examining the Challenge of Regulating ASM
 3 Book Structure

2 Conceptual Framework and Historical Overview
 1 Introduction
 2 The Challenge of Thinking through Modes of Production
 3 The Post-Independence Industrialisation Challenge
 4 The Capital/Non-Capital Debate
 5 Petty Commodity Production and Capital
 6 Heterogenous Economies in the Neoliberal Phase
 7 Nationalisation of Mineral Economies
 8 Unequal Ecological Exchange and State-Led Mediation of Capital
 9 Conclusion: Aspects for Further Elaboration

3 Petty Commodity Production and Petty Capitalism in Obuasi
 1 Introduction
 2 Mining Regime from Late Colonial to Post-Independence Period
 3 State Interventions in Galamsey Operations
 4 Ashanti Gold Corporation and Obuasi Municipality
 5 Conclusion

4 Petty Commodity Production and Petty Capitalism in Gauteng Province
 1 Introduction
 2 Dispossession and the Rise of Large-Scale Mining in South Africa
 3 Locating ASM in the Mining Regime
 4 Zama zama Production Relations
 5 Zama zama as a Livelihood Strategy in Conditions of Precarity
 6 State Interventions the Zama zama Want
 7 Conclusion
 5 Comparison of Obuasi and Gauteng: Petty Commodity Production and Petty Capitalism, Capital becoming
 1 Introduction
 2 Locating ASM in the Mining Regimes
 3 Livelihood, Social Mobility or Capital Becoming?
 4 Linkages: the Known, the Unknown and the Possibilities
 5 Orientation
 6 Conclusion

6 Conclusions: the Essence of Petty Commodity Production and Petty Capitalism
 1 Introduction
 2 Logic
 3 Way Forward: the Conditions within Which the Zama zama, Galamsey and Allies Organise
 4 Recommendations for Further Research
 5 Theorising the States Role in Mediating Capital
Interviews
Bibliography
Index
Scholars and advanced students in political economy, development studies, African studies, and critical geography, alongside policymakers and NGOs focusing on extractivism and informal labour.
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