Mapping artisanal small-scale mining in the Central African Republic

In February 2019, IPIS began partnering with the Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) project from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to increase awareness and understanding of the opportunities and challenges of establishing responsible gold supply chains in the Central African Republic (CAR). IPIS supported the Ministry of Mines in mapping artisanal mining sites in western CAR to restore the state’s control over national minerals production and its commercialisation chain. The mapping covered seven prefectures in Western CAR: Nana-Mambéré, Ombella-M’Poko, Ouham-Pendé, Lobaye, Sangha-Mbaéré, Mambéré-Kadeï and Ouham. 

In January 2020, IPIS presented the results of its diagnostic report and mapping of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sites and gold supply-chains in western Central African Republic (CAR) to national authorities and civil society organizations. Data collected include average and total number of workers, type of licenses, occurrences of conflict, type and frequency of child labor, use of mercury, production statistics, estimation of revenue of miners, main destination of minerals, presence and frequency of state services and presence and frequency of armed groups in the mining sites visited.