Artisanal and small-scale mining: critical minerals

The report argues that while artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a significant but overlooked contributor to the global supply of critical minerals, realizing its full potential requires major policy and regulatory shifts to formalize the sector and mitigate environmental destruction.

• Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a significant contributor to the global supply of critical minerals, yet it remains an overlooked source despite its output.
• Expanding the role of ASM could provide economic development and livelihoods for local communities, but the sector requires formalization through policy and regulatory changes to address its environmentally destructive nature and the subsistence status of its operators.
• Due to the deeply informal nature of critical mineral supply chains, gathering data on ASM is difficult, leading the report to rely on case studies of key locations and the identification of new ASM frontiers.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2024). Artisanal and small-scale mining: critical minerals. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/artisanal-small-scale-mining-critical-minerals

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Artisanal and small-scale mining: critical minerals. 2024. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/artisanal-small-scale-mining-critical-minerals.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Artisanal and small-scale mining: critical minerals |date=12 December 2024 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/artisanal-small-scale-mining-critical-minerals |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2024artisanal, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Artisanal and small-scale mining: critical minerals}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/artisanal-small-scale-mining-critical-minerals}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }