Le droit minier face à l’éthique de l’or

Abstract

The relations between industrial and artisanal miners in West Africa involve a multitude of ethical issues, including the “fair” access to the same natural resources. This article aims to analyze the ethical basis granting access to mining concessions through the interventions of different actors (artisanal miners, multinationals, governments, etc.). A multi-sited ethnographic study in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, and western Burkina Faso traces the history of a mining concession claimed by both industrial and artisanal parties. It shows that access relations go beyond the simple categories of legality and illegality, in particular by referring to the different forms of legitimacy of certain mining practices.

Keywords

• small-scale artisanal mining
• large-scale mining
• access relations
• Burkina Faso
• mining
• artisanal mining