Conditions for sustainable platinum mining: Insights from artisanal and small-scale mining in Colombia

Abstract

This article examines the necessary conditions for sustainable artisanal and small-scale Platinum mining (ASPM) in Colombia as a critical raw material (CRM). Hypothesising the environmental, social, economic and institutional dimensions based upon the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) frame, we employ generalised and ordinary least squares to analyse variables within each dimension that impact on ASPM. Through legal instruments, namely, Right to Petition and Constitutional Right Enforcement, we gathered comprehensive data from mining authorities regarding extraction, formalisation and miner registration across 1122 municipalities throughout the 2010s. Our findings reveal multifaceted associations across dimensions: in environment, whilst illegal gold mining shows a positive causal effect on ASPM, coca cultivation displays varying impacts. In the social dimension, higher multidimensional poverty has a significant positive effect on platinum extraction, while violence exhibits a negative causal bond. In the economic dimension, both infrastructure improvements and rural technological progress have significant negative effects on ASPM activity. In the institutional pillar, higher corruption levels show a positive causal link with extraction, whilst armed illegal groups display divergent effects - FARC-EP rebels relate negatively to production, while paramilitary presence connects positively. These findings underscore that sustainable ASPM requires coordinated interventions: strengthening environmental enforcement, addressing poverty whilst improving security, developing infrastructure and rural technification for formalisation, and implementing anticorruption measures alongside peacebuilding efforts. Indeed, we posit some multi-stakeholder actions towards these ends. This case could enhance both local development and global CRMs supply diversification originating from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM).