The University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Ghana in partnership with Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), University of Queensland (UQ) and United States Geological Survey (USGS) have been awarded a grant for a project in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM). The total cost (both cash and in-kind) of the project is about US$1.5 million.

The project aims at improving the understanding of the ASM sector in West Africa. Thus, the study will examine the extent of ASM in Ghana and Burkina Faso and in particular, the associated supply chains, financial flows and stakeholder networks.

The project will use a mixed-methodology approach (interviews, remote sensing, trade data analysis) to focus on the supply chains, financial flows and stakeholder networks in Burkina Faso and Ghana in order to better understand them and to inform policy and programming to address the impact of ASM.

The UMaT team is led by Dr Ishmael Quaicoe and Dr Eric Stemn from the Environmental and Safety Engineering Department.