Dimensions of everyday resistance in rural artisanal mining communities in South Africa

Artisanal mining practices continue to proliferate in South Africa. This is despite extensive regulation and efforts by the government to curtail these practices. This paper aims to provide a nuanced understanding of this conundrum by documenting the narratives of artisanal miners and their experiences over the years, including their motivations and drivers through the lens of everyday resistance theory. Scholars have highlighted the lack of documentation of the reactions and responses of artisanal miners to regulative and coercive measures and interventions aimed at curtailing the ASM sector. This has resulted in a limited understanding of the dynamics between government interventions and miners. This oversight perpetuates the misconceptions about ASM as a sector populated by passive actors who deliberately bypass laws and regulations, causing social and economic disorder. Findings from this study contradict this narrative, revealing artisanal mining as a domain of resistance and agency for poor and marginalised individuals, who actively negotiate their livelihoods and claim their rights in the face of poverty, inequality and different forms of exclusion. This article contends that artisanal mining, like the informal sector, is not the problem itself but rather a symptom of the profound structural issues plaguing the mineral resources sector. Instead of solely focusing on eradicating artisanal mining, interventions and policies should aim to transform the minerals sector as a whole, prioritising inclusive participation and equitable opportunities for marginalised communities in the minerals economy. • Artisanal mining in South Africa reflects structural inequality and exclusion. • Miners contest illegality claims through local legitimacy and tradition. • Everyday resistance theory reveals ASM as a site of agency, not disorder. • Punitive crackdowns ignore livelihood needs and deepen social harm. • Inclusive, locally grounded policy is key to managing ASM sustainably.