Convened by Gordon Crawford, Coventry University, UK,  Diana Ayeh, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research , Leipzig, Germany, and Zongo Tongnoma, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Nowhere is the concept of ‘sustainability’ so necessary and yet so contradictory as in the mining sector. Under discussion for some decades, the concept of ‘sustainable mining’ has its origins in corporate mining jargon and touted at industry conferences to greenwash and legitimise their ongoing exploitative operations (https://mininginmotionsummit.com/ Ghana, 2025). Most large-scale mining entails an enclave industry that largely benefits multinational mining corporations based in the Global North, while causing huge environmental costs and negative socio-economic and health impacts in Global South countries. Yet looking at mineral extraction through the lens of sustainability could be crucial to unlocking the potential for mining activities to instead contribute to broad-based socio-economic development and (ideally) to environmental and social justice in contexts of extraction.  Sustainability can be defined or examined in multiple ways and involves a range of actors, policies and technologies. This pertains but is not limited to local economic development through positive linkages and benefits for local people, reduction of environmental and socio-economic footprints, reformulation of international and national trade and investment policies, and issues of multi-level governance. 

The panel invites papers that look critically at old and new forms of extractivism (e.g., framed as neo-extractivism, resource sovereignty or green extractivism), its shortcomings for development, and the misuse of ‘sustainable mining’ to greenwash operations. We also invite papers that explore national and international policy initiatives (e.g. the Africa Mining Vision) to address sustainability challenges and how these impact in mining communities. A focus on grassroots movements and pressures from below from trade unions and civil society organisations is welcome, as is an exploration of sustainability in both large-scale and small-scale mining. While convenors have undertaken research on mining in West Africa (e.g. Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea), papers are encouraged from other regions and countries in the Global South