Alexander Bruce Lister Matheson

My research interests have evolved over 25 years in industry working on large infrastructure and mining projects globally (from Asia to South America). My roles being as varied as regional sales to project management.

My research question looks at formalisation of ASM operations, in the field of Development Minerals as used in the construction industry in South Africa, and asks the following:

If formalisation is reputed to be a silver bullet that solves many if not all of the problems associated with informal operations in the field of ASM (supposedly good for all parties, both the state and the miners) then why is formalisation not being embraced by all (with special attention being paid to ethics and sustainability) throughout the value and suply chain.