Mining and structural adjustment : studies on Zimbabwe and Tanzania

Abstract

The mining sector has played an historically central role in the economy of Africa, but large-scale investment in it declined after 1970. Structural adjustment and the dismantling of apartheid opens up the possibility of a revival of such investment, but also raises questions about the terms on which it will take place and the fate of local small-scale mining industries. These two studies examine tensions between large- and small-scale mining in Tanzania, and the emergence of new forms of relation between international mining houses and the national state in Zimbabwe.