Where There Is No Company: Indigenous Peoples, Sustainability, and the Challenges of Mid-Stream Mining Reforms in Guyana's Small-Scale Gold Sector

Much of the hype behind ‘sustainable mining’ elaborates ‘best practices’ using a spatial and temporal framework primarily applicable to large-scale, company-driven mines unfolding in the future. This approach confines already producing fields to peripheral concerns and obscures artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) production from mainstream debates on sustainable mining and indigenous rights. The article provides an overview of mining reforms on multiple scales and a case study of Guyana's gold sector. Looking closely at ASM processes in the Upper Mazaruni river basin, the traditional homeland of the indigenous Akawaio and Arekuna, the evidence reveals a compelling case for denying the hype of sustainable mining. Oddly enough, indigenous involvement with mining presents a unique opportunity to rethink progressive ASM designs for two key reasons. First, vested interests in long-term survival on the same land are a qualitative advantage for overcoming the limits of short-term, fragmented engagements with mid-stream ASM activity. Second, the embedded ecological knowledge of indigenous communities can inform more inclusive, place-based interdisciplinary frameworks for reforming ASM and building lasting solutions through a holistic approach.