Diamond mining, urbanisation and social transformation in Sierra Leone

Abstract

This contribution critically explores changing relationships between diamond mining and patterns of urbanisation in Sierra Leone. In providing an historical overview of mining expansion and contraction, the paper highlights the significant impacts that mining has had on the rural–urban continuum, and how this has shaped political, economic and social change in diamondiferous regions. Focusing on Kono District, the effects of diamond mining on populations are evaluated before, during and after the civil war, demonstrating how diamonds have had diverse and varying impacts on both population mobility and urban agglomeration at different points in time. While much attention has focused on the social consequences of wartime displacement from diamondiferous areas to the capital city, Freetown, recent research suggests that the post-war return of young people to diamond mining regions has had unexpected consequences. Most significantly, a decline in artisanal mining activities and the rise of large-scale industrial mining has reawakened the interest of young ex-miners in farming, especially those who enjoy hereditary land rights. While one consequence of the war may be that the population is now more urban and more mobile, the paper concludes that the return of young people to their villages of origin, and rapprochement with local chiefs, may be helping to drive a resurgence of community-based cooperation in Kono District, a development which could provide a more durable basis for sustainable and democratic development in the years to come.

Keywords:

• diamond mining
• urbanisation
• youth
• livelihoods
• Sierra Leone

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on historical analysis previously developed in a co-authored paper written with Richard Fanthorpe entitled ‘Mining for change: Diamonds, “youth” politics and emerging public spaces in post-conflict Sierra Leone’, presented at the ‘Mining across generations: Artisanal and small-scale mining workshop’, 17 January 2009, Cambridge, UK. The author is grateful to Dr Fanthorpe for his insights and contribution to the analysis. The fieldwork upon which the paper is based was funded by a small grant from the Nuffield Foundation.

Notes

1. Personal communication with the Director of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Political Affairs (MMRPA), Freetown, 22 November 2010.

2. This sentiment was evident in the typical response of interviewees, ‘diamonds don loss’, a Krio saying which literally translated means ‘diamonds are much fewer’.

3. Diamond diggers who work at the bottom of the supply chain must endure particularly dangerous and unhealthy conditions, with most being paid two cups of rice and less than a dollar a day. In 2008, 67% of those from Kayima who reported that they were miners claimed that they had never earned a significant amount of money from their activities. Approximately 33% of miners said they had only earned very small amounts of money over the years (typically between 50,000 and 100,000 Leones).

4. Reports indicate that the global market for wholesale diamonds in 2009 shrank from US$21.5 billion to US$12 billion, with the price of polished gems dropping by an average of 30% from its peak in August 2008.

5. Interview with the Director of GTZ Kono, Koidu, 25 September 2008.