Friends or foes: Can large-scale mining companies partner with small-scale miners? Yes, they can?
重新审视大型矿业与手工小规模采矿的关系，提出以伙伴关系实现共存，并呼吁政策设计合作框架以减少资源冲突。
This paper (re)examines the nexus between large-scale mining (LSM) activities and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operations. Broadly speaking, the existing combative resource politics between the two mining entities has created room for the emergence of divergent opinions on sustainable solutions encapsulated in standpoints of ‘cohabitation’ vis-à-vis ‘autonomy’. Employing ‘partnership’ as an analytical lens, this study provides a refreshing perspective of the ‘cohabitation’ of LSM and ASM where they develop and flourish together. Firmly rooted at the base of this success, however, is the formalisation canon that has long ignored the partnership opportunities for ASM operations in many resource-rich countries. We, therefore, argue for formalisation policies to design cohabitation agreements that focus on creating synergies devoid of resource conflicts. Further, we discuss ways through which resources that cannot be fully enclosed by LSM companies can become sources of compromise and negotiation rather than of conflict and violence.