L'exploitation Artisanale De L'or En Côte D'ivoire: La Persistance D'une Activite Illegale

The present article is the result of investigations to try to understand the persistence of illegal artisanal gold mining in Côte d'Ivoire where the phenomenon, although illegal, continues to grow for about twenty years. Relying on the case of the Yaouré area, the study was conducted mainly from the consultation of secondary data and groups and key informant interviews. Survey data indicate that the illegal artisanal gold mining activity is a very lucrative business in which many players involved at various levels and with specific roles, are catered for at financially. The presence of people from the modern environment supposed to fight against clandestine gold mining continues certainly an explanatory factor for the persistence of this illegal activity itself. Other causes for the development of illegal gold mining are the poor sales of traditional agricultural products (cocoa and coffee) and ignorance of the negative impacts of this activity on the biophysical and human environment by most of those involved in the sector. It is clear from this study that ultimately illegal artisanal gold mining in the Yaouré, and certainly also in Ivory Coast, is a total social fact; Also, the fight against this phenomenon, to give the expected results, must not be limited to sporadic acts of repression against well diggers and other ore washers, weak link in the chain of illegal production of gold.