Ecuador

Ecuador has a long history of gold mining with small-scale and artisanal producers making up the entirety of production (89%:small-scale, 11% artisanal)¹. A largely informal sector, the Ecuadorian Government has been attempting to formalize the sector since the 1970s to generate tax revenues, reduce pollution and harmful practices among miners and better support informal miners.^2,3 Estimates of individuals directly involved in the artisanal sector vary with the most recent data at 29,097⁴