Given that many miners in the area operate under illegality, the MTECs will target a part of the training to the larger concession holders on the environmentally responsible practices and norms they should uphold on their concessions. Through this training, it is hoped that some medium-scale gold miners, concession holders and gold mining companies will provide additional sites for demonstration of ER gold mining methods. For example, Grassalco, a medium-sized state-owned gold mining company has set up a mining operation in an area that was previously mined by small-scale gold miners. Because of the generally inefficient methods used by small-scale gold miners, the company is still able to recover sufficient gold for a profitable operation. The company also plans to carry out land rehabilitation. In general, it is important to get medium-scale gold miners and mining license holders on board with more environmentally friendly gold mining techniques, due to the fact that they often hold the mining licenses for areas where they permit small-scale gold mining to take place.

The managing NGO for each MTEC will be responsible for setting up the organizational structure, deploying the human and technical resources, for delivering trainings and demonstrations at the MTEC site as well as in the surrounding mining sites, and for formalizing and operatonalizing the incentive schemes for miners, in partnership with other stakeholders. (For more information on MTECs, refer to Annex P: MTEC operations and model). The MTEC will be set up in a central and accessible location, with some training delivered at site, and some delivered in a roving manner as demonstration teams move with the equipment from one mine site to the next.

Lead miners and their teams who will benefit from the project’s support will be selected by the MTEC. Participating ASGM associations or groups will be registered in each site, using an ID-card system. Miners targeted by the project’s activities will need to be legally compliant registered operators, and self-organized in an association or group. The MTEC will provide support to miners who are not already formed into groups to create mining associations. Support from MTECs to creating associations will include organising and funding meetings, and the provision of legal and administrative support.

The repair and maintenance center of the MTEC will grant access to mining equipment, spare parts and technical assistance for environmentally responsible mining technologies. As part of the MTEC’s mandate, miners will also receive training on repair and maintenance applied to the ERM practices and associated equipment. Once trained on maintaining and repairing equipment, miners will be able to volunteer in the shop to assist other miners in maintaining their equipment, in exchange for which they will have access to the tools to repair their own equipment and have discounts on purchasing spare parts. Revenues from selling spare parts will be re-injected in the training of miners.

Furthermore, to ensure that miners will make full use of the knowledge available at the MTEC, incentives for themselves, their families and the broader community will be identified, and a comprehensive incentive scheme will be designed with institutional partners. For example, MTEC will propose support for miners’ associations, advice on conflict resolution, including advice on land claims, health awareness activities, along with access to social programs provided by other partners, such as NGOs, health institutions, private sector, or the government. These could include: healthcare for women and children, including vaccinations and primary care, maternal and family planning services, nutrition advice, or remote education, vocational training (particularly for women and youth) and literacy programs.

The MTECs will also promote a gender-sensitive approach so that both women and men are engaged in all activities the centres propose. In addition, MTECs will depart from the usual approach to training by offering training modules continuously, and by offering training on a roving basis, rather than requiring that miners leave their sites and forego income while benefitting from capacity building. Please refer to Output 3 for more details on how the training will be delivered to miners, and Annex P provides a description of the MTEC model.

In addition, the MTECs will help deliver short and long-term community-based monitoring activities to build an evidence base on the environmental, economic, financial, and social (e.g. health) benefits of the disseminated practices. The project will build on the results from the ACT’s on-going Park Rangers project, where villagers are trained to execute community-based monitoring activities in the vicinity of project demonstration sites, with the three MTECs.

The specific activities under this output include:

• Establish and operationalize Mining Training and Extension Centers (MTECs) near each of the three demonstration locations in collaboration with GMD, OGS, MNR and NIMOS, including by purchasing and setting up demonstration equipment.
• Identify best available technologies for each demonstration location, according to the geological conditions, local community consultation, cost effectiveness and other criteria
• Design incentive scheme for trainees who adopt ERM practices.
• Support mining communities’ groups in the creation of mining associations in demonstration sites, including organizing and funding meetings, providing legal and administrative support.
• Undertake community-based monitoring activities to build the evidence base on the environmental, economic, and social (e.g. health) benefits of the piloted ERM practices in the demonstration sites.