Technological Innovation and Structural Change

Abstract

This chapter presents an exploratory analysis of different stages in the gold production cycle, notably exploration, mining, processing, and refining. It analyzes key technological changes, as well as changes in the constellation of actors involved in each of these stages. This exploratory analysis reveals that gold production is accessible to smaller and less powerful players, including small miners, traders, and refiners. It also reveals linkages that connect these actors to one another, and to larger mining companies and refineries. In many cases, these linkages span across the formal-informal divide. Finally, it draws attention to how both the accessibility of gold production and the linkages between the various actors involved in it are facilitated by the material properties of gold.