This chapter provides an historical context for the emergence, and continuation, of a frontier logic of ecoviolence in Guyana, analyzing the hyper-exploitation of the Ameridians, minors and migrants in the mining sector. While Guyana’s Indigenous peoples, the Amerindians, named their home the “Land of Many Waters”, towns and villages such as Rose Hall, New Amsterdam, Queenstown and Anna Regina serve as a reminder of the European colonial regimes which spearheaded capitalist, frontier logics of extractivism which spatialized ecoviolence and precarity; the theft of Indigenous lands and territories; and ongoing structural racial, gender, and economic disparities intersected with environmental injustice. The return of neoliberal frontiers of logic and hyper-exploitation of workers forces readers to think more holistically about harm and hyper-exploitation.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining offers opportunities to a diverse set of actors operating in formal, legal and clandestine realms. The sector has considerable expansion potential but it is hampered by corruption, illegal actors and a poorly regulated market. This chapter focuses on Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASM) in Uganda, exploring ongoing tensions between ASM communities, mining firms, and the government. While enforcing health and safety laws in the extractive industry has proven challenging to departments responsible for worker health and safety, the government in Uganda is trying to establish a structured approach with detailed legal and technical collaboration between artisanal miners and technical people whose obligation is to offer legal and technical guidance in regulating ASM.