IN WHAT MAY be considered by some as a bold move, a Chinese academic has called for a clearer policy on his country's artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) sector so it can be included in China's national mineral sustainability policy. Although industry consolidation since 1999 has been reducing ASM in the east Asian country, by 2006 it still employed more than 5 million people (or 65 percent of the Chinese mining work force), accounted for over half of the nation's mineral production, made up 95 percent of the collective domestic mine site footprint and provided a gross industrial production value of 53 percent.
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