The Global Gold Mining Industry,Junior Firms,and Civil Society Resistance in Guatemala

Over the past two decades, the gold mining industry has increased its activity in Latin America. Growing contestation and conflict around gold mining projects have accompanied this shift. This article draws from the case of Guatemala, where metal exploration has grown by 1,000 per cent since 1998, to illustrate how the proliferation of small ‘junior’ firms – together with neoliberal investment policies and suitability of mineralisation – set the stage for fly‐by‐night gold mining and, therefore, intense resistance from host communities to mineral development.