In 2014 I was working as a researcher at Wits University's African Centrefor Migration and Society. With Dr. Aurelia Segatti, we were leading amulti-year research and policy programme on labour migration in severalsectors including mining. As part of the fieldwork, our team visited anindustrial gold mine. It was the first time I had been inside a mine, and onthe drive west out of the city we passed neat rows of homes with beautifulgardens and fences. Everything orderly, everything in its place. At theentrance to the mine, the security guard found our names on a clipboard, checked our identity cards, and waved us through. We were scheduled tointerview a manager, and he was a friendly Afrikaans man, neatly pressedtrousers, perfectly trimmed moustache, affable and paternal Much of ourdiscussion centred on security and the future of mining. How difficult itis for the mine to remain profitable, and how much the company spendson security to prevent illegal mining in its shafts. After similar interviewsat another two companies, it was clear to us that a broader field of studyof informal mining was desperately needed to understand labour mobility.What followed was 6 years of work that has culminated in this book.Trained as an anthropologist, my overall approach was to do anethnography of informal mining. After Aurelia left to eventually take up aposition with the International Labour Organisation on labour migration, I put together a team of researchers: graduate students, including now, Dr. Janet Munakamwe, who was then a doctoral student, and everydaymembers of the community who we trained in basic research techniques.