West Africa has a long and infamous history of gold mining. Over the last fifteen years, soaring gold prices and neoliberal politics have pushed gold mining, both artisanal and industrial, to the centre stage of land use in West Africa. The organization of mining in countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso has made a shift from dominant state intervention - both on the level of production and the selling of gold - to a sector giving ample room to private companies. This process of liberalization, and the increase of African peasants being involved in artisanal mining have triggered heated debates on the pro's and con's of gold mining for Africa's future; should gold be seen as a curse or blessing? This volume seeks to move beyond the dichotomy of winners versus losers, beyond rigid monolithic models, and beyond rhetoric on gold mining and development, and proposes instead a critical theoretical analysis with in-depth case studies. New insights and assessments are based on an interdisciplinary collaboration from anthropology, history and geology investigating broader articulations of mining with other forms of land use as part of long term, dynamic processes of co-habitation.