Duncan Money
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mininghistory.bsky.social
Duncan Money
@mininghistory.bsky.social
7.2K followers 600 following 1.5K posts
Historian and consultant. I work on mining, labour, migration and Southern Africa.
More on https://duncan.money
Contact: duncanmoneyhistory@proton.me
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Reposted by Duncan Money
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
Fascinating article by Claire Sabel (@scarcerc.bsky.social) on the early modern gemstones trade, pointing out how gemstones differed from other rare goods:

"Unlike exotic plants or animals, minerals could not be transplanted to be studied or cultivated in situ."

www.iias.asia/the-newslett...
Trading Gems and Knowing the Earth in Early Modern Eurasia | IIAS
www.iias.asia
November 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
Interesting detail from this thesis:

The Mineworkers Union of Namibia set up a company to reopen three closed copper mines in 1999 after Namibia's government provided loans and guarantees for the company.

I think it's the only example a trade union involved in running a mine in the region.
mininghistory.bsky.social Duncan Money @mininghistory.bsky.social · 7d
Sam Nujoma, 'Copper - its geology and economic impact on development in Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo' (2009).

You can even download it from the University of Namibia website:

repository.unam.edu.na/items/ccf663...
Copper
Copper is the oldest industrial metal known to man and has contributed to the development of many civilizations in the world, including pre-colonial African communities in southern and central Africa,...
repository.unam.edu.na
November 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Duncan Money
thecontinent.org
A court appeal with 140,000 claimants heard from people living in Kabwe -- one of the world’s most polluted towns. Mukanzi Musanga spoke to some of the mothers in that case. Their children are among the 95% of children in the area who have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.
The sinister alchemy that puts lead into Zambian children’s veins
A court appeal with 140,000 claimants heard this week from people living in one of the world’s most polluted towns.
continent.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
Went for a walk to take my mind off work but I can't seem to avoid it.
Rural landscape with deep green grass and trees. In the background is a mountain with a forest covering the summit. In the foreground is a small white metal sign reading "Dumico Kajwi Mine Site"
November 10, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
rhaplord.bsky.social
Each of these dots on the map has its own history, and I intend to cover all of them

Cities/towns may have been the first complex societies, long before kingdoms and empires.
Any discussion of African history would be incomplete without them
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
mineralcup.bsky.social
#OreCup Finals:
It’s copper ore native #Copper vs molybdenum (& rhenium) ore #Molybdenite. Both are shiny, but only one can be the Ore Mineral of the Year

Vote:
Vote in Ore Cup FINALS — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
Pick the Ore Mineral of the Year! Voting for Copper vs Molybdenite will remain open for 48 hours. Credit: David M. Maietta and Harold Moritz
www.mineralcup.org
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
I sometimes wonder how much time I have wasted working out how to disable unhelpful features that Word automatically introduces.

In this case, it's track change cards that appear whenever you move the cursor over edited text. If anyone knows how to remove these, I would be very grateful.
Blue text book with white writing. Text reads: "New Track Change Cards We've added new Track Change cards to make it easier to review suggestions made by others. Click on someone else's change to see details and accept or rejection their suggestions."
November 9, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
chancebonar.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Duncan Money
thecontinent.org
All Protocol Observed

Welcome to Issue 219 of The Continent

Protests, an internet blackout, and deadly force marked Tanzania’s Election Day. Once online again, 37 readers shared what they witnessed.

Read their stories: bit.ly/219_TC
The cover of The Continent, dated 8 November 2025 (Issue 219), bears the headline “Tanzania’s darkest week” and features a striking political cartoon by Gado that echoes Honoré Daumier’s 1831 caricature Gargantua. At the top, the masthead appears in bold black letters on a beige background. Below it, the illustration dominates the page. It shows a woman seated on a throne-like chair, drawn to resemble Tanzania’s leader. Her mouth is open wide, and a long wooden ramp extends from her mouth, down which small, faceless figures carry large sacks labeled “Corruption,” “Incompetence,” “Fear,” and “Election Fraud.” They march upward to feed these vices into her mouth, while behind them, a long line of weary people stretches toward the horizon, waiting their turn. To the left stands a sign reading “Abductions”, beside a huge pile of skulls — a chilling symbol of death and repression. Below, masked soldiers with rifles shoot civilians on a blood-spattered ground, surrounded by the bodies of the fallen. The entire scene conveys chaos, violence, and fear. The image is a nod to Daumier’s Gargantua, which depicted France’s King Louis-Philippe as a grotesque giant devouring the people’s wealth while rewarding his cronies. Here, that 19th-century metaphor of gluttonous tyranny is adapted to Tanzania’s present moment — portraying a leader who consumes corruption, fear, and human lives themselves.
November 7, 2025 at 6:57 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
I'm quoted in the @dailymaverick.co.za talking about mining, climate change and changes in the industry:

"Even if the economic value of the industry increases, the total volume of stuff mined is going to decrease for the first time in recent human history."

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
Part 2 — Keystone Industry: The minerals rush to save the planet from mining’s legacy
As our planet burns, the race to ‘net zero emissions’ is on to save the planet. And this path begins with underground ore.
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 7, 2025 at 12:34 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
Clipping from a newspaper advert with "Copper is King" in large capital letters at the top. Advert text reads "Copper is the safest, the most profitable, the most permanent investment in the world today"
November 7, 2025 at 9:27 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
British press cartoons regularly depicted mining companies as African children in the 19th and early 20th century.

In this case, two competing tin companies in colonial Nigeria in 1913:
Newspaper cartoon showing a caricature of two black children on a see-saw. One of the children is falling off the see-saw. The cartoon caption reads "The young crossbred known as Anglo Continental has had a bad fall while the position of his dusky playmate Roppy looks exceedingly perilous"
November 6, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
mininghistory.bsky.social
I have a new article arguing that connections across empire were uneven. Some regions became closely connected, and others did not.

I look at how these connections changed migration, work, household formation, politics and disease at a very local level:

upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/hi...
Perspectives: The Place of Regions in Transnational Connections | Historia
upjournals.up.ac.za
November 5, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
roapejournal.bsky.social
Shaun Milton reviews Saima Ndahangwapo’s new book Defending the Investment about uranium mining in Namibia, arguing it makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of decolonisation in Africa.

roape.net/2025/11/05/d...
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
I have a new article arguing that connections across empire were uneven. Some regions became closely connected, and others did not.

I look at how these connections changed migration, work, household formation, politics and disease at a very local level:

upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/hi...
Perspectives: The Place of Regions in Transnational Connections | Historia
upjournals.up.ac.za
November 5, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
kalathmika.bsky.social
My book Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy is out with @hurstpublishers.bsky.social. It has been shaped by the support of a great community of scholars - grateful for generous endorsements from
@rahulraothariel.bsky.social @katesde.bsky.social @kalramnath.bsky.social

Order here - shorturl.at/55NjW
Book cover with passport stamps Endorsements for book
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
stephvandam.bsky.social
Feels a bit weird talking into the void but if you are interested in my PhD research please feel free to ask me questions! And there is a summary here: doi.org/10.17863/CAM...
The cost of workplace injury in Mauritius, Barbados, and the Gold Coast, 1925-1943
In 1928, the colonial government of Mauritius drafted a Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance (WCO), a law designed to hold employers liable for compensation to employees in case of workplace injury. Despi...
doi.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Duncan Money
siphok.bsky.social
Exciting thing alert - The next pilot of The Friday Paper comes out this very Friday, 7 November.

To get your hands on some quality South African journalism here's the link tally.so/r/mKbdeD
Welcome to The Friday Paper.
Subscribe - at no cost, and with no passwords - to South Africa's newest national newspaper.
tally.so
November 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Duncan Money
eos.org
You’ve heard of the #MinCup — now get ready for the #OreCup, which starts today! Our first pick is #copper, which humans have been mining, using, and discarding for thousands of years: eos.org/articles/500...
November 3, 2025 at 1:40 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
I cannot believe that I didn't know Namibia's first president Sam Nujoma wrote a masters' thesis about copper mining in Southern Africa after retiring from politics!
November 3, 2025 at 2:02 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
The archive of Barings Bank (1762-1994) is steadily being digitised and is freely available online
Quite a bit of mining stuff in there:

baring.access.preservica.com/archive
Complete Archive | The Baring Archive Digitised Collections
baring.access.preservica.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:28 PM
mininghistory.bsky.social
I am contractually obliged to vote for copper here.
mineralcup.bsky.social Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 8d
#OreCup is launching with two famous & beloved ore minerals, #Galena vs #Copper!

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...

You have 24 hours to campaign. Go!
www.mineralcup.org
November 3, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Duncan Money
vickyveritas.bsky.social
Naturally occurring pure copper is called “native” copper & is formed in veins & fractures by super-heated mineral-rich fluids often associated with volcanic activity. My sample shown below. Get the lead out & vote #copper!

#OreCup25 #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐
Native copper
November 3, 2025 at 12:04 AM
mininghistory.bsky.social
Britain has its own weird relationships with ex-colonies, but I cannot imagine the mayor of London suddenly popping up in Nairobi or Freetown to give a speech about the Second World War.
November 2, 2025 at 8:11 PM