Children working in mining related activities are not uncommon in Sierra Leone. Their
involvement has become a matter of increasing global attention and significant measures have
been taken at national and international levels to combat the problem. However its prevalence
gives reasons for concern. In the case of Sierra Leone it has been argued that there has been a
failure to carry out an analysis of the mining sector and engage in the complex realities of the
children. This study aims to understand how mining exploitation and cultural aspects to child
labour can act as potential obstacles to child labour elimination in the mining sector in Sierra
Leone. This study draws upon dependency theory and the concepts of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR), resource curse and socially constructed childhood to discuss and
analyze the child labour issue in Sierra Leones mining sector. Thus, deriving from a research
overview this study is based upon secondary data. The study finds that the failure to
acknowledge sociocultural aspects embedded in the Sierra Leonean society along with
economic exploitation of the mining sector constitutes potential obstacles to the elimination of
child labour.