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This thesis is about artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and how it transforms lives and landscapes. ASM is one of many informal livelihoods spun in capitalist value chains. Engaging estimated 40 million people, ASM has become one of the most important non-farm rural livelihoods in the Global South. However, poor work conditions, pollution, environmental degradation and power asymmetries make ASM a precarious livelihood that challenge sustainability transitions. Consequently, calls have been made for more research on the sustainability potentials of ASM. Particularly, scholars emphasise the need for engaging the perspectives of ASM actors, along with a better understanding of the value chain dynamics of ASM. Based on 6 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Geita region of Tanzania, I explore the cross-scalar relations between actors and agendas within ASM, and discuss the challenges and possibilities for a more sustainable sector. The thesis is situated between anthropology, human and economic geography, political ecology and land system science. I engage qualitative methods, including interviewing, participant observation and collaborative filmmaking, encompassing a broad range of actors. Through four core chapters, the thesis describes the ambiguities of ASM, creating hope and opportunity, but also precarity and degradation. It shows how competing visions and power asymmetries reinforce inequality, while also invoking resistance and alternative visions of globalisation.