The purpose of the study was to compare artisanal gold small mining (AGSM) practices in Russia and China. The results suggest that Russian government do not develop institutional frameworks for small scale mining; as a result, extralegal AGSM in Russia is expanded. In contrast, owing to liberalization of gold market extralegal AGSM in China have been reduced since 2003, but remains considerable. Both Russian and Chinese situations affect on cross-border smuggling of Russian gold to China.

Key words: artisanal and small scale gold mining, extralegal activities, institutions and institutional changes, Chinese migrants.