Mobility, temporary migration and changing livelihoods in Zimbabwe's artisanal mining sector

•Mobilities within and across provinces show that mining is transforming rural livelihoods during a period of an economic crisis.•Mobilities are key to the way the poor negotiate access to natural resources.•Mobilities are also a form of resistance against exploitative labour relations that underpin ASGM.•ASGM, is an important pathway for livelihoods for a large number of both rural and urban residents.•Mobilities, can also be conceptualised as a form of resistance against exploitative labour relations which dominate the sector.