Small Scale Mining

In many developing countries there is a lot of informal mining activity. Gold and precious stones such as diamonds, rubies, tanzanite and emeralds are most often mined.

Village people in these countries have been doing this from generation to generation. Lacking a first world infrastructure, the methods they use are primitive. It is backbreaking manual labor.

The products they mine are sold in local markets, or they are bartered for their daily needs. The returns on the labor invested by the villagers are very low.

Many of these products are sold in unofficial markets, where no taxes are paid to governments. Africa's civil wars are largely fuelled by these products.

Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl offers a unique formula that benefits all parties concerned:

• The informal miner benefits by increased productivity
• This increases living standards
• The informal miner is capable to pay for the equipment
• Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl purchases the product from the informal miner at advantageous rates to the miner
• Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl gets paid for the equipment supplied
• Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl consolidates the product in reasonable quantities
•  Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl pays all local government taxes and duties
• The local government controls the production
• The local government receives revenue (which previously was lost)
• Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl exports the product
• The local government get foreign capital in to the country
• Illegal trading and fuelling of wars is stopped

This approach assists the local population in acquiring necessary experience in managing their small-scale mining operations. Helping them to gain mining expertise with better small-scale tools and equipment underpins this process.

A number of African countries have many regulations that tend to reduce revenue from mining. At the same time illegal/unofficial trading in precious metals and stones is encouraged inadvertently. Some regulations classify any means of mechanical assistance by informal miners as large-scale mining operations. Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl offers small scale, manually operated mining equipment that is accepted by government regulations. This alleviates the backbreaking labor of the informal miners, at the same time increasing their daily output.

Governments of developing countries welcome Resources & Art Afrilink Sarl 's assistance since we give them control of mined products. Thus their tax revenues are and the living standards of their citizens are increased.

© 2008 Art Afrilink Sarl