Small scale mining—a balance between men and mechanisation

Abstract

For almost 50 years Uis mine, one of the world's largest open cast, hard rock tin producers, has been in operation in the desert of western Namibia. In the early 1990s the mine closed down and the community in Uis faced severe problems. Legal, safe and economically sustainable small scale tin mining might be one alternative for the future of Uis. The following articles, originally presented at a November 1996 seminar held in Windhoek, describe the Uis pilot project and also give a summary of the South African small scale mining situation.