Govt working to assist artisanal miners - Mantashe
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantsahe says the government is working hard to offer more support to artisanal and small-scale miners.
Mantashe says two aspects which need to receive attention are training and the funding of the miners’ operations.
On Tuesday, Mantashe addressed an investment seminar on the sidelines of the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town.
He said 13 companies have already applied and received approval, adding that 10 of them are female-owned companies - something he considers a huge progress for South Africa.
Mantashe emphasised that artisan miners are not illegal miners.
"Some people don't appreciate the importance of this, artisanal miners are very important, they are not training illegal miners, illegal mining is a criminal activity.
We must never equate artisanal miners to training illegal miners; training artisanal miners equates to training people to be able to mine minerals that we can be able to sterilise.
“Artisanal miners can actually mine deposits that we leave on the ground, and if we do that, development will be optimised," said Mantashe.
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