Mining
Currently, Swaziland’s mineral sector is governed under a policy drawn up prior to Swaziland’s independence. In response to the sector’s recent decline, a new mining policy is being drafted by consultants, paid for by a grant from China, and legislation to facilitate small-scale mining has also been proposed.
The country’s main source of foreign exchange is the Bulembu asbestos mine, however production has hit a steep decline. Diamond, iron ore and gold have also been found in the past, however a lack of investment and development policy has seen the region’s potential falter.
Although fewer than 1,000 Swazis are directly employed in the mining sector, many workers from Swaziland processed timber from the country's extensive pine populations for mines in South Africa, and around 10,000–15,000 Swazis were employed in South African mines. Their contributions to Swaziland's economy through wage repatriation have been diminished, though, by the collapse of the international gold market and layoffs in South Africa.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Swaziland
Famous quotes containing the word mining:
“Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s a mining town in lotus land.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“In strict science, all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness. Shall we fear to cool our love by mining for the metaphysical foundation of this elysian temple? Shall I not be as real as the things I see? If I am, I shall not fear to know them for what they are.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)