By James Hall
MBABANE, Feb 11 2002 (IPS)

Mining was the first industry in this Southern African kingdom, but this year finds another major mine shutting down, leaving only a single coal mine to continue the legacy.

In the absence of a formal mining sector, amateur prospectors have moved in to extract what they can, from gold nuggets to diamonds.

“I sometimes find a gemstone and there are people, who come here from South Africa that, I can sell to,” says Simeon Dube, a prospector who is blithely unaware of the many laws and cultural taboos he is breaking.

In the traditional society that is Swaziland, Dube is taking natural resources that by law and custom belong to the king. So suspicious are Swazis that the valuables of their land may be “stolen” by foreign mining ventures, submissions to the Constitutional Review Commission have called for stringent controls on prospecting to be included in an ultimate national government document now being formulated.

Dube works at Dvokolwako, in the central part of the country, where until 1996 a diamond mining operation existed. The Swazi army has posted troops at Dvokolwako to prevent illegal prospecting, and have succeeded in safeguarding the facility for potential investors who may wish to reopen the mine. Until last year, an informal settlement had sprouted at the site, as scavengers and prospectors settled in to comb the earth for stones.

Aaron Vilakati, chief geologists at the Bureau of Mines, says Dvokolwako still has reserves if an investor is willing to dig a shaft.

“The days of open cast mining at Dvokolwako, where you can just pick diamonds up off the ground, are over,” says Vilakati. But he says improved technology should allow access to diamond deposits that the mine’s previous owners found elusive. At the height of its production, Dvokolwako was producing 10 million U.S. dollars in diamond exports per annum.

Prospector Dube has found a way to get around the army patrols, and he says he can make a living from uncut diamonds that can still be found in the cast-off debris that accumulated during years of mining operations.

“One small stone a month can support my family,” he says.

To political and social commentators, the history of Swaziland’s mining sector testifies to the evils of colonialism and dependency on non-sustainable natural resources.

Sales from the kingdom’s precious metals have benefited foreigners. From the South Africans, who excavated the country’s gold in the 19th century, leaving Swazis with nothing but the ruins of a mining ghost town, to the exportation by the British of metals during the 66 years when Swaziland was a British Protectorate, until independence in 1968.

“All of the tin was mined and shipped to Britain to help fight the German Kaiser during World War I,” says Gideon Mahlalela, Chief Executive Officer of Swaziland Railways, “to no benefit to Swazis other than some men were given jobs doing the dangerous work of mining the ore. Only when the Ngwenya Iron Ore mine was opened in 1964 did the nation benefit, by getting a railroad.”

Swaziland Railway was constructed to transport iron ore from the western part of the kingdom, where the mine was located, diagonally across the country to the eastern border, where the line continued to the port of Maputo, Mozambique, for sea shipment of the ore to Japan. Ngwenya mine’s high quality ore was depleted, and the operation shut down in the late 1970s.

However, once again informal prospectors, who otherwise scratch out a living as peasant farmers on Swazi Nation Land under chiefs, have moved in to do what their ancestors did, excavate the Ngwenya site for red ochre used in traditional ceremonies.

In fact, archaeologists have evidence dating back 40,000 years that the site is the oldest mine on earth that has been in continuous operation, in one form or other.

With the closing of the Bulembu asbestos mine north of Ngwenya this year, only the Mpaka coal mine still produces a product of export. An open quarry stone mine produces crushed stone and gravel for local use, mostly for public works projects like highways and a new dam.

“No Swazi wants to go to the Bulembu mine and see what they can find. Asbestos is not like gold and diamonds, you can’t find a buyer easily,” says prospector Dube, who seems unaware of the proven health dangers posed by asbestos fibre. “As for coal, that is good for heating your house, but you would need to pull out too much to make a profit.”

Possessing any “informally-mined” stone can land the owner in jail. He or she will also get in trouble with the area chief. All natural resources, from wild game to river water, belong to King Mswati in a social compact that requires the nation’s leader to hold these in trust for the Swazi people, to be distributed through traditional and governmental authorities.

Dube rationalises his prospecting by saying, “I know I am stealing from my king, but I know my king is kind, and he does not want my family to starve.”

The Ministry of Natural resources feels the solution to illegal prospecting is to encourage investment in the mining sector, thereby giving prospectors like Dube formal employment as mine workers.

The latest findings of a geological survey of the country conducted by the Bureau of Mines has located deposits of copper, nickel and chromate in the Sipocosini area 100 kilometres south of the capital Mbabane.

“The full extent of these discoveries has yet to be determined, but the base metals exist in quantities that make extraction a commercially viable mining option,” says Richard Maphalala, senior officer at the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The ministry is currently evaluating applications for companies seeking to launch mining operations for diamonds in Sidvokodvo, and gold in the northern Gobolondlo area.

Exploring a 100-square-kilometre area around the southern town Nhlangano, the geological survey has located mineral deposits of pyrophylilite, silica, kaolin, talc and karoo clays.

The geological survey, the most extensive since the colonial era a century ago continues through the end of this year. Informal prospectors who have knowledge of their areas provide much help to the geologists.

Identifying deposits, interesting investors, and beginning new mining operations takes years.

In the meantime, the “peasant prospectors” of Swaziland gather what they can with rudimentary tools like pickaxe and shovel, content in the belief that nature’s bounty is providing a livelihood.

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