South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Tuesday announced that her department had increased the funding allocated annually to assist in developing the small-scale mining sector from R5,1-million to R15-million for the 2003/04 budget year.
During the previous 2002/03 financial-year there were 13 projects in different stages of development.
The projects employed 740 people, with 593 of these people being women. A total of R6,8-million was spent in developing these projects.
In these projects, the minister noted that strides had been made at the brick-making project in KwaZulu-Natal.
“A significant number of former miners were the benefactors of that brick-making project in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said. – I-Net Bridge