Tanja Bause
3 July 2009
THERE are thousands of small miners all over the country eking out a meagre living by mining semi-precious stones and selling them, mainly to tourists.
The Namibian was recently invited to participate in the Rössing Conservation Trail to the Brandberg, where a visit to a small miners' camp was also on the itinerary.
The camp, which houses about 80 people, mostly from northern Namibia, is situated away from the Brandberg at the foot of small hills.
There is no running water, electricity or proper transport. The people here walk for kilometres to their digging sites.
Jonas Paulus (29) is one such miner who came to the camp eight years ago from the North.
"It is very hard work and you are in the veld the whole day working with your hammer and chisel, but I don't want to live in the big city as the temptation to steal would be too big. This way I can make an honest living although the income is very small," he said.
Most of the money earned goes towards the buying of water and food. Sometimes weeks pass before a sale is made.
Tour operators are their lifeline, as they bring the tourists. And after a big sale is made and the miner has money for petrol, he can go with the community car to Swakopmund and try and sell his stones there.
Olivia Andreas, another small miner, has a house at Uis where six of her children live. Four are still in school and looked after by the other two.
Her two eldest sons help her dig for semi-precious stones in the mountains. "Life is hard but we are working," she said.
The miners respect each other's digs and would never trespass on another miner's site. They leave all their tools at the dig sites, as there is no crime among the miners.
In 1993 a few men found some stones on the mountainside a couple of hundred metres from the camp and started to dig. Today the hole is about 10 metres deep and 15 metres wide.
The hole was dug by hand with a pick, hammer and chisel and is still producing stones.
Much further inland at the Spitzkoppe, about 23 women stand behind crooked tables, selling semi-precious stones mined in the Erongo Mountains, at Spitzkoppe, Brandberg and Opuwo.
Most often, the men mine the stones and the women sell them. They have an extensive knowledge of semi-precious stones and minerals.
At Spitzkoppe they experience the same problem with a shortage of water and buyers as the small miners in the Brandberg area.
"We do this as it is better than selling ourselves as prostitutes or stealing," said Renate Karises, who runs a small stall with her two-year-old daughter next to her.
"Our family has always been either digging or selling stones. This is what we do," she added.
The Rössing Foundation is currently building stalls, complete with a roof and water tanks, at Spitzkoppe.
Once completed the women can work in the shade and out of the wind. They will also have water and will be able to lock up their stones at night, as they have a big problem with theft.
"Sometimes people come at night and steal most of our stones. When we come here in the morning we see that our income is gone," said Karises.
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