Problems of the African Mining Economy

Abstract

No matter what the development problem—and mining is no exception to this rule, especially in young, newly-independent countries—the basic factors governing the conditions under which progress can take place are always the same, namely:

• men, with their qualities and faults, their knowledge and their education;

• nature, i.e. the soil, with its climatic and geographical conditions, and the sub-soil;

• capital accumulated in its two possible forms—the material and equipment already on the spot and the financial means available, representing the potential resources in reserve.