Abstract

The availability of mineral deposits for many decades provides an avenue for improving the economic development of the local artisanal and small scale miners in Tanzania. This study documents different possible locations from various available data and show the characteristics of the existing gold deposits extracted and processed by the artisanal and miners using ArcGIS software. It identifies the challenges of utilizing the obsolete equipments, lack of skills and knowledge of mining and mineral processing operations, and improper negotiation between primary mining license owners (PML) and pit holders based on mine plan and design, safety, and environmental management in different artisanal and small-scale Mines (ASMs). However the conceptual model of ASM based on the secondary data gathered was well developed, as well as discussions on the digging, loading and transportation, crushing and mineral processing operations of the existing ASMs. Therefore, the author recommends the documented information in this study as significant in promoting and facilitating further research in Tanzania’s ASM field.

Key words: Artisanal and small scale miners, Artisanal and Small-scale Mine (ASM) model, challenge, economic situation.