Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

, which is limited to the production of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, laterite, sand and gravel,

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is ...

sand, and

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of t ...

, does not play a significant role in the Gambian economy.Omayra Bermúdez-Lugo
"The Mineral Industries of the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal"
''2005 Minerals Yearbook''.

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

(August 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this U.S. government source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

.''

Legal framework

The Department of State for Trade, Industry, and Employment is the government entity responsible for the administration of the mining sector. A new mineral and mining law proposed in 2001 was still under consideration for approval by the Government as of 2005. The government has put in place policies to attract foreign direct investment, including free

repatriation Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

of capital and profits, special Investment certificates, and constitutional guarantees and safeguards against nationalization and

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of investments.

Mining

As of 2005, Carnegie Corporation Ltd. (CCL) of Australia (50%) in

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with

Astron Astron may refer to: * Mitsubishi Astron engine * ASTRON, the Dutch foundation for astronomy research, operating the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and LOFAR * Astron (comics), a fictional character, a member of the Marvel Comics group The ...

of China (50%) held an exclusive prospecting license for the Batukunku, the Kartung, and the mineral sands deposits in Brufut. In 2005, the joint venture completed a second-round trial

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

program at the deposit. Following the completion of this dredge program and of an environmental impact assessment study, the company submitted an application to convert its prospecting license to a mining lease. As of the end of 2005, CCL continued to wait for Government approval. As of 2005, total measured, indicated, and inferred resources at the Batukunku, the Kartung, and the Sanyang deposits were estimated to be 18.8 million metric tons (Mt) that contained approximately one Mt of heavy minerals at a cutoff grade of 1%. The heavy-mineral assemblage for these deposits was estimated to be about 71%

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

, 15%

, 3%

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visib ...

, and 11% other.

References

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