Mr. Creech Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can state the number of Africans engaged in tin- and gold-mining in Western Africa and the areas involved?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreIn the British Dependencies in West Africa, tin is mined in Nigeria; and gold, and other minerals, in the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The average daily number of Africans employed during the year to 31st March, 1937, in the mining industry in the Gold Coast was 35,350, of whom 25,708 were engaged on gold reef mining, 1,383 on gold alluvial mining and 2,300 on gold prospecting.
In Nigeria, the average number of Africans employed in the mining industries during the year 1936 was 45,120. Of that total, approximately 54.5 per cent. were employed in the tin industry and approximately 30.5 per cent. were employed in the gold industry.
In Sierra Leone, the average number of Africans employed during 1936 in connection with prospecting and mining was 13,655, of whom 9,756 were employed in the gold industry.
Tin mining and much of the gold mining in West Africa is alluvial in character, i.e. only involves surface working and not underground mining.