There is small-scale mining of these minerals.
The island's phosphate deposits were virtually depleted by 2000 although some small-scale mining is still in progress.
Recreational mining is often small-scale placer mining but has been challenged for environmental reasons.
One company whose concessions cover more than 11,000 acres in an environmentally protected area was using 10 hydrojets, which are permitted only for small-scale mining.
Approximately 100 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on small-scale mining.
Some areas have also been used for cattle grazing and for small-scale manganese mining.
Sporadic, small-scale mining continued into the 1980s.
In the 1930s the prices offered for tiff tumbled, ending more than 200 years of subsistence based on small-scale mining.
Dumyat was formerly the site of small-scale mining for copper and barytes, although these workings are now abandoned.
Ban on mercury use in small-scale mining.