An artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM) is a subsistence miner who is not officially employed by a mining company, but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand.
Small-scale mining includes enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but generally still using manually-intensive methods, working with hand tools. __ Artisanal mining - Wikipedia
Mchimbaji mdogo wa madini anaitwa hivyo sababu ya aina yake ya uchimbaji na mtaji aliowekeza katika kujimba pamoja na vifaa anavyotumia katika uchimbaji. Hijalisi ana pesa au utajiri kiasi gani ambao upo nje ya uchimbaji wake wa madini. Anaweza kuwa dollar billionaire lakini hasiwekeze utajiri wake kwa kucimba kama mchimbaji mkubwa.