A SIMPLE and cost-effective skin tanning system developed by Cathcart farmer Paul Miles could provide employment for retrenched miners who have formed themselves into the Ex-Natal Coal and Gold Mine Workers Cooperative. Miles developed the machine to produce leather products for harnesses for working oxen, horses and donkeys. The only chemicals used are alum and salt. The Eastern Cape Development Corporation’s (ECDC) Pierre Leppan says that cow, goat and sheep hides in rural areas are usually not salted properly and end up being thrown away, which means there is "a raw material that is going to waste". He says to end this situation, a solution must be found that will either inform people as to the value of the hides once they have been treated and how to do this "or better still to add value to final leather products such as belts and bags". Leppan says the aim of the pilot project is for a small rural entrepreneur to use the skins that are thrown away in his area, convert them into tanned skins and then process these into leather products for sale. At this stage ECDC in partnership with Triple Trust has trained four people– two ex-mine workers and two from Triple Trust. The Eastern Cape Tourism Board (ECTB) has supplied skins from its game parks. The board has offered to sell the products through curio shops at some of its game parks. Leppan says the project has “great potential, especially as far as the game skins are concerned. There is not much use for skins such as impala and springbok, so that provides a great opportunity for providing items for curio shops. People specifically want items with hair on them – that is where the real potential is." Among the items that can be produced are handbags, purses, sheep skin slippers, leather harnesses and thongs and riempies for chairs. Set-up costs are minimal. The machine can be built for R1 500, skins cost between R10 and R60 and alum and salt R4 per hide. Leppan says what is envisaged is that a team of four will consist of one person collecting the skins and curing them at an average of one per day and supplying three crafters. If this scenario proves successful, "it should provide income for four people for a small investment of about R2 000. Triple Trust has trained leather crafters on the Wild Coast but leather at commercial prices is not cost competitive. It is this type of project which could supply raw material at very reasonable prices to the crafters. Better still … they could process their own hides,” he says.