ILLEGAL: Green Chert mined, sold on black market

MBABANE – Mining always has its own political implications and socio-environmental impacts. The Government of Eswatini is at crossroads on whether to stick to pronouncements made by world environmentalists in declaring Malolotja a protected area, or mine the known mineral deposits available.

While government is slow in deciding, illegal miners are making a profit on the black street market.

Impeccable sources disclosed to the Eswatini News that a lot of people, who had been previously making a living through farming the Eswatini gold Insangu, have abandoned their trade to mining Green Chert.

The precious stone is said to be easy to mine because it is easily visible.

Sources within the surrounding areas confirmed that illegal mining of the green stone is currently the preferred risk to trafficking Insangu.

The sources disclosed that the precious stone is sold at the black market in South Africa (SA).

CURRENTLY IN DEMAND

The Times Sunday team was reliably informed that the Green Chert stone is currently in demand in neighboring SA.

The sources said the black market price for the stone ranges at about E800 per kilogram.

Meanwhile, according to the current trading rate for the precious stone with the Gem Society ratings the stone is at between US$500-1600 per gram (E8 396.50- E26 868.80) per gram

However, security is tight at most of the areas where the precious stone is visible and patrols are constantly faced with illegal miners .

*Themba Shongwe, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he confessed to illegally mining the stone said they were aware of the risks of their illegal mining, however, they had no other option for survival.

Shongwe disclosed that Green Chert was what they considered easier to traffic than weed and it fetched better yields in the SA black market.

Shongwe when probed, further disclosed that they were usually troubled by the vigilant army troops and the border guards .

“Yes the army is patrolling in different areas within known areas but the stone is everywhere and it is not so difficult to find like other minerals,” disclosed Shongwe.

Shongwe said a risk of about E40 000 is far better than being at home complaining about lack of employment.

Nkhaba Member of Parliament (MP) Zakhele Magongo declined to comment on the issue saying he was worried about the escalating rate of unemployment in the country.

He said if government could prioritise creation of employment opportunities for the youth, he could be comfortable to comment on the issue.

“There are a lot of challenges that can be resolved by government prioritising the youth,” said the MP.