Jerabos back on ‘Black Mountain’
FOLLOWING a successful meeting with Mines and Minerals Development minister, small-scale miners, popularly known as “Jerabos” would soon get back the “Black Mountain.”
Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma revealed this following his meeting with the two factions of the small-scale miners.
And small-scale miners from Wusakile Vision Empowerment are hopeful that operations at the slug dump popularly known as the “Black Mountain” would soon resume following the fruitful discussion they had with Mr Yaluma at the Kitwe Civic Centre.
Mr Yaluma also said the meeting he had with the two factions of the small-scale miners popularly known as “Jerabos” was successful and would soon be given the “Black Mountain” after everything was put in place.
Speaking after a closed door meeting held in the council chambers, Pavyuma Junior Kalobo said the conclusion from the meeting was that the two factions at the “Black Mountain” should agree to work together and that all the Kitwe residents should benefit from the “Black Mountain.”'
Mr Kalobo said he was happy that the minister had decided to engage the two factions separately to resolve the impasse surrounding the “Black Mountain,” adding that he was sure that the matter would permanently be put to rest so that operations could resume.
"As Wusakile Vision Empowerment, our interest is not to flex muscles, but to see that operations resume at the Black Mountain. If operations resume at the Black Mountain, it will be a source of living and will benefit many Wusakile residents directly and indirectly.
"So the conclusion from the meeting with the minister is that we should agree to work together and that we should all benefit from the Black Mountain. We are grateful that the minister has taken his time to engage us so that operations at the Black Mountain can resume. We are hoping that operations will soon resume," Mr Kalobo said.
Mr Yaluma said he had started the process of resolving matters surrounding the issue of the “Black Mountain” but he was stopped by a number of issues which included a court injunction.
He said, now that the matter of the court injunction had been closed, he had decided to meet the two factions of the “Jerabos” so that the matter could be resolved and operations could resume.
He said the meeting he had with the two factions was successful and would soon be given the “Black Mountain” after everything was put in place.
"As you know, this issue of the Black Mountain, it has had twists and turns which included court injunctions. It is the court injunctions which stopped me from continuing with the process of ensuring that the Black Mountain was given to the youth in Kitwe.
"So now that the injunction is closed, I thought I should meet the Jerabos. In principle, they have accepted to work together. As government, we will give them the Black Mountain after everything is put in place," Mr Yaluma said.