‘Stop emeralds smuggling’
…Absence of proper controls in mining sector leading to dubious trading of precious minerals and loss of revenue - ESPSA
RAMPANT smuggling of Emeralds and precious stones has been attributed to the absence of proper certification laws in the country.
Emeralds and Semi-Precious Stones Association (ESPSA) president Victor Kalesha said government should formulate laws that will ensure emeralds are certified to eradicate the smuggling.
Mr Kalesha said in an interview that because of lack of controls in the sector, any one could deal in uncertified emeralds resulting in increased illegal mining and smuggling.
He said introducing a law to ensure certification of emeralds would help to control the rampant illegal dealings as nobody would be allowed to trade in uncertified minerals.
Putting up stringent measures was the only solution to stop such illegalities in the mining sector, he said.
Mr Kalesha said the country could adopt laws used in other countries to bring sanity to the sector.
“In other countries it is not every person who can sell minerals anyhow because they need to be certified before they are taken on the market and the country must adopt such laws.
“We need to put in place stringent conditions to protect the minerals if we can stop the continued smuggling. It is not that the mine owners are the only ones involved in illegalities no, even illegal miners who sale the minerals on the black market are involved.
“So we must do more as a country to ensure that the illegality comes to an end in the country,” he said.
Mr Kalesha said countries that were rich with diamonds, no one could deal in uncertified diamonds and as a result do not lose revenue through smuggling.
Government must ensure that loopholes contributing to illegalities were immediately addressed, he said.
He also said the trade permit issued to Zambians had drastically contributed to smuggling of emeralds as foreign nationals were conniving with Zambians to smuggle the minerals, adding that government should look into the matter seriously to stop the illegality.