Gold ‘rush halted’ as owner of land resurfaces

SCORES of gold buyers have invaded Mwinilunga following the discovery of the precious mineral but illegal mining has been halted after the owner of the land surfaced.

The precious mineral was discovered in Kasenseli area in Chief Chibwika's chiefdom. A check by the Daily Nation found that almost all the lodges were fully booked by the gold buyers mostly from the Copperbelt, Lusaka, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to information, the precious mineral which has become a hot cake in the area, was discovered by a local resident who was mining some quarry dust. Upon coming across the glittering stone, the miner decided to show one of the local teachers who upon seeing it discovered that it was a valuable mineral. The news then went viral and resulted into "a gold rush" which now attracted possible gold buyers from across the country and beyond borders. According to information, the precious mineral from the time it was discovered, it has been fetching between K300 and K400 per gram. However, the gold rush has been short-lived following the resurfacing of the owner of the land where the precious mineral was being mined. According to information, the exploration licence was previously owned by a company only identified as Kampoko Mining which later sold part of the land to another company identified as Chilibwe Mining. However, during the gold rush, another mining company surfaced and claimed ownership of the land where the precious mineral was being mined from. And a check by the Daily Nation on the mine site which is about 35 kilometres found the new owner has since moved on and started taking mining equipment on site resulting into the immediate

“The coming on board of an investor though this investor has not been introduced to the public is OK because it will bring sanity in the manner in which the mineral was being mined. What is important for now is the investor should quickly be introduced to the public so that people know what is happening, but as long as there is no information of what is happening, people will be agitated”

stoppage of illegal mining. However, the taking over of the mine by the purported owner of the land has been received with mixed feelings by the locals who have been benefits from the illegal mining activities. A check at the mine site entrance found the visibly angry local villages bitterly complaining about the takeover of the mine after being blocked by police officers who have been deployed to safeguard the area. One of the local villagers who identified himself as Jonathan Samahina said the local people stand out to lose from the mine. "We have surviving on this mine for some time now, but we feel the takeover of the mine will disadvantage us," he said. Asked when gold was discovered and how long the local people have been mining, Mr Samahina said "the mining of gild here started almost three months ago when it was discovered by one of the local villagers who was quarrying". But, a member of the Chibwika Royal Establishment who spoke on spoke on condition of anonymity supported the takeover saying if the illegal mining continued, some lives would have been lost due to lack of safety measures. "For me, the coming on board of an investor though this investor has not been introduced to the public is OK because it will bring sanity in the manner in which the mineral was being mined. What is important for now is the investor should quickly be introduced to the public so that people know what is happening, but as long as there is no information of what is happening, people will be agitated," the member of the royal establishment said. And Acting Mwinilunga District Commissioner Mwiya Tulani expressed ignorance over the coming of an investor on board though according to him there has been some exchange of land ownership.