Govt secures gold rush site
GOVERNMENT has taken drastic security measures to stop the illegal exploitation of minerals at the place in Mwinilunga District, in North-western Province, where hundreds of people descended in search for gold.
Mines and Mineral Development Permanent Secretary, Paul Chanda, said in an interview in Lusaka recently that he had instructed inspectors from the ministry to intensify security at the site in order to stop the illegal mining of the mineral.
Mr Chanda said government did not support illegality and drastic measures had therefore been put in place to stop the illegal exploitation of the minerals.
He said it was prudent that government protected the minerals from unscrupulous people.
Illegality, Mr Chanda said, if left unchecked, would hinder the country from earning meaningful resources.
He said government would ensure that security was intensified at gold rush site so that the minerals could be exploited by well-established mining companies.
He said a named a mining company was expected to start the exploration for gold in the area and thereafter go into fully fledged mining of the same.
Mr Chanda said government had already issued an exploration licence to a named mining company and it was eager to start mining gold in Mwinilunga.
“I have sent a team to Mwinilunga and it is yet to give a report on the activities taking place. However as government, we don’t support any illegality, whether people are being empowered illegally or mining illegally,” he said.
Mr Chanda said, “And it is not safe for them to engage in illegal mining, they don’t have any skills in mining, so it’s for their own safety that they get out of that place.”
And Mr Chanda said government wanted to encourage the establishment of cooperatives so that they could be given mining licences to mine gold in the area.
He said government would ensure that local people who would form cooperatives could be imparted with basic mining practices.