Musukwa backs proposal on gold experts
A MASTER plan to guide ZCCM-IH to manage gold will enable the country earn much-needed revenue, Minister of Mines and Mineral Development Richard Musukwa has said.
Mr Musukwa said the initiative would help to harness gold in appropriate manner which would benefit the Zambians.
An economist Yusuf Dodia yesterday said government should appoint independent experts to come up with a master plan on how ZCCM- IH can well manage gold mining so that there are no kickbacks. Mr Dodia said it was prudent the government puts up a team that would professionally devise a plan that would help manage gold production be in the interest of the country.
A well-thought out master plan, he said, would guide how best the mineral which had been discovered in various parts of the country could be mined.
Mr Dodia said gold mining in the country should be done in a manner that would be beneficial to Zambians
And Mr Musukwa agreed with Mr Dodia, saying the proposed initiative was the only way which would enable the country to get much- needed revenue from its minerals.
“Zambia’s comparative advantage is our minerals and they should work to mitigate our economic challenges. Instead of individuals benefiting from the mineral resources such as gold, this must accrue cross board to the people of Zambia.
Our philosophy as a government is to ensure that the minerals must be harnessed, exploited at a commercial level with the involvement of the local community in an organised and structured manner so that the benefit accrues to communities in terms of infrastructure development.
“We want to ensure that we are able to manage our reserve ratios, mitigate the gaps in terms of resource mobilisation to deal with the issues of poverty, unemployment level, debt resolution and able to pay our retired civil servants,” he said.
Mr Musukwa said the proposed advisory team to help ZCCM-IH manage the minerals well was a welcome undertaking which need to be looked into.
“We have 21 districts with gold certainly this must be able to show in our books that we are getting something in order to develop our country with the resources. We are going flat out as a ministry to ensure that beneficiation of gold, manganese, nickel, in short these low hanging fruits include gemstone able to trickle down almost immediately in treasure in terms of resource,” he said.