MORE ILLEGAL GOLD MINERS INVADE RUFUNSA
… govt should eject illegal gold miners
GOVERNMENT should eject illegal gold miners invading sites in large numbers on a daily basis if the country is to benefit from the mineral wealth in the rural parts of the country, Rufunsa Town Council chairman, Kennedy Mailoni has said.
In an interview, Mr Mailoni bemoaned the influx of illegal gold miners in the area, stressing that the government should flush them out as it was losing out on unpaid taxes.
He said that the gold sub-sector had a potential to make a meaningful contribution to the country’s revenue if it was fully exploited and protected from illegalities.
Mr Mailoni urged the government to take the matter seriously and remove all the illegal miners so that only those who were duly registered could operate in the area.
He pointed out that illegal miners were not even paying tax thereby depriving the country of the much-needed revenue.
Some foreigners, he said, had taken advantage of the loose situation and were illegally operating in the area using vulnerable members of the community.
Mr Mailoni also appealed to the government to increase its support to the four registered cooperatives.
He added that the four cooperatives in the area were not fully equipped to carry out activities at a scale that would enable them to employ more youths.
Mr Mailoni said there was a need to increase the equipment empowerment scheme to help the cooperatives operate at full throttle.
He also promised to ensure that more youth cooperatives were formed and registered so that they could benefit from the gold deposits in their area.