ASM formalization moves at snail’s pace

Government is moving at a snail’s pace in its efforts to formalize Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) in order to deal with the problem of illegal mining and smuggling of precious stones, which is said to be costing the country a fortune.

Malawi ASM policy and the Mines and Minerals Policy that was adopted in 2013 recommends formalization of ASMs to provide them with technical and business training so that they are able to sell finished products at organized markets.

But Ministry of Mining spokesperson Sangwani Phiri confirmed in an interview with Mining & Trade Review that despite all the talk about formalization of ASMs, to date no particular ASM cooperative has been registered with the Ministry of Mining.

“Formalisation of ASMs is an ongoing process and the government’s first targets are those in Matapira in Lilongwe and those at Nsanama in Machinga districts which are in their formative years,” said Phiri.

Phiri said the overarching issues behind the formalization process is to group and train the ASMs in basic skills of how to mine.

He urged the ASMs to embrace the process by forming cooperatives saying the training of cooperatives help in the minimization of the death toll of miners who normally get trampled upon by heaps of soil in a fragile state due to lack of mine pit scaffolds which hold the upper layer of a dug mine hole.

Phiri also said government will train the cooperatives in polishing of the minerals in order to scale up their earnings since finished products fetch better prices that rough stones.

“There is also need for these miners to learn technical and profitable ways of acquiring bank loans for their capitalization and other activities which can as well be funded from such bank funding opportunities,” he said

But National Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NJRN) Kennedy Rashid said the delay in the formalization of the ASMs will result in the country losing enormous amount of revenue from the sector in addition to increased environmental and social impact on communities as the sector is unregulated.

Rashid called for coordination of government departments in the formalization of the ASMs as the process involves several government departments and ministries. “The challenge that we have at hand is that the formalization process involves several ministries that have various interests. For example, forming a cooperative involves the Ministry of Trade, Mining and other several government agencies,” he said Rashid observed that the Ministry of Trade and other government agencies have no interest in the mining sector as such it requires the line Ministry to generate the interest.

“The Ministry of Trade is more interested in the Agriculture sector than it is with the mining sector. It is up to the line Ministry which is the Ministry of Mining to engage with the Ministry of Trade and come up with a strategy for formalizing the informal ASM subsector,” he said

Rashid expressed concern that though Malawi has good legal and policy framework, operationalization remains a problem.

“It is disappointing that the ASM policy that emphasizes on formalization of ASMs has not been implemented in any way,” he said.

Rashid urged government to start looking at the mining sector as an alternative to agriculture in order to develop the sector to generate adequate revenue for economic growth.

“The government needs to understand that the mining sector has a huge potential to become a domestic resource mobilization source. This revenue can only be generated if the sector is regulated and formalized.”

Inside sources at the Ministry of Mining confided with Mining & Trade Review that lack of funding is the major reason that is failing the Ministry to make adequate progress in its formalization drive.

Despite government prioritizing mining in its Agenda 2063, the sector remains one of the least funded.