Mining
Malawi needs loan fund to support small scale mining operations
May 06, 0224 / Marcel Chimwala
As reported in our article on Page 12, the Malawi Government says it is working on establishing a loan fund to finance operations of artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs).
Director of Mines in the Ministry of Mining Samuel Sakhuta is quoted in the article as saying that his Ministry is working with the Ministry of Finance to come up with a revolving fund for procuring equipment for ASMs.
We strongly support this initiative by the Malawi Government and would like to urge the authorities to expediate its implementation.
As MD for Maleta Gems and Jewels which is a key player in the ASM subsector Percy Maleta is quoted in the article, the revolving fund is the major way to alleviate the financial challenges faced by small scale miners in Malawi.
We have reported in plenty of articles in previous editions of some ASMs involved in mining of industrial minerals such as limestone, quarry and gypsum who have potential to develop their businesses but they are failing to do so because they are forced to use primitive equipment due to lack of funding to buy mechanized equipment.
We have reported previously about ASMs including women in mining who are being forced to sell rough gemstones because they are failing to process the stones into finished products hence are being robbed by the buyers including foreigners who buy the stones for a song.
We have reported about small-scale gold miners causing serious environmental damage in their hotspots across the country because they mine on trial and error basis due to lack of gold detectors.
We feel the solution to all these problems is the loan fund for ASMs, whose trade is attracting multitudes across Malawi including members of the rural population.
As Maleta is quoted in the article, the mining sector is one of the key enablers in Malawi 2063 just like agriculture and tourism.
Therefore, government needs to invest in mining just like it is doing in these other sectors to propel economic growth.
Malawi’s mining sector cannot grow through facilitating foreign direct investment in large scale mining only, small scale miners also needs to be supported so that they are able to graduate into medium scale mechanized miners.
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Rehabilitation:
The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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Remediation:
The cleanup of the contaminated area to safe levels by removing or isolating contaminants. At mine sites, remediation often consists of isolating contaminated material in pre-existing tailings storage facilities, capping tailings and waste rock stockpiles with clean topsoil, and collecting and treating any contaminated mine water if necessary.
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