Mining
Malawian small scale miners urged to prudently manage financial resources
February 15, 2024 / Harry Witness Mombanyah
Managing Partner for Perekezi ASM Consultants Chikomeni Manda has urged Artisanal and Small Scale Miners (ASMs) in Malawi to manage their finances prudently in order to be able to access loans easily for the growth of their businesses.
Manda, who has experience working in the ASM subsector for years, told Mining & Trade Review that when the ASMs are able to manage their finances properly they easily finance value addition of their products, which helps them realize increased revenue for the growth of their business.
Manda said that proper management of finances will also help the ASMs to have collateral to access loans from banks and invest more and grow their business.
He said: ‘’Most of the ASMs fail to get loans from banks because they do not have collateral. This is a huge setback to the ASMs who fail to to add value to their products due to lack of finances.”
“Consequently, these ASMs sell their products to middle men at a very cheap price.”
Manda observed that most of the ASMs do not take the business seriously as they work on hand to mouth basis instead of properly managing their daily finances to add value to their products and realize more revenue from sales.
Manda also urged ASMs to always acquire information on availability of mineral resources from relevant stakeholders to avoid losing money in following up rumors.
Manda also asked government to increase funding to the Geological Survey Department as this will help it to explore and discover mining sites for ASMs.
He said this will minimize expenses for ASMs accrued in searching for places to mine.
Manda also asked the Ministry of Mines to provide information to the ASMs on the importance of having mining licenses as well as how and where can they get relevant licenses.
Mineral exports in Malawi are dominated by semi-precious and precious stones (gemstones), ornamental (dimension) stones, lime products, rock samples, and soil samples.
The 2022/2023 Annual Economic Report produced by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs indicates that gemstones and dimension stones continue to be exported to Asia (India, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, etc.), USA, England, Italy, South Africa, and more. A few gemstone exports are also made to Poland, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Malawi has one of the most diverse ranges of coloured gemstones in the Southern Africa Development Community region. Most gemstones are mined locally by ASMs, whereas some are introduced into the market through international trade, especially from neighbouring countries such as Zambia and Tanzania.
The Report says that in 2022, higher gemstone production was recorded amounting to 329.45 tonnes reflecting an increase of over 2000 percent compared to the production in 2021. Gemstones produced included aquamarine, amethyst, citrine, garnet, rhodolite and ruby.
It, however, says despite high gemstone production, value addition is still very low implying potential revenues are lost as gemstones fetch lower prices in their rough (unprocessed) form.
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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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