Mining Indaba: regulate or repress artisanal mining activities [5/5]

2024-02-23 00:04:14

According to the World Bank, Africa is home to the largest number of artisanal miners: according to a 2019 estimate, there are at least 10 million. And a total of 60 million people depend on the informal mining sector. It is impossible for the countries concerned to ignore this activity, especially since the income from these sales escapes the States, shared between punitive strategy and collaborative approach.

In South Africa, there are at least 30,000 trying their luck in the old disused mine shafts, to recover leftover ores. The activities of “zama zama” – “those who try” in Zulu – are often orchestrated by gangs. Despite increasing calls to legalize their situation, South African Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe is limiting himself for the moment to a punitive response.

« Illegal mining is the same as stealing money, he decides without hesitation. And so our police officers, with the support of the army, are fighting once morest these practices. I hear people saying that this illegal exploitation is explained by poverty… and they would like this to become our problem and that we give them permits! But the majority of these minors come from Lesotho, Zimbabwe or Mozambique. There are few South Africans concerned, that is the reality we are faced with. »

Miss to win

Illegal practices represent a loss of income for States and they fuel trafficking, particularly in the Sahel. Tanzania – which is not affected by the same levels of crime – has chosen a different path, as the government is now trying to formalize the sector. “ Our country was able to identify them, give them permits and launch mineral marketsexplains Steven Kiruswa, the Deputy Minister of Mines. And thus, we managed to control the illegal trade in the sale of these minerals. Since the start of these steps in 2017, it is estimated that we have been able to recover $3.4 billion in revenue for the government thanks to efforts to formalize the sector. »

But Zambia is still struggling to regularize all the actors involved and guarantee their safety: 22 artisanal miners were, for example, killed in a landslide last month. These small-scale activities also have environmental consequences on the continent.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, artisanal cobalt production is also marked by corruption and child labor. The general cobalt company (EGC), which has a monopoly on artisanal sales, will soon launch a pilot program to supervise production, according to its director, Eric Kalala: “ We entered into discussions with several operators, including Gécamines, to obtain pilot sites in order to experiment and empirically test the agreed norms and standards.he indicates. We have just obtained five mining squares under lease, which will be focused on a test phase in cobalt. »

Experts emphasize that in order to be followed, regularization policies must be neither too costly nor too complex for artisanal miners.

1708649643
#Mining #Indaba #regulate #repress #artisanal #mining #activities