Locals bemoan high costs of starting mine

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:54:56 +0000

BY MAILESI BANDA

 SMALL scale miners still face the challenge of high costs of geological survey and environment assessment fees which have proven as a hindrance to the growth of the sector, ITB mine director Ruth Mbumba has said.

Ms. Mbumba said the K150 million charged on the assessment was a hindrance to the growth of the sector and their contribution to the economic development of the country.

She lamented that small scale miners were failing to venture into operations due to the high costs in the process of commencing mining activities.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, she said most people owned land that had minerals but did not have the resources to venture into mining due to the high costs of assessment and geological surveys.

“There is so much potential for the growth of the mining sector if small scale miners are given an opportunity to grow by being given an enabling environment to flourish, only then will they contribute better to the growth of the economy,’’ she said.

She appealed to the Government to formulate deliberate policies that favour the growth of the sector, adding that the costs of geological surveys and assessments should be reduced for the small scale miners.

“We can be a source of the growth of the Zambian economy if the Government comes up with a policy that will support small scale miners and help them contribute to the growth of the economy in the county,“ she said.

She revealed that small-scale miners were looking for investors to help them increase their production by bringing machinery that will help in the mining.