Govt encourages Zambians to venture into gold mining

By PRINCE MABUMBA

GOVERNMENT is encouraging Zambians to acquire gold mining licences to start mining at Mpika gold rush instead of leaving it to the foreigners.

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga said the gold rush needed to be operated by the Zambians not foreigners who he said had invaded the area and were mining the gold and illegally shipping it out of the country.

Mr Mulenga said, things would be done differently under the new dawn because the Hakainde Hichilema administration was methodical in the management of the country’s affairs.

He said it was the desire of the new dawn administration to conduct the affairs of the country differently from what was obtaining in the previous government.

He said, it was important that people followed the right procedure to acquire the mining licences so that they could undertake the mining activities legally.

“Things will not be the way they were in two or three years ago where a Zambian needed to partner with a foreigner to do mining. This time, we are encouraging Zambians to acquire mining licences and venture into mining business because President Hichilema is desirous of empowering our citizens,” Mr Mulenga said.

He stated that the UPND government was going to ensure that the Zambians ventured into gold mining so that they could own and run the gold mines for the betterment of the country as well as uplifting the welfare of the people.

Mr Chipoka said the primary focus of the new dawn administration was to ensure that the Zambian people become entrepreneurs.