(Times of Zambia)-The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development has sent a team of experts to the newly discovered gold mine in Mpika to start the process of formalisation. More than 7,000 illegal gold miners coming from different parts of the country and foreign nationals have invaded Kanyelele village of Chikwanda and Mukwikile chiefdoms where the gold deposits were discovered a month ago.
Mpika District Commissioner David Siame said a team had been assessing how best the mining activities in the area could be formalised.
Mr Siame said multitude of people from different parts of the country had continued to flock to the area to dig for the mineral and that was the reason why the Government had moved in to ensure that the activities were legalised.
“Government has an obligation to ensure that things are done according to the law and that is what is happening now, the Ministry of Mines has sent some experts that is mining engineers, ecologists, surveyors and senior economic planners to formalise the activities.
“Yes we know the activities that have been taking place are not legal but as Government we need to formalise the
process. So the experts have been sent to the area to start the process of formalisation,” he said.
He said the formalisation process involved sensitising the people on how they could get mining licenses for them to be able to take part in the mining activities.
He said the team that had been dispatched to the area had placed emphasis on the need for the people to form cooperatives, register them and get licenses.
Mr Siame also advised those that were trading in gold to get licenses assuring them that the Government would help find a market for them.
