Mozambique to set up rescue mining service

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Mozambique to set up rescue mining service

6:40 CAT | 31 Oct 2017

O País

The Mozambican authorities hope to set up, by mid-2018, a rescue service for the mining and petroleum industries, which will respond speedily to any accidents.

The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy presented the draft of the proposal for a modern and efficient rescue system, in line with international norms and practices, for public discussion at a meeting in Maputo on Tuesday.

This initiative also intends to establish an alarm system for accidents, introduce a coordination mechanism for response to accidents and a communication strategy. The Ministry argues that this will fill a gap in the country’s mining legislation.

Such a system will be in line with the government’s policy and strategy on mineral resources which states that mining and petroleum operations should be undertaken in a sustainable and safe manner, and sets a target of zero accidents.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alfredo Nampete, said Mozambique still has no system for rescuing the victims of accidents in the extractive industry.

“Accidents happen, and sometimes we are taken by surprise”, he said. “That makes us uncomfortable, because even if only one person dies, that still a human life”. Socio-economic development activities, he stressed, should not be a reason for anybody to die.

The system proposed, Nampete said, would ensure a rapid response as soon as the news is received of any cave-in, or other accident in a mine.

The system would not be restricted to legal activities, but would also cover informal mining. The most recent accidents claimed the lives of artisanal miners when informal mine shafts collapsed in Nampula and Zambezia provinces.

Nampete believed that, if the system had been functioning then, “we would have managed to save them”.

The Ministry is cooperating with Germany on mine safety. About 30 Mozambican staff have been trained in Germany in this area.

Source: AIM