Govt to take action on ‘sub-leasing’ of mineral resources trading licenses to foreigners – Mozambique

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Govt to take action on ‘sub-leasing’ of mineral resources trading licenses to foreigners – Mozambique

2:54 CAT | 18 Sep 2017

TVM (File photo) / Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Leticia Klemens

The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy will impose strict rules aimed at curbing what she calls the “rental” of licenses to market products issued in favour of domestic citizens to foreign nationals.

Minister Letícia Klemens broached the subject in Sofala where she met entrepreneurs in the mineral resources sector and noted that marketing licenses issued to Mozambicans were showing up in the hands of foreigners.

Klemens complained that Mozambican operators of failed to respond satisfactorily to ministry requests for information, making it difficult to formulate statistics on the quantity and quality of mineral resources produced in Mozambique.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Letícia Klemens, held a meeting with Sofala mining operators last week in Beira

“As if that were not enough, these Mozambicans seem not to learn that they have benefits. The 100, 200 or 500 meticais they are paid seems to be as far as they can see. This also fosters illegal mining, because we have no control of where they exploit or who they buy from. We must know whether the people they buy from have licenses or not,” said the minister.

Minister Klemens explained that her visits to the provinces and meetings with mining operators were intended to raise awareness of the new rules, which would be implemented shortly. The study phase was over, and now decisions would be made in the advisory councils, she said.

“These rules are meant to bring about improvements. We are concerned about Mozambicans, as we often think that we are satisfying their concerns and bringing them benefits when in fact they are selling to foreigners who remove the product from here without any control,” she said.

“So we’re not doing good work. That is why we are going to bring in stricter rules to solve these problems.”

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said that in order to put these rules into practice, a survey would first be carried out to determine who had reported back and who had not, since not all those who held marketing licenses should be penalised.

The minister said that 90 percent of the country was licensed. However, if a balance of income to the country were to be made, the results would be negative. “We are going to be a little stricter, and make the mining sector operate sustainably for the benefit of all,” she promised.

Source: Diario de Moçambique