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Mozambique: Authorities seek to expel illegal miners – AIM report
8:50 CAT | 27 Sep 2021
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]
Police in the central Mozambican province of Manica have launched an offensive to halt the sudden invasion last week of the foothills of the Vumba mountain range, by artisanal gold miners, reports the independent television station STV.
Gold prospecting has been blamed for much of the pollution of the main rivers that cross Manica province. The Chicamba reservoir, Manica’s largest artificial lake and fishing centre, has recorded an increasing cloudiness of its waters.
The reservoir, built on the Messica River, also receives waters from several tributaries which pour turbid water into the reservoir, as a result of the illegal mining. The activity is conducted in the dead of the night and when authorities reach the place, there is no one to be found.
The Mayor of Manica town municipality, Patricio Chimisso, said that the municipal authorities are at war with the gold prospectors and a victory for the authorities is far from within reach. The gold rush in the region started back in 2019.
The small-scale miners claim that they resort to environmental crimes to ensure their own livelihoods.
“I decided to embrace gold prospecting to earn some money and I was surprised when the municipal officers arrested us,” said one gold miner.
Source: AIM
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