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Mozambique: MIREME calls for regulations to stop illegal, deadly mining
10:14 CAT | 16 Aug 2023
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]
Mozambique’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) called on Tuesday for the urgent approval of a specific regulation for small-scale artisanal mining aimed at ending accidents that cause victims and professionalising the activity.
“We have limited time [to approve the regulation], given the urgency of the matter,” said Cândido Rangeiro, the national director of geology and mining.
Rangeiro was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the eighth coordinating council of the ministry of mineral resources and energy, which is taking place in Lichinga, Niassa province, in northern Mozambique.
Without this standard, the control of small-scale artisanal mining has been done through “palliative measures” and insufficient to discipline the sector, he continued.
In addition to curbing the disasters that occur in small-scale artisanal mining, specific regulation of the sector is necessary to combat the illegal sale of minerals and the illegal immigration of foreigners who come to Mozambique to extract natural resources improperly, added the national director and Geology and Mines.
In this regard, a working group will be set up to prepare a proposal for a specific regulation of the sector, said Cândido Rangeiro.
Citing data from the mining census released in 2021, Rangeiro pointed out that 3% of the Mozambican population (estimated at around 30 million people) lives from artisanal mining, mostly carrying out the activity illegally.
The official also said that the country loses 93 million meticais (more than €1.3 million) annually as a result of the illegal sale of minerals.
Every year, dozens of people die in the illegal extraction of minerals in Mozambique due to the precarious safety conditions in which they carry out the activity.
READ: Mozambique: Life and death digging for gold in Namaíta, Nampula – Ikweli
Source: Lusa
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