Mozambique: Man killed in N4 hit-and-run
Police arrest Chinese tantalite smuggler – AIM report
7:52 CAT | 01 Aug 2018
Police in the district of Gile, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, have arrested a Chinese citizen suspected of taking part in an international ring smuggling tantalite out of the country.
The police seized 16 bags of processed tantalite each weighing thirty kilogrammes, five sacks of tantalite of various weights, six sacks of beryllium, and eleven sacks of other minerals. They also took away mining equipment, along with three computers, a shotgun, and two cars. In addition, they confiscated cash amounting to 125,000 meticais (2,141 US dollars at today’s exchange rate).
The impounded goods are now at the province’s Directorate of Mineral Resources for safe keeping.
According to the Ministry of Mineral Resources, the operation took place in the locality of Kayane and involved technicians from the Ministry, the provincial directorate, and district services. Members of the Natural Resources and Environment Protection Police provided backup.
Police released a Chinese citizen Dawi Liu after he posted bail of 120,000 meticais.
Mozambique was once the world’s third largest producer of tantalite, due to mines at Muiane and Morrua in Zambezia. But both shut down in the 1980s during the war of destabilisation.
The metal tantalum comes from tantalite and is found in electrical components such as tantalum capacitors in computers and mobile phones. It is also used for surgical instruments.
Tantalite ore sells for around 185 US dollars per kilogramme.
Illegal mining deprives the state of the resources which would flow from legal mining activities. It also damages the environment and leads to tragedies due to the terrible working conditions faced by artisanal miners.
Source: AIM
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