By Blessings Kaunda
Mzuzu, March 14, Mana: Communities around Bowa and Kadyamauni in Nkhotakota say the illegal mining of gold they are engaged in have improved their livelihood and that most of them have bought fertilizer under Affordable Input Program (AIP).
However, the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Natural Resources has reacted it plans to legalize the activities by registering all the communities’ mines so that government can also benefit from them.
In an interview on Friday, Village Headman Bowa of Nkhotakota said this year’s subsidized agricultural inputs under AIP were not an issue in his area as everybody who registered bought the fertilizer because of the mining activities.
“This is one of the areas in Nkhotakota where people are poor and depend on molding bricks and selling firewood at Dwangwa to find money, but this time around everybody is busy extracting gold.
“Young men and women have improved their families through the mines. Some are doing businesses at the sites such as running shops,” said the local leader.
He said the mines were discovered by some people who were extracting gold in Kasungu District.
Commenting on the matter, Ministry of Mines, Energy, and Natural Resources spokesperson, Sangwani Phiri, said the ministry was aware of the development at Kadyamauni in Nkhotakota.
He said government is planning to register all illegal mining sites in the country.
“I can say we are aware of what is happening at Kadyamauni which is found south west of Dwangwa Trading Centre, and we are planning to certify them so that they legally operate in,” Phiri said.
He said government also intends to establish cooperatives in all areas where illegal mining is taking place for the communities to benefit more.
“We will train these groups because mining is dangerous since there are tunnels which are made and anything can happen in there.
“This will also help the government to make proper follow ups at the same time add value to the products they extract so that we bring foreign currency in the country,” he said.
