The Zambian Minister for Mines and Minerals Development, Mr Paul C. Kabuswe, yesterday led a 6-member delegation to Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to familiarise himself with operations at the Ministry, particularly the mining sector in Ghana.
Speaking at a brief meeting chaired by the Deputy Minister for Mines, Mr George Mireku Duker, on behalf of the Minister, Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, the Zambian Minister said the visit was to basically study Ghana’s small scale mining sector, exchange ideas and to learn best practices in the Ghanaian mining space.
He noted that for Africa to thrive and prosper in its own efforts and resources, there must be strong and closer collaborations among African countries.
“We need to collaborate and share ideas to help harness our resources as Africans and liberate ourselves economically because we are not yet economically powerful as a continent and as such I believe it is time to do it together and exchange views and not to stay aloof” he said.
He disclosed that Zambia had recently discovered gold and wanted to embark on a very robust minerals explosion to ensure that the minerals did not end up in wrong hands, addingthatthe country was mapping up the entire Zambia to among others help understand the extent of mineralisation within the country.
He said the country had taken the decision to clean up their license system because they believe that “mining starts at licensing stage and if you don’t get it right from the beginning you miss the point and therefore you must get it right from the beginning”.
He said to ensure an all inclusive system, they had set themselves on a part to reorganise the mining sector of Zambia with a new Mining policy framework to ensure that it was firmly in place.
Mr Kabuswe strongly touted that they believed Africa had the human resources to achieve whatever goal they set to achieve.
Mr Duker, on his part, updated the delegation on Ghana’s efforts to improve on the mining sector through its regulatory framework and decentralisation.
He said he was happy that Zambia had shown interest in Ghana’s Mining sector, disclosing that up to 500 companies had also shown interest in the exploration of same and also harnessed opportunities in the country.
On value addition, Mr Duker said the government through the Ministry had set up agencies such as GISDEC and GIADEC to promote and develop an integrated bauxite, aluminium, Iron and steel industry in Ghana.
He said as part of Ghana’s contribution to the Minamata Convention, government had procured Mercury-free Mining equipment which efficiently recovered more Gold for artisanal and small scale miners, and also encouraged responsible mining in the country.
The delegation also paid a similar visit to the mining regulator in Ghana, Minerals Commission, and to Precious Minerals and Marketing Company which among others promoted the development of precious minerals and jewellery in Ghana.
