The Zambian Minister for Mines and Minerals Development, Paul C. Kabuswe has led a 6-member delegation to Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to familiarise himself with operations at the Ministry, particularly on issues relating to the Mining sector in Ghana.
Speaking at a brief meeting, chaired by the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mines, Mr. George Mireku Duker on behalf of the Sector Minister, Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor on Wednesday, the Zambian Minister said his visit to Ghana 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 it together and exchange views and not to stay aloof”.
Mr. Kabuswe disclosed that Zambia has recently discovered gold and wants to embark on a very robust minerals explosion to ensure the mineral does not end up in wrong hands, adding that the country is mapping up the entire Zambia to among others help understand the extent of Mineralisation within the country.
He also noted that they have 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”
Mr. Kabuswe said to ensure an all-inclusive system, they have set themselves on a part to reorganise the Mining sector of Zambia with a new Mining policy framework to ensure this is strongly in place.
He strongly touted that they believe Africa has the human resources to achieve whatever goal they set to achieve.
Mr. George Mireku 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 is happy that Zambia has shown interest in Ghana’s Mining sector, disclosing that up to 500 companies have also shown their interest in the exploration of same and also harness opportunities in the country.
On value addition, Mr. Duker said the Government through the Ministry has set up agencies like 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 has procured Mercury-free Mining equipment which efficiently recovers more Gold for artisanal and small scale miners and also encourage 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 promotes the development of precious minerals and jewellery in Ghana.
