Gold revenue hits K2.6bn in 6 months
Malawi has raked in $3.2 million (about K2.6 billion) from gold in six months, a development mining experts say shows the potential of the mineral that has been under wraps for years.
The Malawi Government through the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), established the gold market last year and designated the central bank as the sole domestic buyer to address challenges of illegal gold exportation.
Figures presented by President Lazarus Chakwera in the State of the Nation Address last week in Parliament in Lilongwe show that RBM has bought 58.1 kilogrammes of gold valued at $3.2 million.
In the next three years, the central bank plans to buy 1.5 metric tonnes valued at K68 billion.
Chakwera said there is progress registered on the gold market.
He said: “While this may seem like a small contribution to foreign exchange earnings, it gives us confidence that we have taken the right direction in diversifying our sources of foreign exchange.
“Similarly, the central bank will within the first half of 2022 commence purchasing gemstones, all of which will have a positive impact on forex revenue and exchange.”
However, mining experts have called on government to move swiftly to conduct studies to quantify gold deposits in the country that would resultantly attract big mining companies.
In an interview, mining expert Grain Malunga said the gold that has, so far, been bought is something the country must reflect on.
He observed that 1.5 metric tonnes is a lot of gold to be bought in three years’ time from small-scale miners.
Malunga said: “I have always advocated for the Geological Survey Department to do a thorough research for the sources of gold that these small-scale miners are getting.”
“This is because no serious mining company can do the work done by these small-scale miners. It is not profitable so there is need to increase knowledge on this gold and quantifying it to attract large companies.”
To protect small-scale miners from being ripped off by merchants, Malunga said the Export Development Fund (EDF)has the mandate to deal directly with the miners.
Natural Resources Justice Network chairperson Kossam Munthali in an interview on Tuesday urged the government to be transparent in the management of gold.
He called for an independent evaluator to ascertain quality and value of the mineral.
Munthali said: “The small- scale miners need to have an expert by their side to ascertain better prices when they sell because RBM is an interested party, they are in business and not charity.
“We need to see lives of small-scale miners improving.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Ministry of Mines Principal Secretary Joseph Mkandawire said the country has alluvial gold, whose parent gold rock has not been traced.
He said the gold is sold to RBM’s EDF by 38 licensed individuals and largely from cooperatives that is mined from rivers and surface areas.
Mkandawire cited cooperatives in Nsanama and Liwonde in Machinga, Ntcheu, Neno, Nathenje and Chimutu in Lilongwe, Chitanthamapiri in Kasungu and Dwangwa in Nkhotakota.
He said: “We are continuing to licence more cooperatives and all these are directly linked to the Export Development Fund at the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
“The EDF has developed a programme and they are moving around buying gold from the cooperatives.
“We have market centres across the country such as RBM building in Mzuzu, EDF in Lilongwe, Blantyre and an office in Liwonde.”
Mkandawire said small- scale miners are benefiting a lot, but said there is more that needs to be done like using technologies to improve output.
He said: “They are using archaic and orthodox methods, which captures little in terms of percentages.
“If we use modern technologies we should be able to get more and we are urging the EDF to handhold most of the cooperatives.”
Mkandawire said as a follow-up to the recent geo-mapping physical exercise, the ministry is doing explorations to ascertain extent of gold deposits in the country.
