Malawians urged to guard precious stones

The Ministry of Mining has urged the public to guard against precious stones, saying there are a number of illegal investors who smuggle such stones by beating check points.

Minister of Mining John Bande made the call on Wednesday when he toured small-scale mines owned by Malawians in Mzimba to appreciate efforts meant to boost the industry.

“There are some investors who always say they are at exploration stage, but they fly out the stones.

“These people develop many tricks that we don’t know. As Malawians, we should be able to question some settlers’ missions. There are some who come here, buy big portions of land, fence the land to bar the public and we don’t know what businesses they do. There could be mining activities going on,” said Bande.

He called on Malawians to check on such investors, saying failure will see the country continue losing out and Malawians will in the end suffer.

He also bemoaned the tendency of small-scale miners selling such stones on black market.

Bande said such malpractices are depriving the country of the much-needed forex.

“Government will now find markets for small-scale miners and also provide machines as well as trainings to boost their activities which will help boost the economy,” he said.

Gemstones Association of Malawi president (North) Ian Mbewe said a number of small-scale miners were selling the stones on black market to Zambians, Chinese, Tanzanians and Indians but at very low prices.