Lufwanyama council writes to Govt over dormant mines

By ROGERS KALERO

THE Lufwanyama District Council has officially written to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development requesting for information to trace owners of about 271 mining licences in the district which are alleged to have been dormant for a long time.
Council Director Finance, Bwalya Machuta said the local authority had a total of 277 mining companies showing on its valuation roll, but only six were visible and remitting all their payment obligations to the local authority.
Mr Machuta said during a stakeholder’s engagement meeting held with mining companies operating in the district organised by Caritas Zambia, that the local authority had been making frantic efforts to get hold of the owners of the said mines, but that all their efforts had proved futile.
He said the council had since decided to officially write to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development requesting that it assists with details of the licence holders as the local authority had failed.
The 271 owners of the mining licences are alleged to have been eluding the local authority and failing to pay various business fees.
“As a local authority, we have had difficulties, locating 271 licence holders of mines in the district because according to our valuation roll we have about 277 mining companies who have licences but, out of the 277, only six are visible and pay their obligations to the council and these others are depriving us of the much-needed resources which we can use to foster development in the district.
“We have been forced to write to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral development to help us trace these 271 because even when we try to go on site looking for them ,they elude us ,posts and names of the mines on their site is there but when they hear that the council went to their premises we hear a lot of complaints, we just need to work together for the betterment of our district,” Mr Machuta said.
Mr Machuta said if the licence holders come out in open and meet their payment obligations, it would help the local authority raise enough funds to go towards service delivery.
But some villagers told the Daily Nation in a separate interview that some dormant emerald mines should be turned into agricultural areas instead of being unproductive for a long time.
Caesar Chindalo , Mirriam Bulasho and John Chilundika said the only major mines which were productive in Lufwanyama were Grizzly, Pridegem and Kagem.
“Most of these mines are better off being turned into maize fields or agricultural areas instead of being referred to mines. They are just a bush and have not produced a single emerald. So what sense does it make?,” they asked.