Maravi

ESMAZ bemoans condition of gemstone sector

ESMAZ bemoans condition of gemstone sector
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wednesday June 04, 2008 [04:00]

THE economic diversification of the Copperbelt will be incomplete as long as government continues to neglect the gemstone sector, ESMAZ general secretary Victor Kalesha has observed. Kalesha was commenting on the statement by British High Commissioner to Zambia Alistair Harrison that the government should seriously start economic diversifications of the Copperbelt from traditional copper mining to other sectors like agriculture and tourism because the current boom in metal prices would not last forever.

He said while the Emerald and Semi-precious Minerals Association of Zambia (ESMAZ) agreed with High Commissioner Harrison’s observation, gemstones were more economically profitable than both agriculture and tourism. Kalesha charged that the government had not shown serious commitment to developing the local gemstone sector.

“When the farmers cry, government immediately responds. The same happens to the tourism sector…when they just ‘cough’, government listens but the same can’t be said about the gemstone sector,” Kalesha said.

He further said the government had not put in place enough favourable policies to attract investors into the gemstone sector.

“Even the geological data on areas that have potential for gemstones is not readily available at the Ministry of Mines headquarters so how do you expect to attract investors when such important information is not available?” said Kalesha. “Just recently, a bank from Canada expressed interest in providing us with US $30 million loans to help purchase equipment and machinery for our sector…and all they needed was for government to give that transaction a blessing.

But up to now, our repeated meetings with both Ministry of Finance and mines have not yielded anything as government has just not been responsive. So, while we agree that we need to diversify the economy of the Copperbelt, we feel such move would be incomplete for as long as the emerald sector remains neglected.”

He further disclosed that of the 450 mining licences that government had issued in the emerald sector in the province, only 10 mines were currently operational, of which about 80 per cent were foreign owned.

Kalesha named some of the mines that were currently under full operation as Kagem, Gemfields, Grizily, Twampane, Santas, Ebenizer, Aakala and Melai.

Labels: ESMAZ, MINING

posted by MrK @ 3:36 AM