Maravi

DIY coal fires up villagers

DIY coal fires up villagers
By Story by Bivan Saluseki and picture by Eddie Mwanaleza
Sun 21 Nov. 2010, 04:00 CAT

IN NKANDABBWE, local villagers have taken matters into their own hands and started mining coal after the government closed an open-pit five kilometres west of Sinazeze because of difficulty controlling underground water levels.

Flooding that followed the closure formed a 200 metre-deep dam now used by the local community as it digs up the coal. More than 32 villagers have mining licences, but it is very dangerous work, involving ferrying the coal across the Nkandabbwe dam in dug-out canoes.

Amos Syamuzamba, Mabvuto Simubala, Nikita Sandabwe are just three of the local villagers who have taken up position around the area.

Syamuzamba sells a bag of coal for K1,000, although if he is really desperate for money, he’ll let one go for K500.

Filling a truck – once a week – is a major problem, although villagers have battled to overcome the difficulties by working long hours.

“We start work around 7am and can go up to 14 hours before we take a break,” he said, while regaining energy from glucose and a cake.

Simubala said that although the community around Nkandabbwe owned the mine, villagers had to pay to dig for coal. “We pay K700,000 per month to government for the mining licences.”

Diggers shared any profits, with a truck of coal fetching around K4.5 million.

Sandabwe said that although the villagers were not mining professionals, they knew genuine coal because of its weight.

“The real coal is heavier than the other stuff,” he said.
Sandabwe said he wouldn’t work in any other mine because he was scared of tunnels.

“It’s tough work here, but we are happy,” he added.

Area councillor Partson Mangunje said the government abandoned the mine because it became flooded, with production being moved to Maamba.

But he said the quality of coal in Nkandabbwe was of a very high grade and villagers didn’tneed to wash it to remove ash.

“It is fine coal, ready to light up industries’ machines,” he said, adding that the quality attracted a lot of business.

And Nkandabbwe villagers are lucky, spared the hard work of removing what experts in the coal mining industry call “overburden”.

Overburden is the top layer that covers coal and must be removed before anyone operating an excavator in an open pit or working in an underground mine can extract it. It means that Nkandabbwe people only have to use picks and shovels to dig it out.

Although mining is generally regarded as a man’s job, women are involved in Nkandabbwe.

Working alongside their male counterparts, they carry the coal to the truck site on their heads.

There is no battle of the sexes when it comes to survival.

Labels: COAL

posted by MrK @ 3:34 AM