THE Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ) has warned government against allowing artisanal mining cooperatives without skills and training from conducting operations. Speaking during a media briefing at the 97th Agricultural and Commercial Show, Saturday, EIZ vice president for Finance and Administration Engineer Musonda Chansa expressed concern over the influx of artisanal miners venturing into the sector without any expertise. “The mining sector again through the pronouncement of the government is going through an expansion phase towards the 3 million tonnes, a bit of an ambitious target. So, we are seeing all sorts of preferential [treatment] of people wanting to go into a sector they understand very little. Mining is a specialized field. We take five years to train a mining...