MINES and Minerals Development Minister Paul Kabuswe says one of the biggest challenges facing illegal artisanal mining in Zambia is the involvement of foreign nationals who encourage unconventional mining practices, including unsafe methods for cleaning minerals such as gold, which pollute the environment. Kabuswe has called on big mining companies to partner with licensed artisanal and small-scale miners to promote safety, legality, and economic empowerment. Speaking at the launch of the Artisanal and Small Scale Mining Conference, Kabuswe noted that foreign nationals often bought minerals at low prices, leaving local miners poor despite mining valuable resources. “In this administration our focus has been [to] remove illegal mining because mining must be legal and also it must be safe, also it...
