THE Minerals Regulation Commission (MRC) says it has finished clearing the backlog of 1,672 mining licence applications. The Commission says it will now focus on non-compliant mining licence holders. The 1,672 licence applications accumulated in 2025 during the period when the Board was not in place. The Commission was initially expected to conclude clearing the backlog by the end of June 2026. However, in July this year, the Commission announced that it had only cleared about 50 percent of the licence backlog. In an interview, Wednesday, MRC Board Chairperson Matongo Matamwandi said the backlog had been cleared by the first week of August. He disclosed that the Mining and Non-Mining Rights Licensing Committee would hold a meeting this Friday to...