LAST week, Bank of Zambia Governor Dr Denny Kalyalya announced that the Central Bank would expand its domestic gold purchase programme to include artisanal and small-scale miners. This development marks a quiet but important turning point in our country’s economic thinking. For years, Zambia’s gold trade has been dominated by large-scale mining operations, with the bulk of our precious resource leaving the country through channels that, while legal and regulated, have excluded many Zambians from directly participating in the value chain. By opening its doors to artisanal miners, the Central Bank is both diversifying its gold supply sources and laying the groundwork for an economic model where mineral wealth is shared more equitably, where small producers have a fair shot...