President Hakainde Hichilema says he has proceeded to open the Kanseseli Gold Mine in Mwinilunga District of North Western province following the resolution of major outstanding issues at the mine.
President Hichilema said the unsafe and illegal mining situation that prevailed at Kasenseli led to loss of lives at the mine prompting the government to shut operations and ensure that measures are put in place to exploit the resource in the correct manner.
The Head of State said apart from issues of illegal and unsafe mining, there was no proper accountability of the minerals extracted at the mine depriving the host Chibwika chiefdom and the country revenue to undertake various developmental activities.
The President was speaking during the official opening of the Kanseseli Gold Mine in Mwinilunga District today.
“We want to do things the right way, accountability should be there as we do the mining, chief Chibwika’s people did not know how much gold was being taken from here, that was not the right way,” Mr Hichilema said.
President Hichilema explained that in future, Zambia gold company is expected to invest in establishing a processing plant to produce gold of the highest grade and ensure that the resource is sold at the right price.
He added that Zambia Gold company should equally be open and work with small-scale miners within their locality by allowing them to bring their materials for processing at the mine.
“The people of Mwinilunga stood with the UPND party for so long, they believed in us, so today the opening of Kanseseli is a testament to more things to come from this party in government,” he said.
He reiterated that government is determined to develop Mwinilunga District, Northwestern province and the country as a whole in fulfilment of their campaign promises to the people.
And Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe said the reopening of the Kanseseli Gold Mine is testament of the good mining policies by government.
Mr Kabuswe said the picture of the mine under the previous administration was bad as everything was done without order hence the new dawn government shutting operations to bring sanity at the mine.
“Your Excellency, your vision of producing three million metric tonnes of copper annually is just on the Horizon, just the three Mines in the province have capacity to produce 800,000 metric tonnes of copper annually” said Mr Kabuswe.
He said no citizen would want to get back to the way things were being done in the mines before the new dawn government took over leadership of the country.
Meanwhile Zambia Gold Company Board Chairman Guy Phiri said the opening of Kanseseli gold mine has come at the right time as it will accelerate development in the district.
Mr Phiri thanked President Hichilema for his leadership in ensuring a new start for the mine assuring the government that all the previous concerns around the mine operations at Kasenseli and recommendations from traditional leadership in the area will be addressed accordingly.
The President was accompanied by Minister of Mines and Mineral Development Paul Kabuswe, Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane, Minister of Health Elijah Muchima, and Minister of commerce, Trade and industry Chipoka Mulenga,
Others were Minister of Energy Makozo Chikote, Information and Media Minister Cornelius Mweetwa and Minister of Labour and social security Brenda Tambatamba
ZANIS reports that Kanseseli Gold Mine was closed in 2021 following reports of safety and illegal mining.
