FOCUS: New mining policy to uplift local miners

As part of its efforts to step up the mining sector, the ministry of minerals and natural resources has embarked on the sector’s policy review which has developing local miners as its central element. The policy which is expected to be ready late this month looks at aspects like setting up a minimum wage for the local miners to shield them from being exploited by mining company owners. In a telephone interview with the Minister of state for the Ministry of Minerals and natural resources Vincent Karega, he disclosed that the reviewed policy looks at impacting every party in the mining sector with benefits trickling down to the local miner. “In reviewing this policy, we aim at maximizing benefits for every party involved in mining such that we create a win-win situation for the local miners, investors and any other party pertinent to the sector,” Karega said. The policy in operation was formulated in 2004. However, it was lacking many important considerations. These have been recently brought on board. The review aims at reflecting these changes which are compatible with the sector’s vision and goals. Karega added that the new policy has been packaged in a way that it will be keen on promoting professionalism which should be reflected by the mining fraternity at all levels.“…we intend to reflect this, at all levels of the sector starting from the local minor.” Among other elements in the policy under review is giving ownership of the mineral field to whoever invests money in the exploration process of a particular field. This is seen as an incentive for investors to venture into exploration of minerals which is a costly process. This was further highlighted by Uwizeye Fidele the personnel in charge of geology and mines at MINIRENA. He pointed out that the policy review is intended at enhancing productivity and promoting investment in the sector. “This policy review aims at making mining a viable and profitable business for both large scale investors and local miners. It is packaged with incentives to make it easy to do business and profit from it,” he pointed outOn the aspect of stepping up artisanal miners Uwizeye disclosed that the sector has been involved in setting up cooperatives for artisanal miners such that it can easily be helped. “We have formed a number of cooperatives for artisanal miners such that they can shift from informal to a formal status which makes it easy for them to be helped.”He also added that the Ministry has plans of merging all the cooperatives as a way of stepping up their strength and maximizing their potential to acquire other benefits like bank loans and partnerships with the big mining companies. In the recent past, the Mining sector has enjoyed steady progress, last year alone the sector fetched over USD 94 million making it one of the country’s highest income exchange earners. It is speculated that the sector’s earnings have considerably fallen as of the first half of the year due to the biting global economic crisis. However reports indicate that investments into the sector have grown compared to last year. Ends