Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe says the delay in reopening Kasenseli gold mine is because government wants to ensure that everything is done correctly before operations resume at the mine.
Responding to a question from the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, during a media briefing, on why government is not reopening Kasenseli gold mine, Kabuswe said the gold mine will be reopened at an appropriate time.
“We are going to reopen Kasenseli gold mine at an appropriate time, like I mentioned to you, the challenges that we thought were easy, were actually deep so when something is deep you have to also dig deep to come up with a correct way of doing things”, he said.
Kabuswe said gold is a game changer and Kasenseli gold mine is a critical component of how government wants to formalize the gold sub sector in Zambia adding that the nation should be assured that the formalization that government is going to bring about for the artisanal miners will be exceptional.
He mentioned that he is aware that government has the role of eradicating poverty in the country noting that the process needs to be done correctly so that there will be no need of going back to the same things.
The Minister said the reforms being made in the gold, manganese and other mineral sub sectors will benefit a lot of people and not only the treasury as there will be proper formalization and record keeping.
Kabuswe said this would ensure that those who have not been complying in terms of paying taxes would have nowhere to hide, as the ministry of mines will be present wherever there are mining activities.
