By George Mponda

Karonga, October 20, Mana: Karonga based bussiness persons have asked the acting District Commissioner (DC) Frank Mkandawire to ensure that mining deals signed by the council should benefit those doing business around the district.

The business persons led by their Chairperson, Peter Ngwire Viyuyi said this, Saturday when they held an engagement meeting with the DC to air out their concerns over mining deals.

Addressing the meeting, Viyuyi said; "From previous experiences with companies which had mining deals in our district like Paladin, the business as well as the Karonga community in general did not benefit a lot.

"Now we have heard that Lotus Resources Limited will be reopening Kayelekera mine and we have seen coasters which have come from Lilongwe ferrying people to and from the mine so we are worried already because Karonga also has buses which can do this job."

He said they are also worried with the lack of Karonga based people who have so far been employed at Kayelekera Uranium Mine and demanded to know the contents of the Community Development Agreement (CDA).

In his response Mkandawire hailed the business people for choosing dialogue over conducting violent demonstrations.

"Indeed Lotus Resources Limited has taken over Kayelekera Uranium Mine and they will reopen it soon. The council held meetings with Lotus officials and we emphasised that the Karonga communities should benefit from this mine," he said.

"Currently, the company has signed a Mine Development Agreement with the Government of Malawi and the acting Director of Planning and Development at the council held meetings with their Community Engagement Officer who assured us that they will conduct separate meetings with various stakeholders like business people, journalists, Chiefs, Civil Society Organisations and Council Officials before signing the CDA."he added.

Mkandawire assured the business people and Karonga residents that all mining deals struck with the council will be transparent and beneficial to them.

Lotus currently holds an 85% interest in the project, with the Malawian government owning the remaining 15%. The mine’s majority ownership was previously held by Paladin Energy.