By Rennie Tembo

Lilongwe, April 25, Mana: Malawi has signed a charter with Africa Strategy Mining Group, which would assist in transforming the nation through sustainable mineral extraction.

Speaking during the signing ceremony on Wednesday, Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno said the agreement would help safe guarding the country’s minerals and address issues affecting companies and miners.

By signing the pact, Malawi becomes an official member of the group.

“I am very happy with what we have achieved through this Mining Investment Forum and am very optimistic of the positive impact the agreement is going to bring.

“For a long time we have not been working as a team, as a result others have been taking advantage of us by taking our raw materials and benefiting from our natural resources, so its high time African countries benefit from the mining industry,” she said.

Chang’anamuno thanked President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera for showing commitment in transforming the mining industry in the country.

She urged the stakeholders and investors to continue with the spirit of collaboration, sharing knowledge and experiences in mining and also conserve the environment as they do mining activities in different sites.

Secretary General for Africa Strategy Mining Group, Moses Engadu said this agreement would play an important role in growing the mining sector and to get fair deals to Malawi and other African countries.

“As we all know Africa has vast quantity of mineral resources, but often times we do not benefit from these minerals and our duty is to negotiate better deals and foster collaboration among our countries.

“This agreement then will help us explore opportunities hence improving the mining sector, which can be instrumental in boosting the economy and improving the livelihood of our people by creating worth, job and business opportunities,’’ he said.

Engadu noted that lack of technical skills among miners, oneness, lack of funding and insufficient resources that are required to exploit minerals being some of the challenges affecting the growth of the mining sector.

Sovereign Services Limited’s Technical Manager, Andries Kruges said he was very optimistic that the agreement would help them know what their colleagues are doing and it’s going to address some of the problems that were affecting mining companies.

The two-day Malawi Mining Investment Forum was held under the Theme “Transforming the Nation through Sustainable Mineral Extraction”.