Malawi – The Malawian government says it has intensified
mineral exploration and project assessment studies for a number of
precious metals and minerals, such as gold, platinum-group metals
(PGMs) and diamonds, in the country.
Director for the department of mines in Malawi’s ministry of
natural resources Grain Malunga says his department is working with
the department of geological surveys to make available the results
of the studies to interested private companies to take over the
exploration initiatives.
“The objective of these efforts is to generate sufficient
information on promising areas to attract local and international
private exploration and for mining companies to proceed with the
projects further to fruition,” says Malunga.
He says the activities comprise detailed area-targeted geological
mapping, geochemical and geophysical exploration surveys in
particular with regard to high-value minerals includinsmall stone crusher machine in keralag gold,
diamonds, and PGMs.
Malunga reports that geological mapping and preliminary exploration
for gold and PGMs is going on in the Lisungwi Valley and Kirk Range
areas in the southern districts of Ntcheu and Mwanza.
The director says preliminary exploration for gold is also taking
place in the Dwangwa area straddling the districts of Nkhota-kota
and Nkhata Bay in the centre and the north of the country
respectively, and Dzalanyama area in the central district of
Lilongwe.
Malunga reports that the Malawian mineral sector departments are
involved in preliminary investigation of kimberlitic rocks in the
southern Mwanzachinese crusher net extreme pressure swing mill Valley and Mangochi area, and Livingstonia area in
the northern Rumphi district since kimberlites are known to host
diamonds. The Malawian government exploration team is also involved
in the exploration and assessment of gypsum resources in the
central districts of Lilongwe and Dowa.
He says the government’s preliminary exploration is based on
the airborne geophysical survey that was conducted between 1983 and
1985 by Canadian consultants, and revealed a large number of
anomalous areas for various minerals.
“These anomalies are in respect of base metals (copper and
nickel), gold, platinum and areas probably undesmall jaw crushers price in californiarlain by kimberlitic
rocks. To date, only very limited ground follow-up work has been
undertaken over these areas. The private investor is invited to
tackle those areas which definitely do contain additional hidden
mineral wealth,” says Malunga.
The government exploration ventures are expected to come up with a
new geological map for Malawi, which will give detailed information
about the availability of minerals in the country. The Malawian
government is engaged in a promotion drive for the country’s
mining industry in an effort to diversify its economic base from an
overdependence on agriculture since the sales of tobacco, the main
foreign-exchange earner are threatened by worldwide antismoking
lobbying. Malunga says following the launch of the Malawian
government’s promotion drive for the mining sector through
the holding of an international mining conference and exhibition in
2000, plus the intensification of geological exploration, more
private companies are coming forward to join the government in the
mineral exploration ventures.
He says government has already offered exclusive prospecting
licences (EPL) to several companies, some of which are
international companies while others are locally-registered
companies formed by consortia of local and international
investors.
The companies that hold the EPLs include Australian resources group
Paladin, which holds a prospecting licence for the estimated 11 600
tons of uranium deposit in the country’s northern Kayerekera
area.
Paladin has been waiting for the Malawian government to assist it
to source $3,2-million funding for a bankable feasibility study for
the project, which has a 10-year mining life and is expected to
yield annual revenue of $33-million to $35-million for
Malawi.
Malunga says the other company which has been granted an EPL is
Millennium Mining, of Australia. Millennium Mining is investigating
heavy-mineral-sands deposits, which occur as beach sands along the
country’s lakeshore in the district of Salima, for titanium,
rutile and zircon.
The reserves of the beach sands in Salima are placed at over
450-million tons and contain 8% ilmenite, 0,35% rutile, and 0,28%
zircon. Millenium Mining is also undertaking a feasibility study
over another heavy-mineral deposit at Halala, near Lake Chirwa in
the south of the country.
Malunga reports that his department has also granted an EPL to
local companies Allied Procurement Agency and Mineral Sands, which
have completed a prefeasibility study of heavy sands in the Chipoka
area, also along the shores of Lake Malawi. He says the two
companies are now in pilot mining phase.
The director says that, apart from a local company, which has been
involved in the mining of coal in the country’s Northern
Mchenga coalfields, Mchenga Coal Mines has been granted a licence
to extend its venture to include the nearby Ngana coalfield. Mining
contributes only 1% to Malawi’s gross domestic product.
The industry has been dominated by small-scale miners for some time
as there has been very little effort by the government to promote
mining to larger local and international companies. Malunga says
projections are that the contribution of the sector will go up to
10% if full-scale exploitation is achieved following the interest
shown by the private companies.
The Malawian government offers a number of incentives to investors
in the mining industry. In addition, a new package for sectoral
investment incentives has been proposed under the country’s
donor-supported Growth Strategy Paper to stimulate speedy
investment in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and
mining.