Zambia has built 10 milling plants to process
gold in a drive to formalize artisanal
and small-scale miners and diversify from
copper mining, state mining investment
company ZCCM-IH said. The project is
being undertaken by Consolidated Gold
Co. Ltd. (CGCZ), a gold processing and
trading joint venture between Karma Mining
Services and Rural Development and
ZCCM-IH. Zambia’s efforts are part of a
continent-wide push to tackle informal
mining of gold, which is driven by poverty
and unemployment, poses health and
environmental risks and deprives states
of revenue when the metal is smuggled
across borders.
Africa’s second-largest copper producer,
Zambia aims to produce 40,000 kilograms
(kg) of gold in 2020 from primary and
secondary sources, including gold bought
from artisanal and small-scale miners at
government-controlled buying centers. The
milling plants have a combined processing
capacity of 30 metric tons (mt) of ore per
day and a targeted average of 7.5 kg of gold
production per month, ZCCM-IH said.
As featured in Womp 2020 Vol 07 - www.womp-int.com