Mining & Trade News

The formation of the Federation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners in Malawi (FASM) has been finalised with the appointment of an interim committee.

Seasoned gemstone miner Percy Maleta was appointed the federation's Interim President, Gold Miners Association's Bishop Andrew Mankamba as Vice-President, Malawi Women in Mining Association's Nellie Nakumba as General Secretary, Ceramic Association's Chifundo Stevens got the Vice-General position, Gemstone Association of Malawi's Evangelist Philemon Galawanda took up Treasurer position with Peter Kwengwere of Gold Miners Association becoming Vice-Treasurer and Phillip Kamoto as Publicity Secretary.

The following; Emma Adams from Malawi Women in Mining Association, and Titus Tsilizani from Ceramics complete the executive committee.

A statement from the Federation dated April 28, 2025 says the formation of the interim committee is a milestone in the development of the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) subsector as it aims at representing, unifying and empowering small-scale miners across the country.

Reads the statement: "The federation has been established to strengthen the ASM community by providing a platform for advocacy, coordination and engagement with government, development partners, financiers and stakeholders.”

Its core roles include lobbying for policy reforms, promoting responsible mining practices, supporting the formalisation of ASM activities and enhancing access to markets, finance and technical training for miners."

The Federation appealed to miners, mineral dealers, development partners, financiers, Civil society organisations, among others, to support its course to revitalise and transform the ASM sub-sector.

ASMs are encountering a number of problems in Malawi which include lack of finance to procure loans for mining and value addition equipment as most financial institutions are reluctant to provide them loans as their trade is considered risky.

There is also lack of technical and business training which results in the ASMs being duped by foreigners who buy their products at unrealistically low prices.

The Malawi Government, through the Ministry of Mining and Trade and Industry. is, meanwhile, pursuing a programme to formalize the ASMs into cooperatives so that it become easy to reach them with training programmes.

In Malawi, many ASMs are involved in the mining of gemstones and gold, and the Reserve Bank of Malawi through its subsidiary Export Development Fund (EDF) operates a structured market to buy these precious stones in order to fight the problem of smuggling which is rife.

ASMs continue to make mineral discoveries in Malawi. Which has resulted in the emergence of ASM hotspots across the country.

Leave a Comment

Comments