1 July 2008
Maputo — The government of the central Mozambican province of Sofala has lifted the ban on gold mining at Tsiqiuir, in Gorongosa district, that was decreed in 2004 following a fatal accident.
However, the government has insisted that resumption of mining is conditional on the use of new technologies and respect for the environment.
The Sofala provincial director for the environment Mauricio Xerinda, cited by Mozambican Television (TVM), said that mining operators must use sustainable technologies and must not pollute the Pungue river.
"The use of environmental conservation technologies is fundamental, and we demand that new sustainable technologies be used in exploit the gold deposit", he said.
Xerinda explained that the exploitation of the Tsiquir gold mine was banned because of the uncontrolled exploitation of this resource, which failed to respect established environmental rules.
"We had many human lives lost because of an accident, and the quality of water (in the river) was seriously affected", he said. "Now we are authorizing the resumption of this activity, but with the use of sustainable technologies".
Even after the 2004 ban, illegal prospectors continued mining at dead of night in the Gorongosa National Park buffer zone, putting at risk local people and wild animals.
There are reports that in 2007 the illegal gold prospection resulted in the destruction of 21 signs announcing the ban, to protect the environment and the wild life in the Gorongosa park.
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The issue of (artisanal) mining in Tsiquiri and central Mozambique is more complex. See http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2008.11.001 for more comprehensive discussion on the issue.