Ministry of Mining says it is making strides on drafting of a Bill on establishment of a Mining Regulatory Authority. 

Speaking during Wednesday’s government faces the press briefing in Lilongwe, the responsible Minister Albert Mbawala said the Bill is currently at Ministry of Justice.

“We discovered that there was a lot of illegal mining in the industry, and government alone, so we thought establishing an Authority to make sure that there is sanity,” said Mbawala.

Mbawala added that once the Justice Ministry is done working on the Bill, relevant stakeholders will also be given time to scrutinize it before it is presented to Parliament.

He said: “A Bill is at the Ministry of Justice and it will be finalized very soon and then after they we will be taking it to different stakeholders to look at it.”

“When we are all happy, we will take that Bill to Parliament for enactment.”

Addressing the National Assembly during his State of Nation Address (Sona) President Lazarus Chakwera said has fully embraced the mining sector not only as a catalyst for restructuring the economy, but as a source of foreign exchange as well.

“Gold mining presented itself as a low hanging fruit. I am now pleased to report that the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), which was designated to be the sole domestic buyer,” Chakwera said.

“To address the challenge of illegal gold exportation, has already managed to purchase 58.1 kilograms of gold valued at US$3.2 million in only six months.”