The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development (MMMD) of Zambia has hinted of plans to set up a Minerals Commission similar to that of Ghana to regulate its mineral resources especially its recently found gold reserve.

Mr Barnaby B. Mulenga, the Permanent Secretary at the MMMD said the regulatory and policy functions were lumped together at his ministry and were keen on making sure those functions were decoupled as had been done by Ghana to ensure efficiency and productivity.

He gave the hint when he led a four-member delegation from the MMMD to visit the management of the Minerals Commissions of Ghana to learn about the Commission's operations and how it was able to handle the challenges in artisanal small-scale mining.

The meeting, facilitated by Friends of the Nation in collaboration with Oxfam was part of a three-day visit to by technical officials of the MMMD to Ghana as a follow-up to a similar visit made by Government, Civil Society and Miners representatives from Zambia to Ghana in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The team is scheduled to meet institutions such as the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Minerals Commission, Precious Mineral and Marketing Company, Ghana Geological Survey Authority among others.

Mr Mulenga said the solid legal regime such as resettlement of disputes, local content and participation instituted by Ghana might be adopted and domesticated to ensure the country derived the needed benefit for development.

"We have heard a lot of positive stories about Ghana involvement in the mining sector, especially in Gold production. We recently have the discovery of gold in Zambia and therefore we felt that let us go to those doing it for a long time.

"We have challenges to do with a small scale under the artisan sector and we felt we could learn lessons from Ghana in terms of how she has been able to handle this particular sector. It is amazing how Ghana has found novelty ways of addressing such problems".

Mr Addae Antwi-Boasiako, Chief Executive Officer, who briefed the delegation on their operations said among the Commission's mandate was to formulate recommendations of national policy for exploration and exploitation of mineral resources with special reference to establishing national priorities having due regard to the national economy.

He said it provided an advisory to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on matters relating to minerals and monitoring the implementation of laid down policies on minerals and report to the Minister.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako said the Commission as part of its mandate monitored the operations of all bodies or establishments with responsibility for minerals and report to the Minister and also received and assessed public agreements relating to minerals and report to Parliament;

Mr Collins Anim Sackey, Acting Director of Policy and Planning and Tittles at the Commission stated that unlike the previous practice, where small scale mining was done haphazardly, the government together with other stakeholders had initiated and started the Community Mining Scheme (CMS) to end the illegal small scale mining.

He said the scheme was inclusive, well regulated with a dedicated central processing site adequately equipped and would stop the old practice of mining in water bodies.

Mr Sackey said a technology called the GalamStop software was developed to monitor activities of miners and the life cycle of mining and related licenses, while tracking systems were embossed on heavy equipment to track its activities.

Talking about the local content in the sector, he said there was a new law in the offing that sought to strengthen the local participation in the mining industry.

He noted that the existing legislation specified local content in areas of human resources and the supply of goods and services, but the new regulation would insist on levels of local equity participation in any mining activities.

Mr Richard Hato-Kuevor, the Economic Justice Lead and Extractive Industries Policy Advisor, at Oxfarm explained that the visits were aimed at strengthening the relations between Ghana and Zambia in collaborating on initiatives to improve the mining industry to

"We are also facilitating this to create a platform for African countries with some commonalities share ideas, unite, grow their economy and create jobs for the youth. This is one of surest ways to spur development on the continent," he added.