Villagers appeal for closure of gold mine

What you need to know:

  • The villagers also claim that the operators of the mines were paying nothing to the government, for they were not recognised by the village authority.

Residents of Nholi Village in Bahi District have asked President John Magufuli to close down a gold mine in the area because it was being operated in contravention of the laid down procedures.

The villagers also claim that the operators of the mines were paying nothing to the government, for they were not recognised by the village authority.

The request was made by the residents earlier in the week during a public meeting held at the village to deliberate on the mining activities that had started without involvement of the village government.

Speaking over the complaints on behalf of the government, the Village Executive Officer, Mr Augustino Apolinary, said there was already a team formed to correct the system used currently so that the village can benefit. “A team was formed to come and see how best the mine could be operated, but the issue of Std Seven exams disrupted the arrival of team and I don’t know when it will come,” said Mr Apolinary.

One of the residents, Mr Michael Mkontya, appealed to the government to make interventions to ensure that the miners stopped operations until the current procedure is changed.

Besides, Mr Mkontya added that he and fellow residents were not benefiting from the mine run by people, who claimed to have been issued with a licence to carry out mining activities in the area.

Another resident, Mr Hamisi Lenguji, said they made a follow up on the matter at different places including going to the Regional Commissioner with their chairperson, but, they ended up being threatened that the mine was owned by an influential person.

“So, if this mine is owned by an influential person, we ask for the audience with President Magufuli so that he can help us. This is because we are tired of receiving jail threats. We even went to meet the RC, who promised to come and help settle the matter.

“However, we have not seen him as we are still being hurt and our precious mineral is still being mined,” said Mr Lenguji.