The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, on Monday 12 February called for greater transparency in the marketing of minerals produced in the country, stressing that the sector is of strategic importance to the economy.
According to the Lusa news agency, the head of state was speaking after the inauguration of the Geology Laboratory of the National Mining Institute (INAMI), located in Maputo and equipped with laboratory services and a seismic analysis and processing centre.
The organisation explains that the new infrastructure will provide precise information on the quality of the minerals extracted in Mozambique and determine their exact value, increasing the sector’s contribution to state revenues.
“With this laboratory, it is unquestionable that we will increase our knowledge and define standards that favour commercial transactions, whose values reflect current market prices in a transparent manner,” said the statesman, emphasising that “mining is of strategic importance to the country’s development and is one of the sources of revenue for our exports”.
“The extractive area increased its share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022, reaching 10.4 per cent compared to 9.8 per cent in 2021. This growth is remarkable, given that in 2011 the sector accounted for 1.8 per cent of GDP,” said Filipe Nyusi.
The sector includes large companies that mine coal, heavy sands, ruby, graphite and tantalite and, on a different scale, small-scale mining of precious and semi-precious stones, said the President of the Republic.
The laboratory inaugurated this Monday (12) will also improve supervision of the area, acting on production and taxation, according to Filipe Nyusi, who emphasised the need to impose strict controls on artisanal mining, since a census in this area found that more than 229,000 small producers operate in the area, generating income for more than 800,000 people.
The head of state added that this structure will also bring the minerals produced in Mozambique up to international quality standards.
For his part, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Carlos Zacarias, said at the time that the construction of the Geology Laboratory from scratch had cost 190 million meticals (2.76 million euros).
