UNEARTHING THE HIDDEN GEM: Artisanal Mining and its struggles in Rural Zambia

The author interacting with the miners at a mining pit in Mapatizya.

NESTLED in the heart of Southern Africa, Zambia is known for its rich mineral resources, including copper, cobalt, zinc, and emeralds. While large-scale mining operations dominate the industry, artisanal mining has quietly emerged as a vital source of livelihood for rural communities.

This feature article aims to shed light on the often-underreported artisanal mining sector in rural Zambia, exploring its impact on the local economy, environment, and the lives of those involved.

Artisanal mining refers to small-scale, often unregulated, mining activities conducted by individuals or small groups using basic tools and methods. In rural Zambia such as Mapatizya, in Zimba district, artisanal mining plays a crucial role, particularly in communities left marginalised by large-scale mining operations such as Kariba Minerals, operating a gemstone mine in the area.

It provides an avenue for local residents to extract mineral resources independently, sustaining their livelihoods and empowering local economies.

These miners sweat it out and risk their lives in the mining pits dotted in various hills, to get at least a kilogramme of tin, which they then sell cheaply to buyers from outside town, mostly from Copperbelt and Lusaka province.

One such miner is Estely Siambalo. She is a 42-year-old mother of seven and can be easily located at a site in Chilobe, a community in Mapatizya area in Zimba.

She, together with her children, including her youngest child who is only seven, come to dig in the pits. Make no mistake, it is a dangerous venture - and they do not wear any protective clothing at all.

Ms Estely has to involve her children if she has to increase her chances of getting enough tin to sell and meet her family’s needs. A cupful of tin is roughly about 200ml and can weigh about three kilogrammes.

“On a day, if I am lucky, I can get a cup or two,” she says. “We used to sell it at K35 per kilogramme.”

On the London Metal Exchange (LME), the prices of tin nearly doubled from between US$18,184 and US$18,530 per tonne in October last year to trade somewhere between US$27,030 and US$32,950 per tonne.

“But that is after the buyers have sieved and separated the bad ones from the good ones. So, sometimes, what you thought was three kilogrammes can even come down to 1.5 kilogrammes after the process.”

Clearly, it’s a huge gamble. “Sometimes, it can take you a week to get a cupful of good quality tin,” says Ms Estely who has been mining in these pits since 1985.

Asked to single out at least one tangible item that she has bought from the money she has earned, she couldn’t even find the courage to lift a finger.

“There is nothing significant,” she says. “We just do it because there is nothing else to do here. The area is hilly and farming is not easy because of the stones and landscape.”

Sorting out the quality.

She is not alone.

Similonga Makowa is also a regular at the site. He says on some days, the site can have as many as 30 people digging for tin with rudimentary tools such as shovels, chisels and hammers.

Some women can also be seen with woven sieves which they use to sieve the mineral in readiness to separate the good quality from the bad ones with a magnet.

“One of the things that delay us is the benching [the process of putting some kind of scaffolding to protect the pit from caving in]. It takes a lot of time, but otherwise, on a good day, you can get even more than three kilogrammes a day,” he says.

Ironically, it seems Mr Makowa knows what risks come with mining from the site but for obvious reasons, he turns a blind eye to them.

“It’s not safe, I know. But what can I do?” he asks. “That is why we need enough manpower here to guarantee safety.”

Luckily for the miners, there has been no accident at the site, maybe yet.

“There is another tungsten pit nearby where the walls caved in and injured a woman. As for us here, we haven’t recorded any accident yet,” says the miner.

The Government recently gave a 90-day amnesty to illegal miners to have their operations formalised or legalised.

Paul Kabuswe

Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka recently, Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe announced the reopening of the Cadastre Department, which signifies the resumption of the issuance of mining licences. 

He warned that small-scale and artisanal miners that would be operating illegally after the amnesty period would be arrested.

“The Ministry of Mines has been given Cabinet approval to start the formalisation of the small-scale and artisanal miners,” he said.

Artisanal mining acts as a lifeline for communities without access to alternative income sources. In rural Zambia, where job opportunities are scarce, artisanal mining provides a means for survival. The sector ensures equitable wealth distribution, as earnings are retained within the community and spent on essential needs such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure development.

Moreover, artisanal mining preserves traditional practices and cultural heritage. Through the passing down of mining techniques from generation to generation, community members maintain a deep connection with the land and their ancestors, reinforcing their sense of identity and belonging.

While artisanal mining holds economic and sociocultural benefits, it also poses environmental challenges. The use of rudimentary tools and lack of regulatory oversight often result in poor mining practices, leading to land degradation, soil erosion, and water pollution. Additionally, increased deforestation and wildlife disturbances affect the delicate ecosystems surrounding mining sites.

Addressing these issues requires a collaborative effort between local communities, government bodies, and non-governmental organisations. Initiatives aiming to improve mining techniques, offer training on sustainable practices, and provide access to equipment can help mitigate the environmental impact of artisanal mining.

Recognising the potential of artisanal mining to contribute positively to the local economy while preserving the environment, stakeholders in Zambia are beginning to devise strategies to improve the sector's sustainability. Encouraging artisanal miners to organise into cooperatives promotes better governance and access to support services. Cooperative members can also pool resources to acquire more efficient machinery, reducing the sector's overall environmental footprint.

It is these compounding reasons that Caritas Zambia through a Swedish faith-based organisation, Diakonia has had engagements with various artisanal miners in Mapatizya and other places across the country to try and see how they can turn the tables and be able to earn more from the mineral than they are currently earning.

Chepa Lesa is programmes officer at Caritas Zambia. She says since 2019, it has, with the help of the Diakonia-funded Strengthened Accountability Programme (SAP II) project, decided to step in and help.

Chepa Lesa

“Our role was mainly to facilitate the attainment of a mining licence because when we went there initially, they were mining illegally and the price at which they were selling tin for was very low, at K35 per kilogramme,” she says.

Apart from Southern province, Caritas Zambia has also worked with similar miners in North Western, Copperbelt and Luapula provinces where artisan miners face many similar challenges, among them safety and lack of proper equipment.

Ms Lesa wants the miners to quickly get a mining licence if they are to benefit from the mineral. She says the miners are being exploited by briefcase buyers because they lack proper documentation.

Whitewaters Development Trust (WDT) is also another organisation that has been working closely with the Mapatizya community in trying to make sure that they have a sustainable livelihood. The organisation has offices in Zimba and Choma.

WDT director and senior trustee Jeffrey Mikunga who is also a magistrate at the Zimba local court says the organisation's thematic areas are climate change, sports development for youths, agriculture and tourism and mining.

“When we went there, we found those people mining without safety measures and it got us worried and concerned. We started to try and legalise the process for them - it was an expensive venture so the quotation we got was somewhere around US$25,000 and we couldn't find people to help us with the money,” he says.

At the governmental level, strengthening regulatory frameworks and ensuring effective enforcement of environmental and labour laws are vital. Alongside this, providing support for alternative livelihood opportunities, such as agricultural and tourism initiatives, creates a diversified economy that reduces communities' dependency on mining alone.

Emelda Munashabantu

Mapatizya Constituency Member of Parliament Emeldah Munashabantu Ms Munashabantu who has been at the forefront advocating for better mining conditions and the formalising of the sector in her constituency, hopes that there will be order once the mining cadastre issues licences to all those intending to conduct any mining related activities in the area.

She hopes as many people in her area form and register cooperatives so that they can formally apply for exploration and mining licences.

“My interest is the locals,” she said. “Government is looking at the bigger picture,which is mining in Zambia. But for me, I am mostly interested to see my people in Mapatizya benefiting more. Mapatizya is rich in minerals such as tungsten, amethyst, and even tin.”

Of late, there has been a discovery of more minerals in various parts of the country, resulting in concerns of a sharp rise in illegal mining activities mainly by locals who feel they need to directly benefit from the natural resources.

However, the Zambia Chamber of Mines has cautioned against tolerating illegal mining activities.

Sokwani Chilembo

Chamber of Mines chief executive officer, Sokwani Chilembo said in an interview that if well managed, the discovery of minerals, can help address high unemployment levels while contributing to boost the national treasury.

“The lesson here is that we need to be more structured about our exploration regime. There are ways of structuring the tax code to incentivise the institutions to invest in exploration so that Zambians go out and do it properly,” he said.

Artisanal mining in rural Zambia represents an intricate tapestry of challenges and opportunities. Although its unregulated nature poses environmental risks, the sector plays a fundamental role in sustaining rural livelihoods and fostering community resilience.

By addressing these challenges through collaborative efforts and sustainable practices, artisanal mining can continue to unlock the hidden gem of rural Zambia, benefiting local communities for generations to come.

For now, Zambians whose areas are endowed with these minerals, remain subjected to unfair pricing and driven into mining activities without safety measures taken into consideration.

“No, Fringilla won’t die with mum, dad,” after losing parents, Andrew tells Fringilla story

“YEAH, I do miss them. I really do miss them,” Andrew Woodley, with a dejected face, says as he remembers his late parents George and Minnie Woodley. “But you always know that this day is always going to come. You think you are ready, but you are never ready.”

Andrew, 61, is the only surviving child of George and Minnie Woodley.

George and Minnie, who died seven months apart – June 18, 2022 aged 87 and January 17, 2023 aged 84 respectively – were the visionaries in the start-up of Fringilla and most of its enterprises. 

Today, Fringilla is renowned for its famous sausages, the boerewors and meat pies.

I caught up with Andrew, who gave an insight on the life of his parents and how the famous Fringilla was established.

“We came to Zambia in 1971,” he said. “My dad took a job as a farm manager under the Rural Development Company (RDC), on a three-year contract, to run a farm in Lusaka West under the RDC. It was at a time when the country was trying to get farms up and running so that Zambia can become more self-sufficient.”

To get the job, Andrew says, his father was interviewed by fourth republican President Rupiah Banda in Nairobi, Kenya.

“So he came to a farm that had not worked for years, and he did a very good job there,” he says.

Andrew says his parents were loved by the people. The Woodleys’ initial plan was to run out his father’s three-year contract then head out to Australia. But no, that wasn’t to be.

Instead, they ended up buying the place that sits on a 200 hectares piece of land and named it Fringilla – after the Fringilla Coelebs, a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family.

“…in 1974, this farm came up for sale. They bought it and at the time, my dad still had a contract with the Government. A few months later, my mother came and worked in the dairy,” he recalls. “Those days there was nothing here. I cannot even remember what the farm’s name was at the time.”

“It just grew and grew and grew,” Andrew says with a giggle when asked about his parents’ initial plan for the place. “My dad, he’d wake up in the morning and just do something. There was nothing really planned for a long-term sort of plan.” 

Andrew says his parents, who were both born in Kenya, were very industrious. They set up the butchery somewhere around 1975 and 1976.

It was around that same time that Minnie, as confirmed by her son Andrew, developed the famous Fringilla boerewors, whose recipe continues to be kept under ‘lock and key’.

In about 1990, they decided to rent out the butchery to someone else while they concentrated, largely, on developing the guest house in 1993.

“My mother started making the Fringilla pie, which has also become very popular among customers,” says Andrew. “Those days there weren’t shops in town where you could buy the ready-made mixes to batch packs. So it was all made by trial and error. My mother could mix spices and stuff to make the sausages and the pies herself.”

The guest house has also grown, with over 65 rooms, and Andrew is full of gratitude to Zambians for the support. 

“My parents always believed that a customer comes first. They were very good to their customers and have helped a lot of people around here (Chisamba),” he said.

Andrew took interest in making sausages around 1994. He got the motivation from the fear of losing his mother.

“I was worried my mum and dad weren’t going to be around much longer to teach me how to make the sausages,” he said. “… and they died 30 years later. That’s a lot of life ahead of them, so when I thought they were coming to the end of their road, they still carried on – which was amazing.”

Andrew has been running the butchery for close to 30 years now. “When my mum died, we were in it for 15 years, even the guest house,” he says. 

During that time, his parents were mostly embattled with failing health. His father, George, for instance, had Parkinson’s disease, which mostly left him bedridden, while his mother, Minnie, was there to tend after him, even though she too had her own health complications such as diabetes and old age.

“It was just sad, so sad to see him, for someone who was full of energy, full of drive and he ended up being bedridden,” Andrew said about his father. “And the poor man never gave up, though.”

He is convinced his mother kept herself alive just so she could take care of her sick husband, George.

“The way my mother stood by him was unbelievable. I am convinced that had my father not been sick, my mother would have died long before. It’s like she just kept herself alive so that she could look after my dad,” he says. “She stood by my dad like you cannot believe, he was in hospital three to five times a year.”

When her husband was in the intensive care unit at the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH), Minnie developed a complication with her heart which led to her being admitted to the same hospital.

“... and the doctor said ‘Mrs Woodley, it’s like you have made yourself sick so that you could be in hospital with your husband’,” recalled Andrew amid a gloomy laughter.

His father, George, was born in Eldoret, Kenya, on December 18, 1936, and his mother, Minnie, was also born in the same town on July 27, 1939.

“My parents were also loved in Kenya and that is why we receive a lot of them (Kenyans) here whenever they are in Zambia. Even President William Ruto has been here to visit my father, and the embassy is always referring Kenyan visitors to Fringilla for treats,” he said. 

Other than Andrew, the couple had another child named Martin George Woodley, who died of malaria in 1985 aged 21.

At the time of moving to Zambia, Andrew was only nine years old. He also shared with us how it was in the first days.

“When we were driving from Kenya, it was in 1971, and the road was terrible, through Tanzania. We came by road using Peugeot 404’s and we spent four to five nights on the road. I remember somewhere in Mbeya, a wheel came off. We came with our cats and dogs and a tortoise. I loved those days – things were tough, but they weren’t that tough,” he says. “Once I tried to take a shortcut when making the sausage, some many years ago, by putting some extender there to make it cheaper. This is a very expensive sausage to make and we got away with it, but my mother later found out. Eish! I was beaten that day. My mum always wanted the best standards for the sausages – you had to keep it 100 percent meat.”

On February 18, 2023, Fringilla hosted a memorial service in honour of the late Minnie. Asked about the attendance, Andrew said: “Yo! I cannot tell you, it was a lot as you can see in the condolences book.”

But even without the visionaries of the farm, Andrew says it will continue going forward.

“No, it definitely won’t die with them,” he said. “For the last, maybe, 10 years, my mum and dad have been out of it, it’s been completely run by us. They were there for us to go and get advice from and if we did anything wrong, we would still be reprimanded.”

He describes life without his parents as ‘empty’. “It’s something that you are going to miss. There are things that I wish I could ask my mum and dad about, but they are not here anymore, it’s sad,” he said. 

Andrew is married to Julie and they have three children together – two boys and a girl. He now runs the farm, together with his wife, oldest son Alex and Chisha, his daughter-in-law.

“So my mum and dad were very blessed because their grandchildren grew up with them on the farm. And you know it’s amazing how the farm that I grew up from, from the age of 10, 11, I am still here at 60 and my children have grown up. So that’s Zambia and it’s been fantastic with us. If we had gone to Australia, I don’t think we would have been able to have this legacy,” he said.

Andrew misses the evenings he used to spend with his parents.

“They are not there anymore, which I find difficult. But can you imagine, at 60 years old, losing your parents, I was lucky, you know. Some people lose their parents a lot younger,” he says. “My mother would be telling everybody, including the best farmers, about how much of a fantastic farmer I am. I would say, ‘mum, I am a good farmer but I am not better than them’. But to a mother, you are always the best.” 

“My mother was an incredible person,” he says. “I saw them fighting only once. They were busy making butter in the old kitchen here in our home and I don’t know what the fight was about and those guys started throwing butter at each other.”

Fringilla Farms, which is situated in Chisamba on the Great North Road, rears cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep and goats. It also plants wheat, soya beans and grows grass which it later uses to make bales for the cattle.

“We pretty much do everything,” says Andrew. But the main business remains the butchery and the guest house.

Andrew also shared that Fringilla has stopped taking part in the national boerewors competitions because it has outgrown the competition.

“… all of them want to make a sausage as good as ours – so it’s better we go in as judges, not as competitors,” he said.

He continues: “So, I think people have learnt to trust our brand. I have been doing it for 30 years now, and for the last 10 years, I can say my mum had just been looking after my dad.”

The Woodleys, who died seven months apart, were cremated as per their wish. Andrew intends to put their ashes next to their late son Martin’s grave, which is within the Fringilla grounds.

WHAT HAPPENED TO 'TILL DEATH DO US PART?' As divorce cases rise, couples urged to fix marriages for the sake of children

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema had some great advice for couples, not too long ago. He advised married couples to be tolerant of each other and to avoid checking their spouses’ phones frequently because it is a recipe for trouble.

Speaking when he hosted Paramount Chief Mpezeni at Community House on Sunday, President Hichilema said the recently revealed divorce statistics were unfortunate.

“We marry for love, we don’t marry to go and check each other out. What am I saying? Marriages must be kept, marriage is an institution, [it] is the oldest institution for humanity. I want to encourage Zambians to understand the genesis of marriage, the godliness of marriage, raising a family,” he said. “Countries anchored on communities, communities anchored on families. So, family unity is extremely important.” 

According to recent local court data that was made available to the Zambia Daily Mail, the number of couples who asked the courts to dissolve their marriages throughout the country had risen by about 9,000 cases to reach 31,000 last year from 22,000 recorded in 2021. 

Now, by any means, that is huge! 

“How we manage ourselves as husband and wife, how we manage our children has a bearing on how society is or will be. So, those statistics (divorce cases) are unfortunate,” said President Hichilema. “But also sometimes, I must tell you, the freedom that we ask for must have limits. Some of the polarisation of marriages comes from checking on your wife’s phone all the time, sneaking there, checking the messages.” 

He continued: “Even a general message you interpret it to mean this is a message that suggests something else. Innocent message. So, sometimes we must limit our freedom. Freedom means responsibility to limit our freedom, not to tamper with the freedom of others. Be tolerant, be understanding.”

From the 31,452 applications for divorce, the courts gave the go-ahead to 15,147 while 16,305 were not granted. 

The reasons for seeking divorce are familiar – infidelity and drunkenness. 

The shortest marriage among those dissolved lasted nine days and involved a couple from Eastern Province, the region that has been recording the highest number of divorce cases the last three years. 

The oldest couple that sought divorce lasted about 78 years in matrimony in North-Western Province compared to 67 years in 2021. It is presumed the couple must be nonagenarians, even taking child marriage into consideration. 

Commenting on the issue, Catholic priest Hermane Kouacou says in contrast to the figures, we have many couples that are living happily despite the challenges inherent to human living. 

“Divorces have many reasons, so it will be erroneous to single out one reason as the main cause of divorce today,” he said. “Jesus, in Mark 10:1-12 made it clear that man should not divide what God has united. In other words, he is saying that marriage, which is a sacred institution and

a sacrament for the Church, is for life.” 

Fr Kouacou, who is the assistant priest at Kabwata Parish, adds that ultimately, society suffers devastating effects of divorce. 

“It is a bigger problem when children are involved,” he says. “Marriage is not only a meeting of two people but it involves a big range of realities that get affected after divorce. In a nutshell, it is the society, at large, that suffers from a broken relationship.”

He also urges people not to overlook every stage of preparation for marriage. 

“Once an old couple was asked how they managed to stay together for so long. They smiled and replied that they grew up in a time where people were educated to fix broken things and not to throw them away. 

“On top of that, one can mention the lack of communication and dialogue, which are fundamental to any relationship. Impatience can also be pointed out as characteristic of this technological era. The least one can say is that marriage is for life. Consequently, we encourage couples to fix what can be fixed to avoid themselves, children, and society suffering from the devastating effects of divorce,” he said. 

Many studies have found that children of divorced families experienced lower levels of well-being regardless of scholastic achievement, conduct, psychological development, self-esteem, social competence, and relationships with other children. 

“Thus, one has to live with a child coming from a broken relationship to understand all the traumas that divorce enforces on children and how it distorts their view of the world and marriages,” he said. “For our part, we believe that nobody is to be blamed for the increasing number of marriages.

“We have to admit that the whole of our society is sick, and not only the aspect of marriage.” 

Further, research has also indicated that divorced adults are more likely to become impoverished while their children experience psychological and economic stress, which delays their social, psychological and economic development. 

Other researchers also believe that divorce, which is hated by God, according to Malachi 2:16, slows economic growth. However, those reasons appear not to be a discouragement among couples who cannot agree on certain issues. 

“There is too much relaxed living among both men and women in marital unions. There is competition for beer drinking, infidelity and lack of respect. People do not respect the institution of marriage nor place value in it,” says Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) executive director Mirriam Mwiinga.

Ms Mwiinga says nowadays people are not listening to counsel from elders. 

“They listen to their friends and go to social media for advice. Mediation and conflict resolution are not considered important,” she said. “People marry for wrong reasons. They want a fancy wedding, pictures, fame and all. They do not realise that the institution of marriage is bigger than the wedding event itself. It is bigger than all the frenzy that goes with a wedding.” 

Veteran musician and marriage counsellor Mary Miti, popularly known as Mama Nyongo, says people should not overlook the importance of going through traditional marriage counselling prior to getting married.

Ms Miti says traditional marriage counselling for both males and females in the lead-up to marriage is important as it gives a strong foundation for the union to last. She says couples that go through traditional marriage counselling before marriage stand a better chance of not going through a divorce at some point in their union. 

Ms Miti has, however, noted that some people don’t take the lessons seriously even after going through intensive traditional marriage counselling with their *Bana chimbusa* and *Bashi bukombe.* 

She said doing so creates a weak foundation of a marriage. 

“Nowadays, we have many divorce cases because of such tendencies of overlooking the teachings or simply not taking them seriously and just doing them for the sake of formality only. That is not how it should be,” she said. 

Ms Miti advises that traditional marriage teachings be done side by side with church and biblical teachings because they are both important in marriage. 

She said she appreciates the role that the Church and the Bible play in a home. 

“God is everything and there is no way you can ignore His critical role in marriage when He is put in the centre. But in the same way, traditional marriage counselling is important because it helps preserve our culture and helps couples to overcome and solve problems that they may encounter in their marriage,” she said. 

It is an open secret that divorce leads to broken families and multiplies the number of vulnerable children, a situation which parents should avoid.

Most of the testimonies from street kids point to divorce between their parents as the cause for their fate. While it is recognised that sometimes divorce is inevitable given the degree of the problem in marriage, parents are urged to consider the feelings of their children before they go separate ways because break-up of marriages has a long-standing psychological effect on the children, who mostly end up having a negative perception of marriage when they grow up, such as the case for Pamela Mumba. 

Ms Mumba, now 24, was raised by a single mother. Her parents divorced when she was five years old. 

“To be frank with you, I don’t even look forward to marriage. I see no need for it since everything there is in marriage can be easily accessed even outside of it. People can easily adopt children if they so wish,” she says. 

Human rights activist Gregory Cifire also weighs in and says: “Some problems we see in some children from broken homes emanate from the fact that they come from homes where parents are not talking. Children grow well when their parents are together,” he said.

Mr Cifire said divorce sometimes is not the ultimate solution, although it happens.