“The Ministry of Mining is
committed to develop, regulate and sustain a viable mining industry that
promotes sustainable mineral resource exploration and exploitation through creation
and provision of a conducive mining environment for the socio-economic
advancement of the country.” This statement was quoted by Hon. Keketso Sello,
the Minister of Mining while presenting the Ministry`s budget from the National
Assembly of Lesotho on Tuesday, 26 March 2019.
In his budget presentation, Hon.
Minister of Mining pleaded with the Honourable House to approve the total
expenditure budget request of M42,
080,269.00 out of which: M24,158,469.00 is for Recurrent Budget,
while the sum of M17,921,398 is for
Development Budget, and the Revenue Budget estimate is M627,916,575.00.
When reporting on the 2018/19
priorities, the Hon. Minister proudly reported before Parliament that his
Ministry successfully managed to attain the following:
Completed the 2015 Minerals and Mining Policy
Implementation Plan and Ministry’s 2018-2022Strategic Plan, which was approved
in November, 2018 and its Implementation Plan;
Ministry’s legal and legislation framework review
in advanced stage;- With assistance from Ministry of Finance, the
Ministry solicited support from the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) to
review the mining leases and legislative framework;
- In conjunction with the Lesotho Chamber of Mines,
the Ministry held a successful “Mining Khotla” in November, 2018 where mining
houses and business community interacted to explore opportunities that exist
within the mining industry;
- Two geochemical map sheets in addition to the
existing 47 generated to update the mineral resources information, reaching a
total of 49 out of 58 for the whole country;
-
Generated from target satellite image analysis for
Ribaneng area on mineral analysis;
-
Fourteen prospecting licenses awarded;
-
Two new mining leases awarded;
-
One mining lease renewed.
- To complete the review of existing legal and
regulatory framework for the mining sector and institutional arrangements to
create an enabling environment for policy strategy that enhances
competitiveness, transparency, predictability and consistency, as a catalyst
for attracting more investment into the mining industry;
-
To intensify mineral exploration to determine
potential mineral resources and reserves of the country through follow up
exploration programmes on selected target areas;
-
To intensify and support mineral exploration in
the country through, among other initiatives, construction of a fully-equipped
Geoscience Laboratory facility for sample analysis;
-
To expand the mining industry by opening new mines
and creating enabling environment for facilitating downstream activities;
-
To implement both the Minerals and Mining Policy
Implementation Plan, and the Ministry’s 2018-22 Strategic Plan to improve the
sector performance and optimise revenue collection;
-
To improve revenue collection from the mining
sector by putting in place measures that help maximize revenue collection as
per the new Policy Implementation Plan.
To speed up the legal framework to accommodate
revenue collection from the Artisanal and Small Scale Miners (ASMs) which is a
preferential opportunity strictly meant for
Basotho.
However, the Hon. Minister also
conceded that “nobody said it will be a smooth ride throughout the year.” There
were a number of challenges that hindered the Ministry from achieving an
“A-star” financial performance; and to mention but, a few, the Minister
reported as follows:
- The Ministry had to no choice but depend on some
of the resources of the mining companies’ such as “diamond valuation expertise”
due to budgetary constraints;
-
Insufficient budget for the Ministry to carry out
its mandate, and implement the Minerals and Mining Policy Implementation Plan
and the newly developed Strategic Plan.
- Failure by some mining companies to declare
dividends due to Government of Lesotho and to increase revenue collection;
- Lack of infrastructural support and difficult
terrain to mining areas, hence high startup capital costs for mining companies
which discourage potential investors;
-
Lack of up-to-date information on the country’s
mineral resources;
- Delays in completion of architectural drawings for
construction of Geosciences Laboratory, which
threatens allocation of funds in the future;
- Inadequate human resources capabilities to monitor
compliance and enforcement, and Ministry’s inability to retain skilled
personnel;
- The existing legal framework does not respond to
the Minerals and Mining Policy aspirations, hence the current review process;
and
- Lack of diamond valuation skills which renders the
Ministry to seek the services of a reputable Diamond Valuator despite the lack
of the budget.
According to a Member of
Parliament, Hon. Kimetso Mathaba, the Ministry of Mining is still challenged to
assure the nation that the Mining companies report fairly on the proceeds from
the diamonds that they sell abroad. “Currently the Ministry cannot assure this
Honourable House of the true value of the diamonds produced in the country and
the price that they fetch in the international market,” observed Hon. Mathaba.
In conclusion, the Chairman of
the Natural Resource Portfolio Committee, Hon. Mpalipali Molefe also concurred
that the House approve the requested amount by the Minister of Mining. However, Hon. Molefe stressed that it was high time that
the Ministry made it easier for Basotho Artisanal Miners to benefit from their country`s
mineral resources. It was acknowledged,
though, that considering the role that the Ministry is playing in terms of job
creation and its contribution to the fiscus, the amount requested was still
deemed very low.
All-in-all, the majority of the Members
of Parliament present on the day, strongly recommended that the Ministry be allocated
the budget that the Hon. Minister of Mining had presented before the House.
Just awaiting the government's warrants so that we execute the Ministry's 2019 plans.
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