Kolo Mine is Mandated Keep Warm Relations

    By Rorisang David Mahlo 

 “Arguments never solved themselves, and similarly solutions never imposed themselves where there are difference of opinion, however, it is only when we take initiative to work collaboratively as team that we can get to the bottom our differences,” Hon. Keketso Sello uttered this words on a public gathering during his official visit to Kolo Mine (Reskol Diamond) on Thursday 9^th November, 2017. 

The objective of this visit was a threefold outreach: Firstly, just as prescribed in the Mines and Minerals Act of 2005 to regulate through monitoring of the progress since Reskol is on its Mine trial stage. Secondly, to practice an open door policy by opening a platform of talks between the Ministry and the community and lastly, to check the state of existing relations between Reskol Mine and its neibouring communities surrounding the Mine.

After listening very carefully to various speakers who represented the community from different denominations, Hon. Sello thanked everyone and assured the community that he will always be there for them since he made an oath to serve his Majesty and to be a policy leader when he accepted the mandate to come and oversee and rein the Ministry of Mining.

One of those areas that he responded with a promised to both Kolo Community and Reskol Mine was the issue of installation of grid electricity. In his address, Hon. Sello publicly announce that he will solicit some back up support from Hon. Leeto Putsoane, the newly elected Kolo Constituency and as a member of the current Parliament. 

Moreover, Hon. Sello went on to show that “as a means of double bargaining and application of strategy of winning the hearts of your voters, you and I will have to join forces in the Parliament to lay an urgent request for installation of grid power in this constituency for the benefit of Kolo Community and to help cut the operating costs for this Mine,” said Hon. Sello sending the message to Hon. Putsoane.

He concluded his speech with a key message of directives to Reskol Mine, by reminding them of their commitment signed in their lease agreement. “I am expecting to see you in harmonious relations with this community surrounding you and that is a commitment that starts with you and it will be reciprocated back if you do it right.” said Hon. Sello. 

Besides that, this event commenced with the tour of progress monitoring of the Mine. In this regard Hon. Sello took a tour to literally bear witness on the progress made together with the Reskol team who were by his side to explain the details, technicalities, achievements and challenges the company is facing on its trial operations.

On the positive side of Reskol achievements and even before the lapse of their shortest space of six months’ period allocated for their trial mining, one of the Reskol Directors reported to the public gathering that, “to this far we have managed to mine and treated up to ten thousand five hundred tones.” said Mike Renolds.  

Again, it is in this tour that Kolo Mine Geologist Mr. John Sejake also explained the geological formation at Kolo Kimberlite Pipe to the Hon. Minister of Mining. “As everyone can clearly see, the geological formation here is in such a way that, Kolo Pipe has two kinds of Kimberlite types, which are type A and B,” said Sejake. He also went on to explain the difference between type (A) which is the gray rock, as a tough nut to crack (hard to process) and (B) which is the cream white rock, which he described as the easy one to process in the plant.   

  

Adding that both types of rocks require a different treatment plants to ensure better results, of which is the main reason why they had to temporarily suspend their operations and start soil and rock sampling that would ultimately determine the specific suitable plant to process and treat both types without any hustle or damage inflicted on the target precious stones.

According to Kolo Geologist Mr. Sejake, indicated that Reskol Diamond has decided to suspend operations and reported to the regulating Ministry from last month - October 2017 to date of  which is considered a lose on their mining business point of view. 

  

Furthermore, the Hon. Minister walked around the side to inspect the Mine to verify every reported details inclusive of checking all the plant and its functionality, plant condition and capacity for the stage in which they are operating within, and many other minute details.

Immediately after the mine inspection, the Hon. Ministers entourage joined Kolo community at Chief Bereng Seeiso` chieftaincy public gathering grounds where the community issues were presented. On Behalf of the Kolo Community, the Chair Person of the Committee linking the community with the Mine Mrs. `Mamahlape Hlapane, reported a quite mammoth list of the grievances but putting them in their order of priority.

First and for most, Mrs. Hapane reported to the Minister and his team about the discrepancies that happened as a result of intervention made on the 20^th of October, 2017 of cutting the set initial direct link between the community and Mine, that caused a dead silence between the two parties and the fear is, in the mist of that silence, a lot seem to be happening in the mine; and the community can only see but there is no feedback or any form of communication reported back to the community till to date.

Secondly, Mrs Hlapane complained about the unfulfilled water installation promise to the village as their basic need especially during the dry times like the one that they are in at the moment. Instead the villagers learned that Reskol has drilled their own pair of blowhole that benefits only the Mine discriminating the benefiting villagers.

Third and as the last in their priority was a construction of an access road to and from the very closest villages to the Mine which are Ha Petlane and Ha Nkhabu.

 

In general, Reskol Diamond Mine was granted Mining concession way back in 2011 under the auspices of the then Ministry of Natural Resources and will be expiring in 2021. This company (Reskol Diamond) succeeded the Engel Diamonds that came before and that did the prospecting work, though it was ultimately dissolved.

More over when that time of expiry (ref: the year 2021) comes, Reskol`s achievements and progress made to this far, as judged against their  work programme, will be the only determining factor for the Mining Board to reconsider  to advise the Hon. Minister of Mining to re-grand them an extension or renewal of their mining lease.

Mining fortifies Policy with Strategic and Implementation Plans

      By Rorisang David Mahlo

The government of Lesotho through the Ministry of Mining has decided to fortify the Mining Policy with strategic and Implementation plans. The development of these strategic tools has brought about a thirst to see the policy addressing the Mining Policy issues. So, the Ministry of Mining has embarked on a campaign to develop the Strategic and Implementation Plans as a mode of operationalising the recently launched Minerals and Mining Policy of 2015. This campaign started at Maseru Avani on 23-24 of October 2017 with a group of Mining Stakeholders. 

  

This campaign is aimed at consolidating the views and opening up the platform for the stakeholders to build up an inclusive and stakeholder concerted and informed plans. The objective is to device plans that will directly address all ten (10) thematic areas and numerous strategies reflected under each thematic area in the Mining Policy. Moreover the Ministry is hoping to develop plans that are going be user-friendly to both players and regulators without any prejudice. 

      

In his opening remarks, the Minister of Mining, Hon. Keketso Sello emphasised that amongst many important areas, this implementation plan should cover a revised legal and regulatory framework for the policy to enable institutional reforms, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation plan. “In order for this policy to be successfully implemented there should be a comprehensive implementation plan and strategies in the areas of capacity development of the ministry in issues related to human resources and institutional reforms,” said Hon. Sello.

Hon. Sello added that as we all know that minerals are non-renewable resources, there has to be a clear strategy on how we can use the revenue accruing from the mining sector to strengthen other sustainable sectors that have potential to reduce unemployment and accelerate economic growth.

Most importantly he also reminded the stakeholders that the National Strategic Development Plan I (NSDPI) has identified mining as one of the growth accelerators and the industry is poised to contribute an estimated growth of more than 10% to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in the future.

In order to achieve the Ministerial mandate Hon. Sello showed that, as a country there is  a need to diversify into exploration of other minerals using modern and more appropriate technologies and such information being availed so that investment can grow within the sector. “Most significantly we need to create conducive environment for mining including downstream activities,” said Hon. Sello.

 

He went further to highlight what the NSDP Chapter on Mining provides for the sector as thus: “The NSDP Chapter on Mining caters for a number of strategies for the development of the mining sector as it advocates for augmentation for mineral resource intelligence systems and access to information on natural resources; improvement of policy and legal frameworks to address emerging issues and adoption of the best practices; increase value addition and improve marketing systems for mined products; development of the necessary skills base; and enhance investment promotion and local participation/ownership,”  Minister Sello sighed with the optimism to achieve.

On the other side and on behalf of the stakeholders, the Lesotho Chamber of Mines representative Mr. Mohale Ralikariki showed that the “exploitation of the country’s mineral resources requires foreign direct investment (FDI) and therefore, Mining policy and its Strategic and Implementation plans must be shaped, in manner that will assist in attracting FDI to create growth, which in turn will generate jobs, increase tax inflows, royalties, dividends,” reported Mr. Ralikariki.

Adding that both regulators and industry players must be cognisant of the fact that we have to compete globally for FDI and “currently our ranking by the World Bank in their annual ‘Doing Business Report’ is 100/190 (ranking was 128/189 in 2015),” said Ralikariki.

Furthermore Mr. Ralikariki cited ‘Fraser Institute, 2017’ where it is laying down the twelve (12) critical factors that international investors consider before undertaking any  business  activity in any country. Among them were the following and in no particular order of importance:

  

The regulatory framework – with certainty, minimal duplications/departmental overlap, stability of licence renewals;

Legal system – that is fair, transparent, non-corrupt, and efficient;

Infrastructure –such as roads, power and water;

Political stability – that has continuity of political institutions and policies;

Labour resources – reference to the availability of labour and skills, labour peace, access to foreign workers where skills are unavailable locally.

In a nutshell Mr. Ralikarik presented to the workshop that, if we currently do not have these phenomena listed above, he suggests that they must be the stakeholders’ priorities and be the first to be done in order to attract even more investors for future.

As a word of advice to both the Ministry and Stakeholders Mr. Ralikariki recommended that both parties must take steps to make Lesotho the mostly preferred FDI destination, and do away with anything that will dissuade our investors.

Lastly, in an interview with the Media, the Principal Secretary of Mining Mr. Soaile Mochaba told the media that this is just the beginning of the campaign. The Ministry is yet to host even more and regular kinds of similar workshops of stakeholders throughout the country so as to ensure its inclusiveness. 

 

In general, the Ministry of Mining, decided to develop a Minerals and Mining Policy, the very first policy for the sector which was approved by Cabinet in 2015, and officially launched in September, 2016. The Ministry solicited technical assistance from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) towards developing this policy.  Prior to the development of this policy there was no such policy document to give a strategic direction and guide the implementation of the Government’s goals in the minerals and mining sector.

This policy was benchmarked on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) which was adopted by Heads of State of the African Union in February, 2009. To this end, we requested the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide the Ministry with technical assistance towards developing the Lesotho Minerals and Mining Policy founded on the AMV principles but which will surely encapsulate Lesotho’s priorities as outlined in National Policies and Strategies.

The Lesotho` s Explosives Code Needs to be Strengthened

By Rorisang David Mahlo

PS Mining Mr. Mochaba & Eng. Mr. Tjatja

“The fact is Explosives are dangerous, irrespective of whether one is a blaster or a regulator or just an ordinary citizen. We need to appreciate this fact, and act accordingly.” This was said by PS Mining-Mr. Soaile Mochaba while addressing the local Explosives Practitioners on Friday the 20^th October 2017 on a Stakeholder closed Meeting held at Victoria Conference Hall throughout the day.

Most importantly, “If explosives are not handled with the maximum required care, we are exposing our citizens to enormous safety and security risks which we might not be able to put under control,” Said Mr. Mochaba. In addition to that he went on to remind stakeholders that, explosives can potentially be misused as “weapons,” and we definitely don’t want to let things graduate to that stage,” Mr Mochaba cautioned them. 

The objective of this closed forum was to invite and include the opinions of the active sector role players in the process of interrogating the current regime in the areas of importation, transportation, storage, handling and use of explosives. Also, it was to gather opinions on the much needed review and strengthening of the outdated regime governing the explosive sector (Explosives Proclamation Act 41 of 1958) that has remained unchanged for such a long time. 

In his opening remarks, the Principal Secretary (PS) Mining Mr. Mochaba, firstly appreciated a positive turnout demonstrated by the sector players and the stakeholders to his first call of duty meeting. “…and I hope this confirms the closeness and warmth of our working relationship from here onwards, because when we stand as united, we can overcome most sector challenges as a team,” says Mochaba.

Secondly Mr. Mochaba acknowledged the increasingly growing importance of augmenting explosives regime for proper administration, and execution by stakeholder for socio economic benefit of the country. Also taking cognisance of the fact that the auspices of explosives sector has  been handed over to the private sector 10 years ago though there were certain areas that were left blurry and unclarified. 

ACP. Ramachaea - (CIS)

Despite all the blurry uncertainties regarding the explosives Mr. Mochaba stated that the commercial explosives will always remain the integral and mostly demanded service in the mining and construction sectors. Adding that “If not well controlled they could be a threat to the innocent lives of people as they could be used as weapons,” emphasised Mochaba.  

  

As the proceedings commences and on behalf of the office of Commissioner of Mines Mr. Pokane Koatla presented a currently existing overview of laws used in the Mining sector including the undeniable dilapidated Explosives Act 41 of 1958. Mr. Koatla strongly appealed before the stakeholders to honestly revive the said Act in order to address the current sector challenges.

He explained that Explosive Regulations 1958 and Proclamation 41 of 1958 are collaborately administered by Commissioners of Mines and Police with the powers bestowed on both of them. Further highlighted that this act provides for the regulation of the manufacture, storage, sale, transport, importation, possession and use of explosive.

Adding that, “this law also caters for Blasting License and permits applications and procedures, penalties, duties of blasting license holders, importation and exportation procedures, powers of inspector of explosives,” said Koatla.

The reasons propelling for the review of this Act as according to Mr. Koatla are sincerely manier than the simple identified deficiencies in the Law such as the 25c application fee for acquisition for Explosives License to single out just one.   

Representing the Commissioner of Police, the Assistant Commissioner (ACP) heading the Criminal Investigation Section (CIS) - Mr. Raphoka Ramachaea also cautioned the forum that the Explosives Proclamation Act of 1958 has proved not to be a sufficient tool to address the current sectoral demands as things seem to be rapidly changing.

According to the input from ACP Ramachaea, there are currently a lot of misconduct done by most Explosives Practitioners which some are highly detrimental to the lives of respective innocent facilitators in the subsector. For instance delay to apply for import permit before placing a purchase order or a common stylish behaviour of storing explosives at the unlicensed places not meant for such.

Blasting Professionals

“Our observation with regard to the prevalent Explosives practitioners` misconduct is highly perpetuated by the imbalance between the existing statistics data versus the existing true number of the hands on Explosives Practitioners,” says ACP Ramachaea.

On behalf of Lesotho Defence Force, Captain Mosala Lehlohla conscientised the forum on the latest and most dangerous bombings that took place in some African countries like Nigeria, sampling out the case of Bokoharam and other countries, that “ we must be seriously worried about the looming explosives most particularly at this time of instability in the country.”

“Honestly, those who live in Maseru district in areas like Moshoeshoe II, Khubetsoana and Ha `Nelese amongst us here, will attest to this with a trembling fear.  Worst of all, these negatively impact on our national security and ruin our international reputation,” commented Captain Lehloka.

In its current state, the Explosives Proclamation of 1958 and its Regulations does not properly address the transportation, storage and usage nor the technological advances in explosives development.