Majority of Mining projects in Bengo, Angola, Currently at a standstill

The deputy governor for the Technical and Infrastructure sector of Bengo, Edson Cruz, said Wednesday 22nd March in Caxito that, since 2022, a total of 38 mineral exploration companies have been registered in the province, of which only 19 are are in full operation.

He added that, in 2022, a volume of 837,086 cubic meters of minerals was produced, which allowed the collection of a total of 72,609 million kwanzas.

He also referred that, considering the socio-economic activity of Bengo province to be, essentially, agricultural, the local Government sees with excellent perspectives the exploration of limestone rocks for the correction of arable soils.

Edson Cruz recalled that, in 2001, the province of Bengo had a total of 283 companies with mining rights and of this number, 83 were fully operational, employing 1,250 workers.

mineral exploration

Seventy-five percent of the 22 projects granted to the province of Bengo for the exploration of minerals are paralyzed and the remaining 25 percent work with some irregularity, informed, in Caxito, the director of the Supervision Office of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas.

Jacinto Cortez, who was speaking during a seminar on “Precepts of Administrative Procedure for the Granting of Mineral Rights”, in the meeting room of the Caixa Social das Forças Armadas, added that this situation concerns not only the Ministry of responsibility, but also the Government of Bengo .

Jacinto Cortez is of the opinion that this situation can be corrected by making the companies that benefit from the granting of mining titles responsible for having assumed a commitment with the local authorities to meet the necessary requirements for the exercise of this activity.

He informed that all 22 awarded projects are located in the municipalities of Dande, Ambriz and Nambuangongo.

“We visited some areas where the referred projects were established and the situation is quite worrying. Many areas are without personnel and others were simply vandalized. Therefore, the situation becomes very worrying for the authorities”, he said.

The other concern manifested has to do with the fact that the few projects in execution, for the most part, do not fully respect the established legal precepts, above all the mining code, adding that there are still serious problems in environmental terms and that must be corrected with the urgency.

“This is a worrying situation, which requires the local body to take corrective measures with the urgency that is needed in order to give a new breath of fresh air to this sector”, he said.

He referred that the mining sector, and in Bengo province in particular, if it works could bring development, creating more jobs and, in general, get out of the lethargy in which it finds itself.

Jacinto Cortez also said that there is evidence of vandalism at the TIANDAI MINING gold project, in Nambuagongo, paralyzed as a result of Covid-19, noting the looting of equipment due to the state of abandonment to which the project was voted by the operator.