Gold panning, which has been taking place along Thondwe River, has been halted.
Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno banned the works after visiting the site.
She noted that a lot of exploitation, child abuse and theft is taking place on the site.
“We need to start from scratch, with people getting proper documentation for mining,” Chang’anamuno said.
She observed that people were working so hard but were being robbed by illegal buyers, pointing out that the Reserve Bank of Malawi is the only authorised buyer of Gold in the country.
However, some buyers that we found on site said they had other buyers who were buying the alluvial gold at a better price than the Bank, allegations the minister brushed off.
Alluvial gold old has been fetching as low as K1000 for half a kilogramme in the area, which is not the recommended price.
