TZW
Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched a nationwide tree-planting campaign that also targets to make Dodoma a green city but authorities at the new gold mine say “it’s not too late to start reclaiming these arid lands.
” “We have organised ourselves carefully … next month we will start planting trees … we want to support the government in its ambition to make Dodoma a green city,” says Mr Kulwa Limbu, manager at the Nholi gold mine.
The gold mine, named after the village it sits on, has at least 100 licensed small-scale miners. It has been contributing higher on loss of biodiversity in the village, leading in tree cutting for mining pit construction.
The manager says the authorities at the mine were now enforcing a new directive which demands that all new pits use concrete and steel pipes which are environmentally friendly.
“Some sites have already started replacing wood with steel pipes … our plan is to ensure we do not use trees in our activities,” he said. The deputy minister for Minerals, Mr Dotto Biteko who was on tour at the mines expressed gratitude that the artisanal miners understood their environment well, and were taking measures to protect it, saying the government was ready to support their initiatives.
He told artisanal miners that the government under President John Magufuli understood the challenges facing small-scale and large miners, saying that efforts would be taken to improve their working environments. “We have reviewed our laws to ensure they match with demands … we remain open to discussions that seek to improve both parties,” he said.
However, he tasked smallscale miners to ensure they put protective gear around all pits as safety precautions, saying “safety is a serious case and human lives cannot be substituted with the minerals.”