Kayelekera accident

Paladin reports contractor fatality at Malawi uranium mine

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No sooner had we commented on the access road to Kayelekera that we read the following report

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and TSX-listed uranium miner Paladin Energy on Tuesday reported that a fatality had occurred at the Kayelekera uranium mine, in Malawi, as a result of a motor vehicle incident.

A construction contractor’s work vehicle overturned on a site access road on Monday, killing the driver, who is a Malawi national.

Police and relevant government officials have been informed and investigations were continuing, it said in a statement.

The 3,3-million pounds a year Kayelekera uranium mine was commissioned in January 2009, with production ramp-up beginning late April 2009.

Let's getting moving on rare metals

China, which mines over 95pc of the world’s rare earth minerals, is drawing up plans to prohibit or restrict exports of rare earth metals that are produced only in China and play a vital role in cutting edge technology, from hybrid cars and catalytic converters, to superconductors, and precision-guided weapons. A draft report by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has called for a total ban on foreign shipments of terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium. Other metals such as neodymium, europium, cerium, and lanthanum will be restricted to a combined export quota of 35,000 tonnes a year, far below global needs. READ MORE

Malawi is reputed to have quite a range of rare metals, especially in Kangalunde READ MORE. We ought to get into action. Only recently there were reports that mining n Kangalunde had been held up for three years over some legal disputes.

Getting ready for mining

By all accounts mining is likely to play an important role in the future of the Malawi economy. This month Malawi will export its first uranium. And only last week there were reports that a South African company is investing US$10 million in a bankable feasibility study that should see Malawi exporting Niobium by 2012 READ MORE.

Government unpreparedness for the Kayelekera was scandalous. A recent report indicates the area is still poorly served in terms of infrastructure: “The narrow, winding road to Kayelekera is mostly unsealed, crossing the North Rukuru and Sere Rivers as it makes its narrow, winding way past numerous scattered villages hugging its edges.” READ MORE. The population in the area has increased dramatically but there are no government social facilities. A doctor comes once a week from Chitipa. According to the Minister Mr. Malunga the government expects the mine to provide the social services.

Although we know that several major mining undertakings are in the pipeline we still have made no visible efforts to build local capacity in form of training local staff in mining engineering.

We have no excuse for being unprepared in the Kanyika and other cases in the pipeline. And we now have a competent man at the helm – Mr. Malunga. He should be able to argue for more resources to a Ministry which will be in charge of a major source of state revenues.

Mzuni freezes out students

One aspect of the ailment of the Malawi education system was revealed by the announcement by Mzuzu University o (MZUNI) that it would not be admitting students for its courses (optometry) generic and bachelor of science (information and communication technology):  READ HERE. The proximate cause for this decision was lack of teachers which in the case of optometry seems to be due to the fact that the only professor in the subject had been elected to the parliament. MZUNI can also  be blamed for initiating courses without much contingency planning.

There is, however, a deeper problem involving a gross misallocation of recourses. Malawi is among African countries with the highest unit cost per student in the tertiary education (See Table Below).  As things stand, we would be better off sending our students to some of neighboring countries. If we sent all our students to Zimbabwe or Nigeria, we would have thrice as many Malawian in tertiary education as we have today. This being a politically implausible solution, the comparison suggests we can do more to lower the costs. One immediate measure we can adopt is stop providing accomodation for third and fourth year students. They will have lived long enough in the town they go to school to find accomodation on their own and it will be a good entry point into the real life they are likely to confront after graduation.

 

Our system of education is inefficient  in the extreme and must be overhauled. We are simply spending too much for the little we are getting. It is unlikely that universities will reform themselves without external pressure from elected bodies.

 

 

Country	US$
Benin	864
Burkina Faso	3,192
Burundi	5,893
Cameroon	864
Central African Republic	864
Chad	1,584
Congo, Dem. Rep of	286
Congo, Rep. of	1,900
Côte d’Ivoire	957
Eritrea	860
Ethiopia	2,016
Gambia, The	1,102
Ghana	1,924
Guinea	615
Kenya	1,508
Lesotho	7,742
Madagascar	588
Malawi	2,533
Mali	836
Mauritania	666
Mozambique	2,244
Niger	1,482
Nigeria	704
Rwanda	1,975
Senegal	2,100
Sierra Leone	816
Sudan	891
Tanzania	1,855
Togo	455
Uganda	570
Zambia	1,827
Zimbabwe	782

The By-election

DPP lost two seats to independents. This must be cause for soul-searching on behalf of the party and its leadership. Immediately after the elections the party responses to the fact that quite a large number of independents had beaten DPP even in areas where the party’s presidential candidate had done well was that it would critically examine the factors behind that. Party officials hinted that they suspected the processes of primaries were flowed and too top down to capture local sensibilities and political realities. This again seems to be the situation in the recent primaries. Not much has happened at the level of national politics or economic performance to suggest a general swing away from Bingu and DPP.

The other striking thing about the result is the deafening silence of UDF. The party was simply nowhere to be seen or heard. Coming after the shocking defeat in the General elections it could be that the party is at a loss. Add on to that the fact that Bakili Muluzi did not provide the usual rallying buffoonery for the party.  The lgee over the results does not speak well of UDF’s future prospects.

Whatever factors lie behind this stunning result, the results raise serious questions about the ideologies, practices and structures of our political parties. Most still  tend          to function as personal fiefdoms or as the ruling party in a  one-party regime They seem to lack mechanisms for consulting with members and for gauging local opinion..

 

The results also clearly indicate that there is no room for complacency in Malawi politics. Malawi voters have demonstrated remarkable political maturity and will simply not vote for an individual because of the colour they carry even if the generally favour that particular party.

One should, of course, qualify the analysis by the fact that one of the constituencies involved is Ndirande – probably the country’s most sophisticated poltical constituency but also the most idosyncratic and unpredicatable. One needs to know more about what were the Ndirande issues during this campign before one can draw nation-wide implications from the results. Similarly for Malawa we need what were the local politics.  Right now our media and its “Gurus”,   fixated as they are with national politics,  are unlikely to shed much light.

For individual MPs, the by-elections must also be a reminder that their own fate  does not entirely depend on Bingu’s support. They must make their own mark in the eyes of their own local constituencies.  Sycomphany and just sitting Phwii in parliament wont help much.

The by-election speaks well of the health of our democratic institutions. Once again, our key institutions seem to have worked well. This is our fourth democratic elections. We have good cause to hope that democratic politics  is entrenched in Malawi.

 The by-election also points to the need to spped up  local government elections. In the absence of such local level democratic institutions, every local grievance will turn national because it also at that level people’s views are given democratic hearing , albeit once every five years.

 

 

Malawi Officials and mining companies

Now that we are entering into the mining Big League we are likely to encounter a whole range of things we may not be familiar with or not are really not ready for. One of these is poaching of expertise by the mining industry from the government. The other more delicate one is the placement of government officials into positions that are likely to be sources of conflict of interest. Take the case Lisungwe Mineral Resources Limited. Its webiste lists three Malawians among its senior management officials. Two of these seem to be still in government and one of them is now the Minister in charge of mining. The company provides the following information on the three:

 

• Wren Banda – Director, was for many years a senior officer in the Geological Survey Department of the Malawi government where he had extensive relevant field experience.
• Grain Malunga - Non-executive director -  graduated in mining geology from the University of Nancy (France) and has held posts as Director of Mines and Principal Secretary in The Ministry for Irrigation and Water Development in Malawi.
• John Nkhoma - Senior geologist - a qualified geologist with a degree from the University if Wales, Aberystwyth and post graduate diplomas and certificates form other universities, joined the team in January 2008. Since 1984 he has been employed by the Malawi government as a geologist, for the last two years as Deputy Commissioner for Mines and Minerals in the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

 

It could be that at the time of taking on these positions none of theese people  were still in government. However the possibility that they might have been suggests a need to look again at our regulations and guidelines. The mining industry can be an extremely corrupting industry and and always needs close regulation by the government. The regulators shoud not be part of the management teams of the mining companies. 

Mozambique: Ngauma Incident to Be Discussed by National Security Council

12 August 200

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Maputo — Malawian President of Malawi, Bingo wa Mutharika, said in Maputo this Tuesday that the recent incident of violence reported in the district of Ngauma, northern province of Niassa, involving Malawian border-guards inside the Mozambique territory would be discussed by his country Security Council. READ MORE

Border incident shortens Bingu's trip to Mozambique?

According to Mozambican papers, Bingu has had to cut short his trip to Mozambique because of the incident in which Malawi police attacked and destroyed a Mozambican police station in the province of Niassa. A headline in Mozambican paper suggested that the incident had overshadowed the visit of the President of Malawi. Bingu is reported to have been “forced ro rush home” to find out more about the about an alleged attack at a police barracks in Malawi,

Local journalists intepreted the absence of President Quebuza at the farewell ceremony as indication of Mozambiqcan displeasure. However the Minister of Foreigm Affairs who stood in for the Present said that the sudden change of schedule had made it imposible for Quebuza to be at the airport.

In an impromptu press conference a few meters from the presidential airplane, Bingo Wa Mutharika, said he decided to return "in a hurry" to consult with with his defense team and find out what happened. “I will return home early because I must also inform Guebuza my brother the results of the information I collect, "said Bingo Mutarika Wa. Bingu who declared the incident "a clear misunderstanding caused by individuals who acted on their own account." He hoped that for his next visit he would have more time to even go fishing. This was intepreted as an attempt to play down the incident and loosen the tension.
The Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oldemiro Balo, who replaced the head of state in the farewell ceremony for the President of Malawi, acknowledged that the destruction of the barracks of the Border Guard Force had been the "main event" of the visit of Bingo Wa Mutarika.

"The moment the incident happened was bad, when  the President was here.. but we put it in its proper perspective. It was just an incident," stressed Oldemiro

(Free translation from Portuguese version)

What ever happened to the Caborra Bassa Bill?

As Malawi reels under the incessant power cuts, one of the most urgent investment project must surely be the connection of the Malawi national grid to the Caborra Bassa. The funds are all there . In 2007 the World Bank approved a US$93 million credit July 17 for construction of a transmission line between Mozambique and Malawi, allowing Mozambique's 2,040-MW Cahora Bassa to fulfill a power contract with Malawi. Mozambique's share of the credit was to be US$45 million and would involve installation of a 135-kilometer, 220-kilovolt power line from the Matambo substation to Phombeya in Malawi. On the Malawi side, about 75 kilometers of 220-kilovolt transmission line would be built and a new 220-kilovolt substation installed at Phombeya.

According to a Wendy Hughes, World Bank senior energy specialist and project leader

"The interconnection will allow Malawi to reap the full benefits of membership of the Southern African Power Pool, both to import electricity when necessary, particularly if there's a drought, and also to export any surplus electricity Malawi doesn't use at night-time," said .

And yet in the recent parliament sitting one of the Bills that was not passed was one authorising the government to accept the World Bank loan to finance the interconnection. It will be recalled that last year, the Bill was not passed because the parliament never got around to discussing it after the President suspended it. So what is the reason this time?

We checked around. It now seems that Malawi and Mozambique have yet to agree on terms of the interconnection. Apparently Mozambique still insists that Malawi pay for a fixed amount of power whether or not it actually uses it. Malawi, on the other hand wants (a) to pay only for what it actually uses and (b) to be allowed to also export energy back to Mozambique should she have a surplus. This apparently what agreements between Mozambique and other Southern African Power Pool members specify.

The negotiations go as far back as 2003 and 6 years on there apparently is no agreement. Whatever is holding up the agreement, this goes against the expressed needs for connecting all SADC countries. At present Malawi, Angola and Tanzania are outside the pool READ MORE. For Malawi the delay will further hold back significant investment in mining which depend on availability of electricity. Malawi ought to mobilise its best diplomats and technocrats to engage Mozambique on this crucial issue.