"One of the areas where we have great challenges is the mining area [...] In the informal area, we must recognize that many Mozambicans engage in [illegal] mining as a way to guarantee their livelihood, without observing the environmental and safety rules that are common", said Carlos Zacarias.

The government official was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the Coordinating Council meeting of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, which is taking place in Mossuril, in the province of Nampula, in northern Mozambique.

Despite the challenges, Carlos Zacarias continued, the Mozambican government has sought to give "due attention" to illegal mining.

"We sometimes witness serious accidents, which even lead to the death of people. This area of small-scale mining is an area that we have to pay a lot of attention to", added the government official.

Among the various mining companies operating in Mozambique, Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which mines rubies in northern Mozambique, has been the one that has complained the most about the impact of illegal mining in the country, denouncing what it calls "modern slavery" to which many young people are subjected, at the behest of traffickers of precious stones in the international market, in the deposits within the company's concession.

Since the beginning of mining exploration (2012), dozens of illegal miners have lost their lives in several accidents in the almost 34 thousand hectares of concession that the company, 75% owned by the Gemfields group, has in Cabo Delgado.

In addition to the challenge posed by illegal mining, Carlos Zacarias highlighted the plans to expand the electricity grid in the country, which aims to achieve universal access to energy by 2030 with measures that include expanding the electricity infrastructure and off-grid solutions, according to the Energy Transition Strategy.

"In this province alone [Nampula], as far as the goal is concerned, we are between 60 and 70%. We want to take advantage of this occasion [the coordinating council] to try to resolve some aspects that have not allowed us, up to now, to complete the electrification", he added.

According to the economic and social balance of the execution of the State Budget from January to June, 194,767 new household connections to the National Grid and Isolated Systems were made during this period, raising the national coverage rate to 49.4% of households, against 47.8% at the end of 2022 or 40.3% in 2021.

Under the motto "For a transformation and local use of mineral and energy resources for development", the coordinating council meeting in Nampula will run until Friday, bringing together several officials from the ministry and presidents of several public companies.

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