Mining
Sakhuta denies being solely responsible for Kangankunde raw monazite exports
August 03, 2026 / Marcel Chimwala
Former Director General for Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority (MMRA) Samuel Sakhuta says he is shocked with reports solely associating him with the two contradictory letters to Australian junior miner Lindian Resources that Mining & Trade Review published regarding exportation of raw monazite concentrate from Kangankunde Rare Earth Mine in Balaka.
Mining & Trade Review last month published the two letters both dated Octobers 28, 2025 signed by Sakhuta, with one rejecting the exportation of raw monazite concentrate owing to the ban on exportation of raw minerals declared by State President Arthur Peter Mutharika and another one giving consent to the raw mineral exports by claiming that processing monazite mined at Kangankunde to monazite concentrate stage is value addition, according to the ban.
In the letter that rejected export of raw monazite concentrate, Government encouraged Lindian to process the monazite to rare earth oxides locally citing provisions for the ban and Kangankunde mining licence terms.
Lindian the following day published a Press Statement on the Australian Stock Exchange announcing that Malawi Government had authorised it to export monazite from Kangankunde . The positive announcement culminated into the junior miner signing multimillion-dollar offtake agreements with foreign processors and raising over a US$100-million to finance its operations at Kangankunde and the Kazakhstan refinery.
On both letters, there are indications that they were copied to the Office of the President and Cabinet and the Ministry pf Mining.
Sakhuta said in a telephone interview with Mining & Trade Review that Malawians must not blame him solely for the letters because they were the Ministry of Mining’s decision.
“You can see that they were copied to OPC (Office of President and Cabinet) and the Ministry of Mining which shows that they were not solely the work of Sakhuta,” he said.
When put to him that the Ministry of Mining denied any knowledge of the letters, he said it could be that the Ministry does not want to commit itself to the letters since the Minister and a number of senior officials are new.
Minister of Mining Honourable Thoko Tembo said his Ministry is waiting to receive comprehensive briefings from relevant technical and regulatory authorities before commenting on the alleged irregularities in the development of Kangankunde Rare Earth Mine.
Tembo said: “I will refrain from commenting on operational details of the Kangankunde Project until I have received comprehensive briefings from the relevant technical and regulatory authorities.”
“Once that process is complete, the Government will communicate its position where appropriate.”
“Our objective is to ensure that Malawi’s mineral resources are developed responsibly, transparently and in manner that delivers maximum benefits to our citizens.”
Kangankunde, scheduled to start commercial raw monazite exports this November, is set to become the first ever rare earth producing mine in Malawi.
Lindian has been exporting raw monazite concentrate from Kangankunde to test its refinery that it has bought in Kazakhstan for the project.
The Company conducted the first blast at Kangankunde last month marking the official start of mining at the site.
The Minister of Mining and senior officials at the Ministry missed the ceremony as they were touring the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project in Lilongwe on the same day.
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Rehabilitation:
The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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Remediation:
The cleanup of the contaminated area to safe levels by removing or isolating contaminants. At mine sites, remediation often consists of isolating contaminated material in pre-existing tailings storage facilities, capping tailings and waste rock stockpiles with clean topsoil, and collecting and treating any contaminated mine water if necessary.
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