Mining
EDITORIAL
August 07, 2026 / Marcel Chimwala
Lack of transparency threatening Malawi’s mining sector
It is unfortunate that several months have now elapsed since we started reporting developments at the Kangankunde Rare Earth Mine in Balaka but the Malawi Government is not coming out in the open to explain to Malawians about the mine.
The information that we have is always from Lindian Resources published on Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as the Australian junior resource firm entrusted with Malawi’s gigantic world class resource continues to attract investors in the global financial market.
As reported in our lead article, these ASX revelations enabled us to learn that Lindian is exporting raw monazite concentrate despite the ban on exportation of raw minerals declared by State President Arthur Peter Mutharika.
After being summoned to the Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority (MMRA) offices to explain our revelations, we were told that the exports were part of mining trials with Lindian reporting on ASX that it was testing its refinery in Kazakhstan.
It is through the same ASX that we learnt that Lindian bought a refinery in Kazakhstan specifically for Kangankunde Monazite.
As reported in the article on Front Page, we initially published a letter from MMRA signed by the former Director General Samuel Sakhuta authorising Lindian to export raw monazite concentrate, which we sourced from the ASX as part of a Lindian Press Release informing the markets that it had secured consent from the Malawi Government to export the rawer mineral.
Later we sourced another letter from MMRA with the same date, headline and signatory indicating that MMRA had rejected Lindian to export monazite concentrate owing to the ban.
It is surprising that there has been no official statement on the issue from the Government with the Minister of Mining Thoko Tembo saying he is waiting for technocrats in his Ministry to investigate before issuing an official statement.
But the question we have is that when will these technocrats that Tembo is waiting for finish investigations for Malawians to be told the truth on the issue?
Malawians, as rightful owners of the minerals have the right to know whether government gave consent to Lindian to be exporting raw mineral concentrate or not despite our elected leader banning the same.
Civil Society Organisations have been complaining about lack of transparency in Malawi’s mining sector. By delaying to come out officially on Kangankunde, government is qualifying this as the truth which is not only a fertile ground for corruption but also a threat to the growth of the sector that has the potential to transform Malawi’s economy.
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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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