Tony Sun (pictured), Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Group Limited, said this in Dar es Salaam recently when commenting on the progress of his company’s activities in Chunya District.
He said his firm has invested 3bn/- and employed 1,000 people from the district and buys tailings from the locals. Sun said Sunshine Group was doing everything possible to improve the lives of Chunya residents, adding that the feat is not without challenges which need to be addressed.
It provides education to small scale miners on mining entrepreneurship, but there is also the need for government support. “To address some of the challenges there is need to educate them on mining entrepreneurship.
The sector has been neglected here thus it fails to grow and contribute meaningfully to the development of the people, operations don’t use modern methods,” he said.
He said due to lack of knowledge, operations in the district are informal and unsustainable in nature and sometimes get little help from mining companies.
According to him, many small-scale miners lack training, capital and appropriate technology which results in low mining productivity, environmental degradation and poor occupational health and safety measures.
Before his company started operations in the district, he said, small scale miners only utilized 40 per cent of mined dust and tailings were dumped, but now 75 per cent of the dust is utilised, a development that makes many people in the area financially stable.
“As a company we are working with the people of this area, we provide them with knowledge on mining entrepreneurship so they can utilise the natural resources available in their district and live a happy life,” Sun told Mart Money in a recent interview.
He, however, said the main challenge they face now is the ban of buying and selling of tailings in the district by the National Environment Management Council (NEMC).
He said many people in the area got their earnings by selling tailings but after the ban the lives of many people has become difficult.
“In the past, local miners were using harmful chemicals to get tailings and minerals, but now we are using CIP (Carbon in Pulp) to separate gold.
CIP is a modern way of separation. It is my hope that soon NEMC will allow us to continue buying tailings from small miners,” he said.
As part of social cooperate responsibility (SCR), his company has constructed a 26 km road from Chunya town to Sasa village, and provided books and footballs to primary and secondary schools in the district.
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