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ZCCM Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH) and planetGold Zambia Limited have entered into an agreement aimed at promoting mercury-free mining, fair markets and improved livelihoods for artisanal and small-scale miners.
The partnership will ensure that gold supplied from the project’s mercury-free processing sites is traceable, while also helping miners obtain fair value for their work—contributing to higher incomes and more sustainable livelihoods across mining communities.
The agreement was signed in Lusaka on Tuesday by ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer, Kakenenwa Muyangwa, and Abigail Mwailenge, National Project Manager at planetGold Zambia.
The ceremony was witnessed by the Acting Director General of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency(ZEMA), Christopher Kanema, represented by Constantino Mwembela, Manager for Environment Assessment. The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development was represented by Jackson Kafwanka, Assistant Director for Artisanal Small-scale Miners (ASM).
Speaking after the signing, Muyangwa said ZCCM-IH believed that through its partnership with planetGold Zambia, the Global Environment Facility-funded initiative was bringing world-class solutions to artisanal and small-scale gold miners.
“Today’s signing demonstrates the importance of partnerships in addressing complex challenges within the mining sector. By working together, we can promote safer mining practices, reduce environmental impacts, and improve the livelihoods of artisanal mining communities,” he said.
In her remarks, Mwailenge said the agreement forms part of the project’s ongoing efforts to support the formalisation of the gold sector while expanding access to finance and formal markets for artisanal and small-scale miners.
She expressed gratitude to partners working to ensure the sector grew into an economically viable industry contributing to national development.
“The future of the ASGM sector depends on the actions we take today… this Memorandum of Understanding is a significant step forward in advancing the development of the ASGM sector in Zambia,” Mwailenge said.
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Earlier, Kafwanka from the Ministry of Mines reaffirmed government’s commitment to transforming the ASGM sector into a more organised and formalised industry built around community-driven enterprises that produce fully traceable gold and comply with regulatory requirements.
He said the agreement was a major milestone toward actualising the Ministry’s formalisation agenda by ensuring miners accessed formal markets, earned fair value for their products and operated in safe, environmentally responsible ways.
“As the Ministry, we stand ready to provide technical guidance, policy support and continued partnership to ensure that this partnership becomes a model of resilience and inclusivity,” Kafwanka said.
He added that Zambia had the potential to turn artisanal and small-scale gold mining into a sector that meaningfully contributed to the country’s Sustainable Development Goals while protecting natural resources for future generations.
Meanwhile, Kanema of ZEMA said the planetGold Zambia project was designed to reduce—and ultimately eliminate—the use of mercury in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector through a holistic, multi-sectoral formalisation approach.
“This includes promoting and piloting sustainable mercury-free processing systems, increasing access to finance, facilitating access to traceable gold supply chains, as well as strengthening knowledge sharing, communication, and local capacity building,” he said.
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