" Angola: Illegal mining to be criminalised, 1.3M miners at risk" 22 March 2024

Angola is going to criminalise illegal mining activity, which currently has 1.3 million “garimpeiros” (illegal diamond prospectors), most of them foreigners, operating with nearly 300 large-scale machines, a state source said on Thursday.

The information was given in parliament by Angola’s secretary of state for mineral resources, Jânio Correia Vítor, who emphasised that the illegal exploitation of strategic minerals has had harmful negative impacts on the environment, human life, public health and the livelihoods of communities.

The government official who was presenting the draft Law to Combat Illegal Mining Activity at parliament also associated the practice with sustaining violent armed conflicts, organised crime, terrorism and other actions.

“In addition to the losses we have listed, the illegal exploitation of strategic minerals means that the state no longer receives tax revenue. Addressing the issue of the illegal exploitation of minerals is not a minor or irrelevant matter,” he said. Jânio Correia Vítor said that due to the proportions that the phenomenon has taken on, “to the detriment of the normal functioning of the sector, the stability of the economic system and national security”, it is imperative to adopt “more efficient mechanisms to combat this practice”.

The secretary of state estimated that there are around one million and three hundred thousand “garimpeiros” in the country, “many of them foreigners, and around 296 large dredges [mineral excavation and washing machines] that are also in an illegal situation”. According to the official, the legal types of mining offences currently in force “do not satisfactorily cover all the phenomena that make up illegal mining activity”, thus justifying the creation of a specific regime. The proposal for a Law to Combat Illegal Mining Activity aims to “adapt and strengthen criminally” the fight against illegal mining activity, typify the crimes and the purposes of the penalties, and establish criminal frameworks that allow for the effective protection of the legal assets in question.