Women venture into small-scale mining in Zambia

Dressed in a smart green suit, Namakau Kaingu sat behind her office desk in downtown Lusaka and told Xinhua reporter how she and 22 other Zambian women miners found their way in gemstone and jewelry shows in Denver and Michigan in the United States.

"They learned a lot from the international participants. They learnt the pricing. They learnt the packaging of the material. They learnt what was required in the market, what type of material, what type of gemstone, what form if should be," she said.

Moreover, the delegation met many buyers and received concrete orders. Kaingu said she herself received orders for aquamarine and citrines worth of up to one million US dollars.

Kaingu, 50, is not only a successful gemstone entrepreneur with five mines throughout Zambia. She is also chairperson of the Association of Zambian Women in Mining (AZWIM).

Her fame goes beyond Zambia where she is also chairperson of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Women in Mining Trust and coordinator of the African Women in Mining Network.

Kaingu had a successful career even before she entered business. She attributed her success at every job she took up to her personality and education in public relations.

She started as a confidential secretary for Grey Zulu, senior leader of then ruling United National Independence Party and later founded the Zambian Association of Secretaries. She also excelled while working at the National Hotel Board.

Kaingu entered the business world in 1987 when she started working for the French oil company Total, where she became the first Zambian women to run a filling station. She was the company secretary when she left in 1991.

In that year, Kaingu resigned from Total to start her own business. She said this was because her salary at Total was poor and she had to help raise a big family. All her sisters and brothers were primary school teachers with even poorer salaries.

Asked why she chose to do mining, she said "People say there is so much money in gemstone. so I said I wanted something which brought in a lot of money."

Kaingu recalled that it was difficult for her at the beginning. She traveled alone to remote bushes to look for gemstones. In the night she slept under a piece of plastic. "Sometimes when there was a wind, all my things were just blown away."

She also studied hard and read a lot of books on mining and gemology. At one time, books littered all over her house. Even her bed were full of books.

Kaingu now has an aquamarine mine and a quartz mine in Itezhi- tezhi, Western Province, three amethyst mines in Kalomo, Southern Province and is in the processing of starting iron ore mining.

In 1997, Kaingu and several other women miners started AZWIM to help other women get into mining business, providing them with training in gemstone knowledge, mining technology, grading and marketing skills. The association also operates a revolving loan fund to provide financial support to women miners.

Kaingu said the association has received overwhelming support from women miners. The training courses have been so welcome that sometimes applicants have to be turned away for next course. AZWIM now has 300 members from across Zambia.

She said she started the association to help other women, because "Zambia is endowed with so much natural resources, there is no way people should be poor."

Zambia has rich reserves of gemstones, including the second largest deposits of emeralds in the world, the largest deposits of amethyst in Africa and modest deposits of tourmaline. The quality of deposits, especially of emeralds, is judged to be among the best in the world.

A World Bank report estimates that Zambia could reap in as much as 830 million dollars a year from its gemstones. The current annual recorded sales is only 20 million dollars.

Realizing the potential of small-scale mining in job creation and poverty reduction, the Zambian government extended its support to the sector.

The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development now runs a one billion kwacha (about 200,000 US dollars) revolving fund to support small-scale miners. Kaingu said she hopes the fund will be increased next year.

In addition to the lack of equipment and funds, poor infrastructure, Kaingu said women have also to fight prejudice to venture into small-scale mining, which has been a male dominated industry.

"But women in mining have decided to take a step because a one thousand mile journey is achieved by taking the first step," she said.

Over the years, Kaingu has been advocating for small-scale mining as a tool for economic empowerment of women at national, regional and international levels and her cause is winning more and more support. The International Labor Organization has removed its ban on women in mining several years ago, she said.

For her role in lobbying for women in mining, Kaingu was unanimously elected coordinator of the African Women in Mining Network, which has extended its wing to 15 countries.

Source: Xinhua