Alluvial miners in Goilala keen for development

Business

THE Kandilan Simolan Incorporated Land Group (ILG) from Kafano village, Woitape local level government (LLG), Goilala, Central, wants the mining sector in the district to be developed.
The newly-certified ILG, which represents 800 people, said this yesterday when receiving their ILG certificate from the Department of Lands and Physical planning.
The people, through their ILG representatives, said they had been surviving on the small scale alluvial mining over the past years but wanted their land’s potential in the mining sector developed.
They called on local MP and Transport and Infrastructure Minister William Samb to help them bring in a developer into the district.
Spokesman Bernard Biari said the people previously depended on coffee but that had slowed due to lack of markets.
“At this moment we survive on alluvial mining, we go around our creeks and rivers and we do mining,” he said.
“That’s the only source of revenue that we make to get basic things that we needed in the house or even paying for our children’s school fees.
“Coffee is run down and all our coffee plantations are run down .
“Our airstrips have closed, cutting off access to the people coming in to buy our coffee and we only depend on alluvial mining.”
The landowners said they needed funding assistance from Samb to help rehabilitate their coffee industry.
They thanked the Government for formally recognising them as landowners as they had been trying to get registered for over 20 years.
“With the ILG certificate, we can now access proper assistance to develop our resources,” Biari said.