A company planning to mine granite in Dowa has revealed it has already extracted 2.5 tonnes of rock purely for sampling.
Pan Africa Mining Limited says it has removed 2.5 tonnes of granite from the area of Senior Chief Chiwere in Dowa for laboratory analysis to determine whether the deposits are suitable for commercial mining.
The disclosure came during a meeting with Dowa District Council officials, where the company updated authorities on the progress of the proposed project.
Speaking to Capital Fm, Managing Director Suresh Kumar Reddy said exploration is progressing well and the company is now waiting for government approval to begin full-scale mining.
“We want to assure everyone that we are ready to undertake this project. We are working well with the local community and will ensure that all mining laws and regulations are followed,” said Reddy.
A senior geological surveys official in the Ministry of Mining, Chikumbutso Kambilonje, said mineral exploration is carried out in phases and expressed confidence that the company will continue complying with the country’s mining regulations.
The company says the samples will help determine the quality and commercial potential of the granite before any decision is made on full-scale extraction.
The amount has attracted attention because the company is still at the exploration stage and is yet to receive a mining licence, meaning the 2.5 tonnes were collected solely for testing.
The disclosure is likely to revive memories of a similar controversy in 2021, when a massive rock sample loaded into a shipping container for export to China sparked public outrage.
Many Malawians questioned why such a large quantity of mineral could be classified as a “sample”, raising fears that valuable resources were leaving the country with little benefit to citizens.
At the time, social commentators and members of the public accused the Ministry of Mining of failing to protect the country’s mineral wealth, while others argued that Malawi’s mining laws allowed licence holders to export large quantities of minerals under the guise of sampling.
Government later clarified that the rock had been confiscated from illegal miners in Rumphi before being sold through a court-sanctioned process to another exporter.
Despite the explanation, the incident fuelled a wider national debate over transparency, regulation and how Malawi’s mineral resources are managed.
