Mining licensing: 6,226 cases heard, fewer than half approved, and 4,078 miners told to fix defaults

LUSAKA. Figures on mining licence applications were released in a statement dated 8 October. Our notes name the chairperson as Matongo Matamwandi and the Director General as Dr Tom Hara. Matongo Matamwandi is confirmed as Board Chairperson of the Minerals Regulation Commission (MRC) by Diggers and Zambia Monitor. We could not confirm Dr Hara. The decisions come from the Mining and Non-Mining Rights Licensing Committee, whose results the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development posts. The ministry lists results for a meeting on 28 September 2026 and one on 17 June 2026. We could not open those pages, so we could not check the 6,226 figure or the tables below. The committee heard 6,226 cases at sittings from 13 July to 12 August and from 28 September to 2 October. They were 2,148 new applications and 4,078 non-compliant cases. **Overall results** | Decision | Cases | Share | |---|---|---| | Approved | 1,060 | 49% | | Deferred | 712 | 33% | | Rejected | 375 | 17% | **By licence type** | Category | Result | |---|---| | Artisanal | 437 of 580 approved (75%); women about 35% | | Small-scale exploration | 495 of 745 approved | | Small-scale mining | 43 of 179 approved | | Large-scale exploration | 70 approved, 358 deferred, 125 rejected of 554 | | Large-scale mining | 9 of 29 approved, 15 rejected | | Processing | 6 of 61 approved, 30 rejected | **Default notices.** The committee issued 4,078 default notices. Holders have 60 days to comply. About K48 million in area charges was unpaid up to August 2026. **What stands out.** Artisanal miners fared best. Large-scale mining and processing fared worst. For large-scale exploration, 358 of 554 were deferred, which is about 65 percent. That is a lot of pending decisions for companies that want to invest. **Earlier MRC figures for comparison.** In July the MRC reviewed 823 of 1,672 backlog applications (Zambia Monitor, 12 July). On 24 September Diggers reported that the MRC said it finished the 1,672 backlog by the firs