Small-scale miners dealing in construction and industrial minerals could benefit from better earnings following a government directive requiring the Mining Commission to enforce indicative prices and address multiple levies that increase their operating costs.
Minister for Minerals Anthony Mavunde said the Commission must closely monitor mineral transactions to ensure buyers and processing companies comply with indicative prices, warning that the guidelines should not be treated as optional.
He said effective enforcement was necessary to protect small-scale miners from unfair pricing and ensure they received reasonable returns from the minerals they produce.
Mr Mavunde made the remarks on October 26, 2026, during a meeting with industrial mineral stakeholders from different regions, where miners presented challenges affecting production, marketing and investment in the subsector.
The meeting also highlighted concerns over multiple levies imposed on mining activities, which stakeholders said were making it difficult for small-scale operators to grow their businesses.
Mr Mavunde said the Prime Minister had directed the Ministry of Minerals, the President's Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), and the Ministry of Finance to review the charges and identify those that could be removed.
The review is expected to address unnecessary costs affecting mineral extraction and trading, although the minister did not specify which levies would be scrapped or when the exercise would be completed.
For small-scale miners, reducing the cost of doing business could improve profitability, provide room for investment and encourage more formal participation in the mineral value chain.
Mr Mavunde also challenged miners to move beyond selling raw minerals by joining forces and mobilising capital to establish processing industries.
He said local processing would increase the value of minerals before they reached the market, create employment and improve incomes for miners.
The minister said the mining sector could make a greater contribution to national economic growth if the country's mineral resources were properly managed and more value was retained through domestic processing.
On exploration, he said the government had agreed to allocate 10 per cent of revenue generated from minerals to research and exploration activities.
The allocation, he said, would improve knowledge of the country's mineral resources and help identify new opportunities for investment.
However, translating these measures into meaningful benefits for small-scale miners will depend on effective enforcement of indicative prices, the outcome of the proposed levy review and their ability to access capital and processing facilities.
Deputy Minister for Minerals Steven Kiruswa urged stakeholders to establish cooperative societies to strengthen their bargaining power and improve access to markets.
He said cooperatives would enable miners to pool financial resources, coordinate their commercial activities and establish mineral purchasing centres.
Such centres, he added, would make it easier for miners to sell their products while improving the organisation of industrial and construction mineral trading.