Have the mines been submitting reports?

An article appears in today's Post newspaper, titled 'Govt starts quarterly meetings with Chamber of Mines'

It quotes Mines Minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa, who says that the main reason for new quarterly meetings with the Chamber (a trade association representing all of the major mining companies except NFC-A) is so that mining companies to can start submitting quarterly reports to the Ministry. “The purpose of these meetings is to keep the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development informed on what is going on in the sector through the submission of quarterly reports by mining companies,” Dr Mwansa said.

Intriguing. While researching the 'For Whom the Windfalls?' report, I asked at the Ministry if it would be possible to access the reports. I was not granted access. In discussions with mine exectutives, some argued that the companies were already sufficiently regulated since they had to make these reports to Government.

The phrasing of The Post article, "start submitting" reports just made me wonder if the report was wrong to focus on full disclosure of all existing documentation. Maybe it never existed anyway? Whichever way, the demand for full disclosure should remain. Let's insist the companies submit detailed reports to the Ministry and that copies are lodged in Parliament. The reports should include, at a minimum, detail on how the companies are complying with labour, health and safety and environmental legislation, alongside detailed figures for investment, production, revenue, profit and taxes paid.