Prioritise mining funding

When officials from the Department of Mining appeared before a parliamentary committee recently, they made a revealing admission. According to the department, if Malawi is serious about unlocking the potential of its mineral resources, the country will need about K114 billion in additional funding. And they need it now!

For years, Malawi has spoken about mining with near-religious enthusiasm. Under Malawi 2063, the sector sits alongside agriculture, tourism and manufacturing as one of the pillars expected to transform the country into a middle-income economy. It is an ambitious strategy, but one that needs more money than the government is willing to commit.

Consider the numbers. The Department of Mining currently operates on about K8.56 billion. Meanwhile, the 2026/27 national budget is estimated at roughly K10.9 trillion.

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That means the institution tasked with developing one of Malawi’s strategic growth sectors receives less than 0.1 percent of government spending. Less than a rounding error! If mining is truly central to the country’s economic transformation, it is difficult to explain why the department responsible for developing it operates on what is effectively a maintenance budget.

The irony is hard to ignore. Government policy repeatedly describes mining as a future engine of exports, foreign exchange and industrial growth. Yet the institutions responsible for discovering and managing those mineral resources remain chronically underfunded.

Put simply, Malawi wants a mining boom without funding the groundwork that makes mining possible. According to officials who briefed Parliament, the requested K114 billion would support a range of activities essential to developing the sector. The funding would strengthen mineral exploration through modern drilling equipment and field vehicles.

It would expand geological mapping programmes to identify potential deposits. It would upgrade laboratory infrastructure used to analyse mineral samples. It would also support regulatory enforcement, digital mineral data systems and the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale miners.

None of these activities are glamorous. But every successful mining economy invests in them. The most significant portion of the proposed funding—about K45.7 billion—would go toward strengthening geological exploration through the Geological Survey Department.

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