Zambia’s mining investment arm ZCCM-IH has started buying gold from artisanal and small-scale miners in a bid to formalise the unregulated sector whose ranks have swelled worldwide as gold prices soar, it said on Friday. Governments across Africa are scrambling to tackle informal mining of gold, which has significant health and environmental risks and contributes to illicit flows of money, depriving states of revenue when the metal is smuggled across borders.
