MPs curious to know if artisanal
miners, popularly called ninjas, really make much money from the gold they find
were told during recent discussions on amendments to the Mineral Resources Law
and the Land law, which are, among other things, aimed at adopting a
comprehensive policy on artisanal mining, that a survey in August 2009 found
over 35,000 artisanal miners working in 100 areas of 57 districts of 18
provinces. They do not pay any royalty for what they produce, but they did give
to the Central Bank 564 kg of gold in 2008, and 400 kg more in 2009. Such
miners do not pay any tax or royalty.

The Government proposal is to allot 2,500 hectares of land to each cooperative
group of ninjas with five members.