Abundant and renowned for its quality in southern Madagascar, mica remains poorly rewarding for small-scale operators. Facing prices deemed too low and persistent informal practices, the State intends to reorganize the sector and better valorize this mineral resource.
During a visit to the Anôsy region, the Minister of Mines and Strategic Resources, Carl Andriamparany, met with various mica sector stakeholders. Exporters, processors, and small operators discussed difficulties encountered in mineral commercialization and ways to improve revenues at source.
In southern production zones, mica constitutes an important activity for many artisanal operators. Yet revenues from this activity remain low relative to the work required for extraction, sorting, and mineral preparation. Stakeholders wish to see this situation improve, particularly through better remuneration of the product at source.
New Perspectives
Informal exploitation ranks among the main identified difficulties. Lack of permits and poor sector organization have encouraged intermediary multiplication and speculative practices. For the State, regularization constitutes an essential lever to clean up the sector and improve mica commercialization.
Since May 2026, small operators can request a PREA permit, designed to better structure artisanal exploitation. Resumption of mining permit issuance also opens new perspectives for operators wishing to operate within a legal framework. The system provides various titles, including research and exploitation permits.
Beyond regularization, the challenge also concerns valorization of Malagasy mica. China and India possess significant expertise in transforming minerals into materials used in various manufacturing industries. This mastery allows them to play a major role on the international market.
Madagascar thus seeks to strengthen locally-created added value. The objective is not to limit the sector to extraction and raw mineral export, but to further develop transformation activities so that a larger share of revenues remains in the country.
Lucia Rabarijaona