Mutapa Gold Resources is extending its formalisation drive to Phoenix Prince Mine in Bindura, taking a structured artisanal and small-scale mining model already being implemented at Elvington Mine to another of its gold operations, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The move places Phoenix Prince, popularly known as Kitsiyatota, at the centre of Mutapa Gold’s broader strategy to integrate artisanal miners into its operations rather than treating them solely as illegal intruders.
Mutapa Gold Chief Executive Officer Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya previously said the company was replicating the Elvington artisanal mining model at Jena Mines in the Midlands and Phoenix Prince in Bindura.
The Phoenix Prince formalisation process was discussed during a town hall meeting at Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, bringing together the mining company, project managers, Government officials, artisanal miners and other stakeholders.
The initiative comes after prolonged disputes and illegal mining activity at Mining Lease 21, including government intervention over safety and mining operations.
A representative from the District Development Coordinator’s office said mining remained central to Bindura’s economy but stressed that activity had to be conducted responsibly.
“Without mining, Bindura town is dead. However, we have to mine responsibly,” the representative said.
Taking Elvington to Phoenix Prince
The significance of the Phoenix Prince initiative lies in the fact that Mutapa is not developing the model from scratch.
At Elvington, Mutapa has been working with artisanal miners under a structured contract-mining approach designed to bring technical supervision, safer working practices and formal mineral production into the company’s operations.
Mutapa has previously described the Elvington model as part of its wider strategy to formalise ASM and increase gold production and official deliveries.
At Phoenix Prince, Mutapa Gold’s General Manager for Contract Mining, Engineer Eddington Tirivashe Vere, said the objective was not simply to shut down existing artisanal activity but to transform it into an arrangement that could operate within the company’s framework.
“We did not stop any of the activities or we do not intend to stop any of the activities, but we wanted to transform what was being done to what can fit into our structure,” Vere said.
Under the proposed arrangement, artisanal miners will operate through mining contracts rather than traditional tribute arrangements.
Vere said the model gives miners room to conduct their operations while allowing Mutapa to provide technical guidance and oversight.
“We leave you to do your way of mining, but we sort of guide it because we are bringing in technical staff,” he said.
Technical supervision
Mutapa has appointed Navid Incorporated as project manager for the Phoenix Prince operations, while a technical team comprising geologists, metallurgists, mining engineers and surveyors is being deployed to support the formalisation process.
The deployment of technical professionals is consistent with Mutapa’s broader ASM strategy. The company has previously said its geologists, surveyors and mining engineers are working directly with artisanal miners to improve safety, mine planning and productivity.
The company has also previously said it intends to use technical expertise and training to move artisanal miners towards safer and more productive operations.
Performance will determine access
The Phoenix Prince model will also introduce performance-based access to mining areas.
Vere warned that miners would not simply be allowed to occupy shafts for speculative purposes.
“If you are not performing, you are going to be shown out. You don’t come and take a shaft for speculation because someone else is looking for the economic benefit from that shaft,” he said.
The approach is intended to ensure that available mining areas are actively worked while creating clearer accountability between the mining company and artisanal operators.
At present, Vere said 213 artisanal miners are actively operating at Mining Lease 21, while about 800 prospective miners have registered interest in working at the site.
From confrontation to partnership
The formalisation drive represents a significant change in the way Mutapa Gold is approaching artisanal mining.
At the graduation of 300 artisanal miners in Chegutu earlier this year, Shayawabaya said the company was moving away from an approach centred on removing artisanal miners from its properties.
“Gone are the days when we used to have drones just to spot where the artisanal miners are working to chase them away. We now see them as partners,” he said.
The Elvington model is therefore becoming part of a broader Mutapa strategy rather than an isolated intervention.
Mutapa has said it intends to expand the approach across its portfolio, with Phoenix Prince and Jena among the operations identified for replication.
Phoenix Prince comes after regulatory intervention
The formalisation process at Phoenix Prince follows a period of heightened regulatory and legal pressure around Mining Lease 21.
Government suspended operations at the site before lifting the suspension in May, allowing a gradual resumption of activity at the Freda Rebecca Gold Mine Lease 21 area, trading as Phoenix Prince.
The site had also been the subject of police action over suspected illegal mining activities, with authorities impounding trucks carrying suspected illegally mined ore.
The new arrangement is intended to move activity towards a system where artisanal miners operate within a framework controlled by the holder of the mining lease, with technical supervision and contractual obligations replacing informal arrangements.
A model Mutapa wants to scale
For Mutapa Gold, Phoenix Prince is therefore less about testing whether artisanal miners can be accommodated and more about scaling a model the company has already begun implementing at Elvington.
That distinction is important.
The company is attempting to establish a repeatable framework in which artisanal miners remain productive operators while the mining right holder retains control of the resource, introduces technical standards and improves accountability for production.
The approach also fits into the Government’s wider push to formalise Zimbabwe’s ASM sector. Mines and Mining Development Minister Polite Kambamura has said the Government intends to expand technical support and mining extension services to improve safety, accountability and production across the sector.
For Phoenix Prince, the immediate challenge will be translating the framework into practice: allocating mining areas fairly, maintaining safety standards, ensuring mineral production is accounted for and giving miners sufficient economic incentive to operate within the formal system.
If successfully implemented, Phoenix Prince would add another operation to Mutapa Gold’s emerging network of formalised artisanal mining partnerships — with the Elvington model serving as the foundation rather than the experiment.
