Veteran geologist and Geo Associates founder and managing director Paul Chimbodza has welcomed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s commitment to systematic mineral exploration, saying sustained exploration is essential to discovering new deposits and replacing mineral resources being depleted by existing mines, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
President Mnangagwa said in his State of the Nation Address that Government was capacitating the Mining Promotion Corporation (MPC) and the Zimbabwe Geological Survey (ZGS) to undertake systematic exploration and develop bankable mineral projects for investment.
Chimbodza, who has more than three decades of experience spanning geology, mineral exploration and the mining industry, said the announcement addressed one of the fundamental requirements for sustaining Zimbabwe’s mining sector.
“If that was the statement from His Excellency, I think it is a very well-received intention,” Chimbodza said.
“The mining industry is underpinned by exploration, and if a country is not engaged in exploration, then there will be no new discoveries, let alone any capacity to replenish the ores that will be recovered in the existing mining operations. Exploration is indispensable.”
Chimbodza said the Government has an important role in generating geological information and providing the foundation upon which private-sector exploration and investment can build.
“You will note that the country is very well mapped from a geological perspective, unlike other countries where you have to start mapping from scratch. In Zimbabwe, more than 80 per cent of the country is mapped, so I received that statement from His Excellency with a lot of excitement,” he said.
The renewed focus on exploration is also contained in the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which identifies strengthening geological mapping and mineral resource evaluation as priorities for 2026 to 2030.
Under the strategy, the MPC and ZGS are to receive enhanced technical, financial and institutional capacity to undertake systematic exploration, develop bankable mineral projects and package them for investment.
Chimbodza said adequate personnel, equipment and funding would be critical if the policy was to produce new discoveries rather than remain an institutional objective.
“In my days at the Geological Survey, we had more than 20 geologists who were covering the country, mapping, providing data that would then be catalogued for access by private players,” he said.
“That’s the role of government, and that intention and statement by His Excellency is highly applauded.”
Chimbodza said Zimbabwe’s exploration activity had declined significantly after major exploration programmes of previous decades, limiting the emergence of new discoveries capable of replenishing the country’s mining pipeline.
“After that, when exploration ceased, we haven’t had any major discoveries, albeit one or two that the private sector has been involved in,” he said.
His comments underline the distinction between having broad geological mapping coverage and undertaking the detailed geological, geochemical, geophysical and drilling work required to identify and quantify economically viable mineral resources.
Geological Survey Director Forbes Mugumbate has similarly described exploration as the starting point of the mineral value chain, covering work from regional geological, geochemical and geophysical mapping through detailed analysis, drilling and resource quantification.
Mugumbate has said intensified exploration and improved management of geological and mineral-resource data could generate more exploration information, support mineral discoveries and make Zimbabwe more attractive to higher-level investment.
Chimbodza has extensive experience across Zimbabwe’s mining and exploration industry, including senior exploration and executive roles, and has worked on projects involving precious, base, industrial and energy minerals.
For Zimbabwe’s mining sector, the success of the renewed exploration drive will ultimately depend on whether increased geological work translates into new exploration targets, discoveries, defined mineral resources and bankable projects.
For Chimbodza, however, the starting point remains clear: without sustained exploration, Zimbabwe cannot continuously replace the mineral resources being consumed by its existing mines.
