Government moves to speed up mining title allocation
The government through the Mines and Mining Development Ministry (MMMD) is moving to speed up mining title allocations a cabinet Minister has said.
This was revealed by Minister of Mines and Mining Development of the Republic of Zimbabwe Honourable Winston Chitando at a Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) function held in Harare yesterday.
Chitando admitted that the Ministry was overwhelmed by ballooning mining title applications which traditionally numbered 2000 – 3000 per year to which it now ranges to around 14 000 applications.
“Mining Title applications were traditionally around 2000 per year but now the number has drastically increased,” said the Minister.
Chitando also said the Ministry was allocated new vehicles to complement efforts to speed up Mining title allocation.
Answering the question on mining disputes, the minister pointed out that the country will be soon introducing a cadastre system which is a solution to the problem of land disputes in the mining sector.
“The cadastre system which is now being worked on will take care of most of the disputes so that there is no double allocation of claims,” said Chitando.
The Minister said the Cadastre equipment will be in the country by June of this year.
Mining Title issuance has been a hot issue in the Zimbabwe mining industry with some miners claiming to have applied for titles as far back as 2012 but nothing has materialised even after reapplying.