Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

Tropical Africa, the new relocation law for mining operations has sparked agreement from both mining companies to support the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) in the relocation of Mines and Minerals.

Patricia Rwafa

The law has the potential to provide economic opportunities for communities affected by mining, but there are also fears that it could lead to the displacement of people and damage to the environment.

At a workshop held at Cresta Oasis Hotel in Harare on Thursday the 15th of February 2024, which stakeholders attended including CSOs, ZHRC, Rural District Councils, and Community-based organisations, ZELA said it was seeking for the establishment of Mines and Minerals compensation and relocation laws to ensure communities affected by mining are fairly relocated and compensated.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr Grasian Mkodzongi of Tropical Africa said the relocation law has the potential to bring great benefits to the communities affected by mining, but it is important to ensure that these benefits are not at the expense of people’s homes and livelihoods.

“We need to make sure that we are striking the right balance between development and displacement,” he said.

Data manipulation in the context of mining relocations often takes the form of under-reporting the number of people relocated, exaggerating the number of jobs created, and hiding negative environmental impacts. This results in a skewed view of the costs and benefits of mining operations, which can have serious consequences for the affected communities.

Despite claims by mining companies that relocations will lead to increased employment, the reality is often quite different. In many cases, mining companies fail to create the promised jobs, leaving local communities with few economic opportunities and a high level of unemployment. While mining companies often tout the benefits of infrastructure development that accompanies relocations, the reality is that these developments often fall short of expectations.

The promised roads, schools, and hospitals are often not built or are of poor quality, leaving local communities worse off than before.

In addition to the lack of infrastructure development, mining companies often fail to provide adequate support initiatives for communities affected by relocations. These initiatives may include things like education programs, health services, and job training, but are often not implemented effectively. This lack of support can lead to a cycle of poverty and deprivation in affected communities,” he said.

Zimbabwe is on track to achieve the targeted US$12 billion mining sector by this year on the back of increased investments and expansion projects, according to Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Polite Kambamura.

Zimbabwe enacted the Finance Act 2024 Act 13 of 2023, introducing a 20% capital gains tax on mining title transfers.

This new tax regime, affects both domestic and international transactions, prompting concerns among stakeholders.

The Finance Act mandates that stakeholders comply with the new tax requirements by April 1, 2024, for transfers conducted before January 1, 2024. Subsequent transactions must adhere to the tax regulations within 30 days of their occurrence.

The introduction of the capital gains tax marks a significant shift in Zimbabwe’s fiscal policy concerning its lucrative mining industry. While the government aims to increase revenue streams and ensure a fair contribution from mining activities, critics argue that the nature of the tax places undue financial burdens on stakeholders and may deter future investments.

The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) is seeking for the establishment of  Mines and Minerals compensation and relocation law to ensure communities affected by mining are fairly relocated and compensated.

Rudairo Mapuranga

At a workshop held at Cresta Oasis Hotel in Harare on Thursday where a number of stakeholders attended including Rural District Councils, CSOs and community-based organisations, ZELA led a discussion on how mining companies should compensate communities when affected by mining operations.

ZELA’s proposed regulations seek to ensure that where relocation of communities due to mining activities is found to be necessary, such relocation is carried out fairly and transparently, and that the affected community is adequately compensated and provided with essential services and support.

The regulations also emphasize the importance of minimizing negative impacts on the environment and the health and safety of the community.

Speaking at the workshop Proud Nyakure from Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Miners Workers Union (ZIDAWU) said it was of importance for companies to engage communities to ensure proper and fair compensation.

She said the government and Mining companies should ensure they adopt the United Nations’ guiding principles on business making while mining could bring economic benefits for the country,  human rights are not affected at the same time.

“The first one is the government and the mining companies should ensure that they adopt the UN guiding principles making sure they enhance the duties to protect and respect human rights and ensure that they is remedy when human rights are being violated.

“It is also important to look at the positives of where people are being relocated to,” She said.

Zephania Nhidza Mutoko Rural District Council Executive Officer Shared Services said it was of important stance by ZELA to draft a law governing compensation and relocation as a result of mining operations.

He said communities were being threatened by supposedly bigger powers to sign documents that they don’t understand ending up not receiving compensation.

He said the law that will provide a free and fair engagement platform was a welcome move to ensure communities benefit.

“We have learnt that it is possible to ensure communities benefit from mining when affected interns of relocation. We have seen that engagements are of importance to ensure the miners and communities benefit. People have been threatened and thereafter the miner would end up compensating a few chosen by other powers involved in the matrix,” he said.

According to Obert Bore from ZELA, every holder of a mining right shall, before the commencement of its mining activities, prepare a comprehensive Social Impact Assessment (SIA) of its approved mining activities in order to assess mining activity feasibility in terms of the possible social impact such mining activities might have on any owner or occupier of land or a community.

Once the Social Impact Assessment has been reviewed and it has been found that relocation or compensation is likely, the holder of a mining right shall inform the public of the intention of such holder of a mining right to carry out mining activities that have the potential to induce displacement of affected persons from their places of occupation and of available opportunities to participate in such decisions.

“The framework will address challenges including the rights of children affected and relocation. Children must also participate and they must be heard,” he said.

Highlights:

• 1222 m of diamond drilling completed for due diligence purposes, with two holes drilled at Dokwe North and two holes drilled at Dokwe Central.
• Following a recent site visit, a metallurgical consultant commenced the due diligence assessment of the Dokwe project metallurgy and potential process routes, as defined in a 2022 Pre-Feasibility Study.
• A structural geological consultant is improving understanding of the controls on gold mineralisation; detailed structural logging of the new core is underway to complement this work.
• The geochemical characteristics of the mineralisation are being defined through an extensive pXRF programme on old and new drill cores, with over 15,000 m of core analysed to date.
• Ariana currently holds circa 2.1% of Rockover, and exclusive discussions are ongoing for further collaboration between the companies.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

“We are very pleased to report that our due-diligence drilling programme has now been completed on the feasibility-stage Dokwe Gold Project. The programme was professionally conducted by the Rockover team, who worked collaboratively with our site team in Zimbabwe. Preparation and analysis of the drill core will commence soon, following which these results will be compared to historical project data to confirm our understanding of the grade distribution and controls on gold mineralisation.

“Based on our assessment of the project to date, including recent geological observations from drilling, we are pleased to report that our confidence in the opportunity has only grown. There are very few >1 million oz gold projects globally with straightforward metallurgy, which are at a feasibility stage of development and have more than 95% of their JORC Mineral Resources in the Measured and Indicated categories. It has also been pleasing to note that Zimbabwe is attracting increasing exploration and mining interest. In particular, several foreign-owned AIM/LSE and ASX-listed companies have recently entered the country during the past year alone on a variety of projects, including those focused on gold, nickel, and lithium. Our initial market soundings in the UK and Australia relating to our potential interest in the feasibility-stage development of Dokwe have also been positive.

“Meanwhile, the Rockover and Ariana boards were represented at Indaba 2024 in Cape Town, which coincided with a site visit to Dokwe. During this visit, we discussed our potential future collaboration on the project. We recently introduced Rockover to our operations team and project partners in Türkiye, with a longer-term view that there may be opportunities to collaborate with them specifically on the feasibility-stage development of Dokwe.

“We expect to announce our potential future involvement in Dokwe around the end of 1Q24.”

An illegal miner has been killed at the Under Care and Maintenance Fools mine in the Hopefountain area after being involved in ore-grabbing misdeeds.

Rudairo Mapuranga

The illegal miner, identified as Nkosilathi Ngoma, was allegedly thrown into a ventilator shaft at the mine, which is 130 meters deep and is feared dead.

According to Fools Mine Manager Thabani Masuku, this incident happened Tuesday night and was reported to both the mine’s office and the police.

The Police and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development have confirmed receiving the report.

“The guys fought in the trench, where they found other guys mining, and they wanted to steal from them. The mine is not operating at the moment, so illegal miners took advantage, leading to the scuffle.

The miner ran through a ventilator and is feared dead.

The police have since arrested 4 suspects in connection with the murder case,” Masuku said.

Currently, the police have visited the area and conducted their investigations, but efforts to retrieve the deceased are still fruitless.