Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

MINERS’ representative bodies have called for increased health and safety training programmes targeting women in mining to minimise their exposure to risks.

More women are joining the mining sector hence the need to train them on health and safety to reduce hazards associated with mining.

Many women had in the past been reluctant to join mining because of the dangers associated with mining activities.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) member who is also the Zvishavane Glory Women in Mining Association chairlady, Mrs Chiedza Tsikai, said there was an urgent need to train women in mining on health and safety.

“The number of women joining the mining sector is growing and there is therefore a need to come up with training programmes targeting women. These women lack information on safe mining mothods and as such many fall victim of hazards associated with mining activities,” she said.

Mrs Tsikai said women need to be trained so that they employ proper mining standards that reduces risks while boosting production.

She said women make up more than 10 percent of artisanal and small-scale miners and many of them were in urgent need of working capital to buy consumables and machinery.

Mrs Tsikai said in Zvishavane many women were into chrome and gold mining but many of them did not have the required machinery.

“Most women are hiring compressors, excavators, water pumps and generators among other machinery and equipment,” said Mrs Tsikai.

She said the miners were therefore realising very little profits as most of the money was gobbled by hiring plant and equipment.

Mrs Tsikai said some sponsors who purport to be assisting women miners were actually robbing them.

She said like other businesses, women in mining were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which forced them to suspend operations at the peak of pandemic.

Mrs Tsikai said the other challenge facing women miners is that they cannot be at the mine for 24 hours as they have other responsibilities of as wives, mothers and care givers.

Young Miners Foundation (YMF)’s Young Women Affairs director Mrs Everdine Deshe said as an organisation they were stepping up efforts to develop projects that specifically speak to the development of young women miners.

“As men have remained the gate keepers in the mining sector, it has increasingly been difficult for women to excel in this male dominated industry due to a number of factors, which range from gender discrimination, gender violence, general misconceptions and myths,” she said.

Mrs Deshe said they intend to provide a platform that will assist women intending to join the mining industry by providing them with information on where they can seek support.

YMF brand ambassador who is also the Founder and chief executive officer of the Miss Mines Zimbabwe beauty pageant Ms Nomsa Hilda Mpofu said there was a need for awareness on mining business, women empowerment and protection programmes in the mining sector. 

The Chronicle

A GIANT Chinese tile manufacturer is embroiled in a messy row involving theft of one of the major raw materials for its Norton factory in a scandal that is likely to expose how it allegedly manipulates law enforcement agencies in Zimbabwe to bully small businesses.

Sunny Yi Feng Tiles Zimbabwe, a Chinese-owned billion-dollar ceramics venture located some 30km from Harare on the highway to Bulawayo, has in the past come under the spotlight for alleged gross violations of labour rights amid allegations that it is being shielded from scrutiny by senior Zanu PF and government officials.

An investigation unearthed evidence that the Chinese-owned firm has been a subject of discussions at high level government meetings in Mashonaland West over its alleged environmental crimes for years without any action being taken against it.

The Chinese firm is accused of a litany of transgressions that include violating Zimbabwe’s environmental laws such as discharging of effluent into Darwendale Dam, air pollution and stealing of pit sand as well as gravel.

Fresh evidence has since emerged that the company is involved in alleged theft of kaolinite ore or kaolin — a clay mineral that is used in the manufacture of ceramic tiles — from a locally owned mine in Murombedzi in Mashonaland West with police accused of being reluctant to stop the looting.

Documents obtained by this publication show that Astrabay Mine, which owns a mining claim in Zowa, Murombedzi some 90km from Chinhoyi, has been battling to fend off Sunny Yi Feng, which has been illegally extracting kaolin from its claim.

Astrabay Mine’s woes started when the company engaged Sunny Ti Feng co-director William Gau sometime in 2018 to discuss a possible deal for the supply of kaolin.

Gau is said to have insisted on visiting the mine to assess the distance to the Sunny Yi Feng factory in Norton and state of the road before determining prices for the natural resource.

After the visit, Sunny Yi Feng expressed interest to source kaolin from Astrabay Mine, but the deal collapsed as Gau’s company offered to buy the mineral at US$3 per tonne, a figure the mine owners deemed too low for the raw material.

A tonne of kaolin ore ranges from US$65 to US$70 depending on the mineral content within the alloy.

Sunny Yi Feng, however, secretly tried to take over the claim by registering it with the Mines and Mining Development ministry, but was stopped in its tracks by the alert mine owners.

“This was a way of trying to steal (the claim),” said Muyengwa Motsi, the Astrabay lawyer.

In April 2020, Sunny Yi Feng started to surreptitiously send trucks to Murombedzi to steal ore from the mine, documents show.

Astrabay filed a police report against the Chinese company in Zvimba under CR 29/07/2020.

The Mines ministry’s department of metallurgy valued the stolen ore at US$4 174 444, but efforts to get the company prosecuted fell flat as police allegedly refused to cooperate.

On February 4, 2021, Astrabay, through M.E Motsi and Associates Legal Practitioners, wrote to Chinhoyi police’s criminal investigations department (CID) complaining over lack of commitment to investigate the case.

A complaint filed against police’s handling of the case involving the Chinese firm

In response, the CID said “we are not getting cooperation from the Chinese” to proceed with the investigation.”

“In June 2021, we then got another tip-off that they were stealing for the second time,” Motsi told The Standard.

“We went and got some escort from two CID officers and intercepted seven trucks, which were fully loaded with kaolin ore.

“The truck drivers were instructed by the police to go and park at Murombedzi police station, but they somehow sped off to Norton.

“We did not have any means to stop them as we were poorly equipped.

“They could, however, not escape with an excavator which was still on the ground as it required a truck to lift and transport it.

“They then sent a truck the following day to collect the excavator, but police anticipated this and mounted a roadblock to intercept the truck, which they took as an exhibit for Chinhoyi CID.

“The excavator was later released under unclear circumstances.”

In February 2021, Astrabay wrote a letter of complaint against an investigating officer identified as Detective Constable Musindo for failing to arrest the Chinese company’s directors Gau and another one only identified as Wang over the offences.

CID director M Magandi responded to the complaint on April 24, 2021 defending the detective, saying “he made all the efforts to arrest the three accused persons.”

On February 8 2021, the mine also received a written response from Assistant Commissioner PT Majuta who insisted the cases were “receiving attention.”

A month later, Astrabay’s lawyers wrote to CID Chinhoyi, but there was still no movement on the cases.

Frustrated by the logjam, the mine’s lawyers wrote to the National Prosecuting Authority on November 8, 2021 questioning what they viewed as preferential treatment being given to the Chinese nationals in what should have been a straightforward criminal matter.

“With due respect to your office, what do you expect us to conclude with such conduct?

“Many police stations are full of exhibits in many forms of articles seized from locals pending trial,” the lawyers wrote.

“What is so special about these Chinese?

“They are not placed on remand, exhibits are not impounded, those that find their way into a public station are released to them to enable them to commit further offences with the same equipment.”

In one of the cases, a Sunny Yi Feng driver, Artwell Kaso on July 13, 2020 admitted stealing 120 tonnes of kaolin in a warned and cautioned statement to the police.

“I admit to the charges levelled against Sunny Yi Feng Company…but it was given authority to mine by G&W mineral company which was claiming to be the registered owner of the mine,” Kaso claimed.

“The company paid money to G&W mineral company to mine there.”

Astrabay owners dismissed claims that they had a dispute with G&W as a ruse.  Sunny Yi Feng did not stop sending trucks to loot kaolin after that incident.

The most recent case was on February 9, when drivers employed by the Chinese company were caught red handed stealing ore from Astrabay Mine.

“We had gone to the mine with some Ministry of Mines officials on issues of beacons and we found them there,” Motsi said.

“We anticipated the incident as on the evening before, we got wind that their trucks had gone to our mine.

“We went to Chinhoyi police to get some five armed officers from the district reaction group.

“Police were very cooperative, and we managed to impound some seven trucks and the same excavator used in the previous theft, which was released without any explanation.

“Our handicap was that we could not get the excavator as an exhibit again without a low-bed truck which is used to lift it. So, we left it at the site.”

The trucks were taken to the Chinhoyi police station, but two of the truck drivers escaped. Three trucks were released because they were yet to be loaded with ore.

“So, we took two fully loaded trucks to Chinhoyi police,” Motsi added. “On this third theft, we arrested six truck drivers.

The registration numbers for the trucks that were intercepted are ADC 8084, ADC 8085, ADC 8876, AEU 5782, AEU 6828, AEU 6830 and AEZ 4950.

“The matter is yet to go to court as we are waiting to get a report from the department of metallurgy to assay the mineral content and value of the stolen ore,” he said.

Police confirmed the incident in a February 11, 2022 letter to the Mines ministry where they were seeking help to evaluate the stolen ore.

A Detective Inspector Dale, who is in charge of Chinhoyi CID minerals, flora and fauna wrote: “This office is investigating a case of contravening section 379 of the Mines and Minerals Act Chapter 21:05 ‘Theft of mineral ore’ where the three accused persons Energy Chiridza, Munyaradzi Mutyavaviri and Sunny Yi Feng Tiles Zimbabwe Pvt Ltd represented by Terrify Taruvinga stole kaolin ore from Astrabay Mine, Zowa 10, Makonde Chinhoyi.’

“The current (officer in charge) is very useful, but you can tell that he is being overwhelmed by forces he cannot control,” Motsi said.

“We have tried to even engage the Chinese company owners themselves, but these people do not have time for us”

Terrify Taruvinga, the Sunny Yi Feng deputy director, said he needed time to consult the company’s lawyers before commenting on the allegations.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the law enforcement agents were not to blame for delays in the prosecution of the Chinese firm’s directors.

“There are three reports related to this matter and the police has done its job by compiling dockets, which are now within the courts’ jurisdiction,” Nyathi told The Standard.

“However, it appears that there is an on-going dispute between these two companies (Astrabay and G&W), which are both claiming rights over the mining claim.

“So, that issue is being handled by the Ministry of Mines, which is the relevant authority to deal with the matter.”

Motsi said there was no dispute over the kaolin claims, but the matter was raised by one of the Sunny Yi Feng drivers to escape arrest after he was found stealing ore at the mine.

The Standard

Prospect Resources has begun planning for its next project after shareholders on Friday approved the sale of the company’s 87% stake in Arcadia lithium mine to China’s Huayou International.

Huayou, one of the world’s biggest companies in the battery metals business, announced in December that it would buy Prospect Minerals, the Arcadia developer, for a total of US$422 million. Prospect’s share of the deal is US$377.8 million.

Prospect now plans to use part of the proceeds of the sale to explore for fresh lithium projects in Zimbabwe and abroad, chairman Mark Wheatley told shareholders at a meeting Friday.

Shareholders approved the transaction after Huayou also received all the approvals it needs from Chinese regulators to go ahead with the deal. In Zimbabwe, Prospect will inform the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency of changes to the ownership of the project, which has Special Economic Zone status.

“Prospect is pleased to advise that at the Company’s Extraordinary General Meeting held earlier today shareholders approved the Transaction by passing the resolution set out in the Notice of Meeting dated 25 January 2022 by way of a poll,” Prospect said.

Prospect says it expects the transaction to be done in late Q1 or Q2 2022.

In China, according to Prospect, all “regulatory approvals required under conditions precedent to the Transaction have been received and those conditions are now satisfied”.

Wheatly said Prospect is now looking to develop its next project.

“Prospect also plans to retain a cash balance to progress other battery and electrification metal projects in Zimbabwe, and evaluate, acquire and advance new battery and electrification metal projects globally. Prospect currently estimates it will retain between US$30 million and US$60 million,” Wheatly said.

“The team has already begun a project generation exercise focused on battery and electrification commodities, initially focused on Zimbabwe and other sub–Saharan African countries.”

In 2018, Prospect acquired Lipropeg, a set of claims near Bindura, where it has been exploring for lithium.

Newzwire

TWO Mines and Mining Development ministry workers have appeared at the Marondera Magistrates Court facing a charge of criminal abuse of office after they allegedly approved issuance of granite mining certificates to companies in Uzumba, Maramba, Pfungwe and Mutoko.

Tizah Mandawa and Zvinodaishe Mubariri, who are employed as survey and geological technicians, respectively, at the Mashonaland East ministry provincial offices in Marondera were on Friday arraigned before the courts after their alleged corrupt activities were unearthed by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).

They are accused of contravening section 31 of the Mines and Minerals Act, which prohibits people from pegging or prospecting in villages without written consent of the occupiers or that of the local authority.

The duties of the accused persons at the ministry were to conduct verification processes, which include checking on whether the ground being applied for by a particular company is open to pegging and prospecting.

Once that process is done, a report is sent to the provincial mining director Tendai Kashiri to issue registration certificates.

Allegations were that the pair deceived Kashiri in a May 2020 report and acting upon the misrepresentation, he issued certificates ME1197BM, ME1198BM, ME1199BM, ME1200BM and ME1201BN in ward 7, Mutoko Rural District Council to New Obsidian Granite Industries Company following its April 2020 application to the ministry.

They also wrote to Kashiri in January 2021 stating that they had done verification and recommended the issuance of certificates to Ndemera Mining Syndicate Company following its September 2020 application to mine on a 300-hectare area in ward 14, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe RDC.

Acting upon the misrepresentation, Kashiri issued certificates ME402 and ME403 to Heijin Mining Company on transfer.

Villagers reacted angrily leading to the cancellation of the licence.

The accused also allegedly submitted false reports to Kashiri in 2019 and recommended the issuance of certificates ME943BM, ME944BN and ME946BM to the Zimbabwe International Quarries to mine in Mutawatawa, UMP RDC.

The pair was remanded on $20 000 bail and will appear again in court on March 3.

NewsDay

ZIMBABWE continues to export its major minerals in a raw or semi-processed form, resulting in the country losing billions of dollars in potential revenue, official data has shown.

According to findings from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), during the month of December 2021, the country exported 4 417 kilogrammes of semi-processed gold valued at US$248,1 million, compared to 2 455 kilogrammes valued at US$139,1 million in the previous month.

Data also shows that in the period under review, Zimbabwe’s main exports were semi-manufactured gold (42,0%), nickel mattes including platinum group of minerals (PGMs) (18,3%), nickel ores and concentrates (13,4%), tobacco (9,8%), ferro-chromium (3,3%), platinum in powder form (3,0%), skins and hides (1,7%).

“It was noted that major minerals produced in the country such as nickel concentrates and nickel mattes were exported in a semi-processed form, while nickel ores (including PGMs) are exported in a raw form,” the report stated.

Exporting of PGMs in their raw form comes at a time when the government has imposed a ban on raw chrome, a move meant to encourage chrome miners to invest in beneficiation facilities.

Zimbabwe is endowed with rich natural resources which are crucial ingredients for growth and development.

But, as official data shows, the country’s exports are predominantly raw and semi-finished agricultural commodities and minerals, meaning these are low-value added products as far as export earnings are concerned.

The government has been preaching value addition and beneficiation of primary commodities with little success.

Value addition involves the conversion or transformation of primary commodities into intermediate or finished goods to maximise benefit of derived value.

NewsDay

BUSINESS executives have urged government to take the resuscitation of the moribund ZiscoSteel seriously following the announcement of a new investor on Tuesday.

Government announced in a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday that Kuvimba Mining House had taken over ZiscoSteel.

During the late former President Robert Mugabe’s era, government said US$360 million was needed to revive the steel company.

Former Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) business council secretary-general Trust Chikohora told NewsDay that the collapsed steelmaker was key to the country’s economic revival plans.

“We are tired of announcements of deals which do not come to fruition when it comes to ZiscoSteel. This time, let us see implementation and Zisco working again. The revival of this company is important to the rest of the country as a lot of downstream industries will benefit from an operational ZiscoSteel,” Chikohora, who is also the past president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), said.

He said there had been several promises to revive ZiscoSteel, including the Essar deal involving an Indian company and another deal with the Chinese which did not yield anything.

Investigations on the collapse of ZiscoSteel had pointed to mismanagement, corruption and looting by government officials and top employees of the company.

Former ZiscoSteel chairperson Gift Mugano said government should learn from experiences in the operations of the steel giant to ensure its
revival.

“At some point when ZiscoSteel was still capacitated before its closure, there were fights among ministries because Zisco is a component which is aligned with the Ministry of Mines. You recall when I was there as chairman, there were certain challenges when certain procedures were violated, where Zisco was given permission to take over coking ovens,” he said.

“What needs to be taken seriously by government is to learn from past experiences. This kind of rash approach to a State-owned enterprise must not be allowed to continue. Clearly, we cannot ignore history concerning the corruption around Zisco.

“The technology at Zisco came from Germany, and we are now in the fourth industrial revolution, where things have changed to digital technology and the state of technology there (Zisco) is quite outdated.”

Mugano said government needed to look into the issue of machinery before throwing US$360 million into Zisco.

Economist Victor Bhoroma said the government promise to resuscitate Zisco could be an election gimmick.

“It is not the first time that such promises have been made, especially around elections. Early in 2010, Zisco invited a bidder for a 64% stake at the Kwekwe and Redcliff plant and many investors over the years have been invited but nothing materialised.”

Newsday