Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

REGIONAL cement maker PPC says its Zimbabwean unit grew revenues and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in functional currency despite a difficult trading environment.

PPC operates a clinker plant at Colleen Bawn in Gwanda in the southern part of the country, as well as cement-milling plants outside Bulawayo and Harare.

Apart from South Africa and Zimbabwe, PPC also has units in Botswana, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

According to its audited consolidated annual financial statements for the year ended March 31 2021, the group said accounting for Zimbabwe in terms of IAS 29 — financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies — resulted in a net monetary loss of R200 million.

“Although trading conditions in Zimbabwe were characterised by high inflation and a shortage of foreign currency, PPC Zimbabwe grew revenues and EBITDA in functional currency. However, a 75% devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar against the South African rand resulted in a reduced contribution to the group’s profitability,” PPC said.

“The materials business could not recover from the impact of the lockdowns, although it experienced increased demand in some market segments.”

The group reported a net fair value gain on the Zimbabwe financial asset of R256m and a net fair value loss on the Zimbabwe blocked funds of R17 million.

PPC said cash available from operations amounted to R1 022m while cash generation benefited from improvements in EBITDA, reduction in working capital absorption, and lower finance costs paid.

Cash generation and preservation is a key performance measure for PPC.

Group revenue increased by 3% to R8 938m due to the recovery in cement sales, the report says.

Excluding Zimbabwe, group revenue increased by 7%.

Group EBITDA increased by 16% to R1 598 with an EBITDA margin of 17,9%.

EBITDA benefited from volume growth and stringent cost control.

Excluding PPC Zimbabwe, the group’s EBITDA from continuing operations increased by 66%.

Finance costs decreased by 19% to R283m due to lower average borrowings.

Earnings per share for the period for continuing operations increased to 65 cents, while headline earnings per share for continuing operations reduced to three cents.

Operating profit increased by 75% year-on-year from R600m to R1 051m.

Headline earnings from continuing operations, however, decreased from R787m to R77m due to the impact of non-cash pre-tax items on headline earnings.

The group said fair value adjustments and foreign exchange movements resulted in a loss of R376m, mainly due to strengthening of the South African rand against the US dollar during the year.

The South African rand depreciated against the US dollar in the prior year.

Gross debt amounted to R2 628m on March 31 2021.

It said the R3 172m decline in gross debt includes R2 482m relating to the DRC transferred to liabilities associated with assets held for sale and disposal.

“Despite the difficult trading conditions in most of our markets, our businesses have benefited from a recovery in cement demand, resulting in improved financial performance.

“The strategic repositioning of PPC as a leading cementitious player is progressing well, and we will redouble our efforts in the new financial year,” PPC CEO Roland van Wijnen said.

“We also achieved significant milestones in our capital restructuring and refinancing project, which remains a priority for PPC. So far, we concluded an agreement with PPC Barnet’s lenders, which terminates their right to recourse to PPC.”

Wijnen said they signed agreements for the sale of PPC lime and their aggregates business in Botswana. He said they also agreed with their South African lending partners to defer the equity capital raise in South Africa from March 2021 to September 2021.

“We continue to engage with our lenders to find the most economically efficient way to recapitalise the South African business,” he said.

On the outlook, PPC said despite the recovery in cement demand in most of its markets, it was mindful of the prevailing uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on economic activity.

“PPC will remain focused on improving cost competitiveness and cash generation.

“PPC will take the necessary strategic and operational measures to ensure that it can continue to serve its customers, protect its employees and implement strategic initiatives to ensure financial sustainability through all demand cycles,” it said.

NewsDay

Kuvimba Mining House has paid out US$5.2 million in dividends to shareholders, less than a year after bringing some of the country’s biggest mining assets under its wing with government support.

From white former farmers, the insurance regulator, and Government, the shareholders that lined up to receive their dividend cheques on Wednesday represent a broad range of interests, in a display of the company’s growing influence on the economy.

Kuvimba owns key mines such as Bindura Nickel Corporation, the country’s nickel producer, Freda Rebecca, Zimbabwe’s biggest gold miner, Shamva Mine, as well as an interest in Great Dyke Investments, potentially the country’s largest platinum operation.

Last year, Kuvimba also started running State-owned mines Jena, Elvington and Sandawana, after ZMDC ceded control. Kuvimba has also recently taken over Homestake, which runs the mothballed Tiger Reef Mine and Globe & Phoenix tributes in the Midlands.

Government last year announced that 65% of the company was now in its hands and those of other local interests. The remaining 35% is held by a private investor. The company is Sotic International, the Mauritius-registered company through which Kuvimba acquired BNC and other assets.

Which local shareholders are involved and how they are sharing this maiden dividend?

Government stake

The Government of Zimbabwe holds 21.5% equity in Kuvimba. Its share of the dividend is US$1.72 million. Government is the largest of the local shareholders.

White farmers compensation fund

12.5% of is held by a special compensation fund for white former farmers. The fund is raising money to pay white farmers as agreed last year under the Global Compensation Agreement, the US$3.5 billion deal signed between the Government and displaced white farmers in 2020.

According to Andy Pascoe, president of the Commercial Farmers Union, farmers had raised doubts about the shareholding in “unknown ventures, unknown proceeds”. But he said they take the dividend as a “seed”.

National Venture Fund

7.5% of Kuvimba is held by the National Venture Fund. The fund was set up to support businesses owned by women, youths and war veterans. Of the 7.5% held by the fund 2.5% is meant to support youth-run startups; 2.5% for women’s projects and 2.5% for war veterans. Last week, government launched a new investment company for war veterans, the War Veterans Investment Corporation.

Insurance and pensions

5% of Kuvimba is held by the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC). The insurance regulator will use its share to compensate pensioners who lost value to the 2019 currency changes.

In the 2021 budget, government set aside US$75 million for this compensation. IPEC was initially sceptical of government’s plan to pay this via Kuvimba shares, says the regulator’s commissioner, Grace Muradzikwa.

“On further engagements with government, we were advised that resources were in the form of shares in a ‘good asset’. To be honest, we received the message with mixed feelings since we were not sure of the performance of the company and its dividend payment history,” she says.

But, Muradzikwa said, the early dividend may justify the decision.

Depositors

The Deposit Protection Corporation holds 5%. The DPC is meant to compensate small bank depositors for loss of value on savings.

Public service

7% of shares in Kuvimba are held by the Public Service Pension Management Fund, which manages pensions for government workers.

6.5% shareholding is held by the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe. A sovereign wealth fund is a government’s investment fund, usually funded by money generated by the government.

There was no disclosure on exactly the number of shares each entity holds in Kuvimba, the dividend payable per share, or the payout to the 35% shareholder.

Future dividends? Not so much

Kuvimba CEO David Brown, however, cautioned that Kuvimba may not be as generous as it has been, as it reinvests earnings back into the company.

“The dividend that we are declaring today, is being calculated with regard to preliminary consolidated results of the group. But I think we must bear in mind that future dividends will always have to be managed as a balancing act between reinvestment into the business in order for it to grow, as well as rewarding shareholders,” Brown says.

The company’s expansion plan suggests a large capex outlay will be needed.

BNC completed shaft deepening in April, a project that first started in 2003 but had been abandoned for lack of funding. The deeper shaft will extend the life of mine and cut costs.

At Freda Rebecca, the company says it has broken a 20-year production record this year. Over the past decade, the mine averaged between 1,500kg and 2,100kg annual gold output. In the year to March this year, production rose to 2,690kg, and the company targets 3,215kg this year.

The mine reaches the end of its life in five years, and the company is exploring resources to find the next location for the next mine to replace Freda Rebecca.

At Shamva, Kuvimba plans to start construction of a new mine in early 2022 after completion of a detailed feasibility study and raising capital to exploit resources at Shamva Hill.

Says Brown: “Once fully developed, Shamva has the potential to become the largest gold mine in Zimbabwe by output and will target an annual production of 3,500kg of gold per annum.”

This would be a big turnaround for Shamva, formerly owned by Metallon. The mine had been shut down in 2019 and was sold to Kuvimba last year.

newzwire.live

The Kimber Processing (KP) is neglecting and failing to protect people against new forms of conflicts affecting the diamond sector, Kimberley Process Civil Society Coordinator and Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) Deputy Director Shamiso Mtisi said.

Anerudo Mapuranga

Mtisi during the opening session of the KP Intersessional meeting said the rise of synthetic diamonds a revelation for the KP to relook on its roles making sure that the marginalized societies in the diamond industry are protected from the ills in the sector.

The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coordinator said the KP was supposed to take a leaf from Pandora which has decided to move from mined diamond to synthetic due to the controversies surrounding the diamond industry.

“The rise of synthetic diamonds should be a wake-up call for rough diamond producing countries as it may affect their economies. Each generation is defined by its technologies.

“The age of synthetic diamonds, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data requires the rough diamond sector at the level of producers, traders and cutting and polishing industries to adapt.

“Adaptation entails embracing advances in scientific and social norms dictated by the needs of new generations. Governments equally need to start listening to these changing concerns to fix the problems in the diamond value chain.

 “As an example, one of the worlds biggest jewellers, Pandora, said this year it will no longer sell mined diamonds and will switch exclusively to laboratory-made diamonds due to concerns about sustainability, human rights abuses, environmental harm and poor labour standards associated with mined diamonds. This highlights that the problems the KP CSC is pointing to may be difficult for some of you to hear, but these problems don’t disappear if you simply look the other way.” Mtisi said.

Mtisi said the Kimberley Process Civil Society has been working outside the KP in an effort to bring sanity to the diamond industry due to the fact that despite the presence of the KP, criminal elements continue to benefit from diamonds at the expense of local communities.

“We have also deliberately been working more outside the KP, reaching out to members of the diamond industry, retailers, jewellers, consumers and other NGOs that are willing to listen to and understand the message we have been trying to convey in the KP for years.

“These actors appear prepared to expose the duplicity of the KP, with ill-intentioned actors and criminals hiding behind its failings to continue profiting at the expense of local communities, through undervaluation of diamonds, revenue mismanagement and violence.

“We will continue working much more closely with millennial and Generation Z consumers who want to buy ethically sourced diamonds. The future of the industry relies on keeping these consumers on board, and thus taking actions to curb illegality, human rights violations, environmental harm and poor working conditions.” He said.

According to Mtisi it was of importance for KP to start working the talk through giving voice to the voiceless and protecting communities from diamond conflicts.

“It is our mission and responsibility to bring the voice of these marginalized communities to this forum, as we feel many of the discussions we are having here are so disconnected from this reality. We want to open this forum by sharing some of the reports we have collected or come across, in the hope that all of you will keep this reality in mind, throughout this week’s discussions. This is a call to all KP Participants and Observers to meaningfully address these concerns so that we don’t have to go back to our constituencies and explain that the KP has no relevance for them. This is a selection of some of the reports that concern us most:

“ In CAR, in addition to the devastating civil war, there are new reports of mercenaries violently expelling locals from diamond mines, in complicity with the national army, through a fear campaign of rape, torture and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

• In Tanzania, a private security company protecting the Williamson Diamond Mine of Petra Diamonds, one of the largest diamond companies in the world, is accused of shooting dozens of locals in the past years, leading to their death or life-changing injuries. The company has come to a settlement with a number of the victim’s families recently, but it remains to be seen whether that will be satisfactory, and more importantly whether the violence will stop.
• In Lesotho, communities around Gem Diamonds’ Letseng mine, the highest value per carat mine in the world, live in constant fear that the mine’s tailing dams will burst, and that their drinking water is polluted, with the mine unable to provide them any assurances.
• In Zimbabwe, locals are asking to stop digging up diamonds as these stones do more harm than good, with reports of public and private security services being involved in using violence and abusing artisanal miners and locals. The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company and any new actors have legacy issues and a duty to seriously address and clean the image of diamonds in Zimbabwe.
• Again, in Zimbabwe, Murowa Diamonds, a member of the Natural Diamond Council, committed to promoting responsible sourcing standards, is repeatedly being accused by local communities of drilling and exploring for diamonds less than 100m from a school thereby disrupting learning activities and the children’s right to education.
• In Sierra Leone, communities have for years been unsuccessfully trying to get compensation from Octea’s Koidu mine, where they claim to be forcibly removed from their homes, their farmland buried under rubble, and their water sources polluted.
• In Angola’s Lunda Norte province, communities report that their protests against the destruction of villages and livelihoods because of diamond mining continue to be violently suppressed.
• In Brazil, there is growing concern that criminal groups mining for gold and diamonds in the Amazon are destroying the environment and assaulting indigenous groups.
• Efforts to formalize artisanal mining in South Africa – with the development of the Draft ASM Policy – and Zimbabwe also thinking of developing an ASM Policy, should include measures for communities to benefit from the diamond mining sector as well. Failure to formalize artisanal mining sponsors chaos and allows criminal networks to thrive.
• In addition to all the above, artisanal miners continue to struggle with the impact of COVID19. While the world market sales and prices are rapidly recovering, artisanal miners continue to receive drastically reduced prices. These are up to 50% less than before the pandemic, seriously cutting their household budgets.

“I know that many of you are thinking that dealing with these concerns is not the KP’s responsibility. But at the same time, all of you like to say that the KP is conflict prevention or even a responsible sourcing mechanism. There is a problematic contradiction in that.

“Many of you also think that it is enough that the KP allows civil society to speak out on such issues, or that documenting and reporting human rights concerns is the sole responsibility of civil society. This is another problematic misconception. This should be a shared effort that concerns us all, be it in civil society, government or industry.

“You cannot keep on relying on our limited resources to bring the problems in your supply chains to light. These problems are not just our problems. Bad practices and bad actors contaminating the diamond trade are a threat to all of us. At present those who commit these human rights violations are not held to account, not by governments, nor by industry who are trading their diamonds. An important question for this forum is how the KP will ensure that these abusers are held accountable for their actions.

The Central African Republic

“With regard to the Central African Republic, it is in our view, time to look back and zoom out. The KP embargo on CAR has been in place for 8 years now, in different forms. But what has it achieved? The country is still at war, and communities whose livelihoods depend on diamonds are suffering even more and are driven into the hands of criminal networks and armed groups. Illicit trade and trade in conflict diamonds is flourishing. Over 90% of diamonds continue to be smuggled out of the country. The KP will never be able to stop this by looking only at the CAR. These stones find their way to the market via other countries, where they get KP certification, with numerous reports mentioning neighbouring countries, not only Cameroon, but also trading hubs like the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. These countries need to be involved in seeking a solution to this lingering problem. Enforcing border and custom control measures and cooperation are key tenets that should be strengthened through cooperation between KP Participants.

Principles for Responsible Diamond Sourcing

“We view the development of principles for responsible sourcing as something worth engaging on. Yet, our questions with regard to implementation, monitoring and the duties and obligations of Participants in this regard, remain unanswered to date. We hope that these elements will be part of the discussion during this Intersessional, so that the KP finally moves from talking the talk, to walking the walk.” Mtisi said.

Crude oil prices rose yesterday, with Brent hitting $75 a barrel for the first time since April 2019, as investors remained bullish about a quick recovery in global oil demand and as concerns eased over an early return of Iranian crude.

Brent crude futures for August climbed 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $75.19 a barrel by 06:58 GMT, paring earlier losses. It rose as high as $75.27 a barrel, the strongest since April 25, 2019, earlier in the session.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July was at $73.66 a barrel, unchanged from the previous session.

WTI for August climbed 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $73.25 a barrel.

Brent gained 1.9 percent and WTI jumped 2.8 percent on Monday.

Both benchmarks have risen for the past four weeks on optimism over the pace of global Covid-19 vaccinations and expected pick-up in summer travel.

“The market sentiment stays strong with improved outlook for global demand,” said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities, adding that a rally in Asian stock markets is also helping boost risk appetite among investors.

Global shares yesterday extended their recovery from four-week lows as investors focused on prospects for post-pandemic economic growth, rather than fret more over the hawkish stance taken by the US Federal Reserve at a policy meeting last week.-Al Jazeera.

The Bank has noted with serious concern the continued circulation of false and malicious articles on social media alleging that Zimbabweans will no longer be able to pay for goods and services in foreign currency, particularly one article captioned

“Foreign currency no longer legal tender”. These articles and statements are false and should be treated with the contempt they deserve, as there is no policy or law that prohibits the use of foreign currency in Zimbabwe as alleged.

The articles are at the behest of irresponsible, mischievous and malicious people who are always bent on purveying false statements calculated to cause unnecessary anxiety, panic, alarm and despondency within the economy. The statements are also calculated to discredit Government and the Bank’s progressive efforts and achievements in stabilising and growing the economy.

The Bank wishes to reiterate that the public can pay for goods and services in local currency or foreign currency in accordance with the laws of the country and that they should ignore the malicious rumours being circulated on social media.

The Zimbabwean government last week approved two new mining agreements with two companies targeting gold and coal bed-methane production.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said the gold mining project involved Bravura Zimbabwe while the coal bed-methane venture is with an Australian company called Jacqueline Resources (Pvt).

Both projects are expected to aid government ambitious agenda towards attainment of a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.

“The Bravura agreement will see the State granting a concession in the Fort Rixon area to Bravura,” Mutsvangwa said.

Bravura, which is expected to carry out exploration, exploitation and processing of gold and allied minerals, is expected to have an 80 percent stake in the venture and government 20.

“An operating committee will also be set up for the development and exploitation programme, whose composition shall be defined in the Operating Agreement,” the minister said.

Regarding the coal bed methane project with Jacqueline Resources, the two parties are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding covering among others profit sharing, appointment of key project personnel; and ownership of the project intellectual property rights.
“The joint venture project and production licence shall run for 20 years with an option for renewal upon expiry of the period,” Mutsvangwa said.

“A management committee comprising equal representation from both parties shall be established to oversee the finalization of the Exploration programme, the grant of title in respect of the project area, and the negotiation and execution of the joint venture agreement.”

NewZiana

Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company’s (ZCDC) Chief Executive Officer, Mark Mabhudhu has been crowned Eastern Region Megafest CEO of the year Platinum award for his outstanding business leadership.

Mabhudhu was honoured for his innovative leadership style -supreme business excellence and high standards of ethical conduct, integrity, civic and social responsibility.

The Megafest Business Awards ceremony was held at Golden Peacock Hotel in Mutare recently where various Manicaland- based companies and executives were recognized for their contributions to the development of the region.

Mabhudhu has over 28 years of experience in the mining industry locally and internationally.

Mabhudhu started his career in 1990 at Rio Tinto Cam Dump Gold Retreatment Plant as a metallurgical student on attachment where he performed metallurgical test-work and material balance schemes.

He also had an opportunity to familiarize with the Empress Nickel Refinery and learnt the entire business value chain of the operations.

He later joined Lomagundi /Alaska Smelting and Refinery (Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation), again on attachment.
In 1993, he was employed by Auridiam Zimbabwe (Pvt.) Ltd – River Ranch Diamond Mine for three years where he designed and built, commissioned and optimized the plant.

Between 1996-1999, he moved to BHP Zimbabwe (Pty) Ltd – Hartley Platinum Mine as a Process Metallurgical Engineer where he built and commissioned the Hartley Platinum Complex including the Concentrator plant, Smelter and Refinery plants, optimized the Concentrator plant and ramped production to full capacity.

He recruited, trained and developed plant personnel across the plant operations. He rose through the ranks to plant superintendent level.

He then joined Debswana Diamond Mining Company – Jwaneng Mine in 1999 – April 2009 where he built, commissioned and optimised the state-of-the-art diamond processing and recovery plant.

While at Jwaneng Mine, he obtained full understanding of the entire value chain into diamond valuation, as well as the cutting and polishing industry.

He rose through the ranks from mineral process engineer to the technical process manager and finally strategy executive of the organization.
Mabhudhu was appointed the inaugural CEO of PAASOL Resources Zimbabwe (Pty) Ltd in August 2009-2010 and ratified by the Board of Directors to provide leadership and direction of this start-up organization.

In 2010, he moved to Marange Resources (Pvt) Ltd. where he rose through the ranks to become acting CEO between 2014–2015.
In 2018, he went on to join Vast Resources PLC – Diamond Business as a Consultant/Executive Director in charge of directing and leading the firm’s aspirations of becoming a prominent mining house in the country as well as internationally with particular focus on diamonds and setting up the Zimbabwe mining operations.

In September 2020, Mabhudhu re-joined ZCDC as the substantive Chief Executive Officer with the sole responsibility of repositioning the diamond company into a profit-making entity in line with shareholder and stakeholder expectations.

Mabhudhu has a BSc (Hons) Engineering – Metallurgical from the University of Zimbabwe in 1992 and was awarded a Book Prize (Top Student), Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies from the Buckinghamshire Chilten’s University College in UK (2000) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at the same University in 2001 where he was also awarded Top Student Prize. He has a Master of Philosophy in Information and Knowledge Management (MIKM) from the University of Stellenbosch (RSA) (2008) and is currently undertaking a Doctoral study in Business Administration (DBA) with the University of Pretoria’s Gibs Business School (Thesis final stage).

Masvingo Mirror

Hwange residents and safari operators have come out guns blazing accusing Afrochine of double standards after the Chinese company began exploring the Deka Safari area while still conducting its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

According to sources privy to the development, the company has reportedly commenced operations riding on an expired EIA which had been used when they were granted a concession in the Hwange National Park.

The government subsequently reversed the decision following pressure from residents, safari operators, environment activists and conservationists.

“The company has since begun exploration of coal in the Deka Safari area with major equipment having moved on site. The company is riding on the EIA which they did at the time they got to the previous concession which of course expired and meant that the company was supposed to conduct a new one targeting the latest place as the impacts may differ from area to area. Afrochine did not do that but instead went on to conduct exploration and the same time doing an EIA. I would say they are probably in a hurry to start mining given that they recently fired up their coking plant in Lukosi which in turn is supposed to feed the smelters in Selous,” said the source.

Greater Whange Residents Trust coordinator, Fidelis Chima said they were shocked to learn that the company was already on the ground conducting exploration works.

“Greater Whange Residents Trust is surprised that Afrochine has started exploration work before the EIA process has been completed. They sent questionnaires for the mining project and before being issued with the EIA certificate they are already on the site,” said Chima.

Association for Tourism Hwange (ATH) Chairperson, Elisabeth Pasalk said any mining activities would disturb the ecosystem.

“We do hereby object to the establishment of any form of mining activities within the proposed area or in any area close to, within the buffer zone of or connected to Zimbabwe National Parks and safari areas. The area proposed represents crucial wildlife habitat. Mining activities within the area will disturb and displace wildlife, modify animal behaviour and pose a threat to the Zimbabwean citizens living in Hwange town and in the communal lands nearby since the wildlife in the area will have no choice but to escape to new spaces.”

“Mining activities generate vibrational energy that propagates many kilometres along the surface while also penetrating at depths of several kilometres. If you think of the surface of the earth as a trampoline, high-energy ripples are propagating outward from the source along the surface. The vibrations caused by drilling and the noise generated by trucks, provoke the elephants and other wildlife in the area to fear danger and escape to areas where will come into contact with humans and cause the loss of life,” she said.

In a letter of objection seen by CITE to SustiGlobal Consulting and copied President Mnangagwa and Mines minister, Winstone Chitando, Pasalk who operates a safari queried why the government was insisting on coal extraction when the district was one of the best solar radiation zones with the potential to be harnessed into clean energy.

“The over utilization of fossil fuels also contributes to global warming. There is no need to mine coal when there are cleaner renewable sources of energy. Zimbabwe should lead renewable energy projects, which would put us in good stead in terms of reputation as a destination that cares about conservation of the environment, as opposed to relying on open cast coal mining.

“The Hwange/Victoria Falls area is classed as one of the world’s best solar irradiation areas in the world with potential for harnessing solar power in an innovative, environmentally conscious manner. Why then is the government of Zimbabwe continuing to engage in coal mining activities? From a business and economic perspective, the issuance of Special Grant No.8477 indicates a blatant disregard of the investment that safari operators and activity providers have made in the region and tells us that our efforts are in vain and that the livelihoods of those whose careers rely on tourism are of no significance.”

It is understood that on Monday officials from the President’s Office and Cabinet (OPC), Zimparks, government departments and security sector visited concessions given to Afrochine and Zimbabwe Zhongxin Coking Company (ZZCC) to ascertain the obtaining situation.

Meanwhile, residents have petitioned Afrochine consultant, SustiGlobal Consultancy seeking to stop it from conducting mining activities in the area.

Efforts to get a comment from the chief managing consultant, Oliver Mutasa were futile as he was unreachable.

Source: Centre for Innovation and Technology