Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

A WORKER at a Chinese-owned gold mine, Dee Troop, in Chikuti, Mashonaland West province, died at the weekend after he was trapped in a collapsed mineshaft.

The deceased has been identified as Herman Musona (29).

Mashonaland West provincial police spokesperson Inspector Magret Chitove confirmed the incident.

“As he tried to come out of the underground mining shaft where he was trapped, the deceased was knocked off by a large stone boulder that fell on him. Other mine workers tried to rescue him without success as he passed on in the shaft mine.”

She added that a report was made at ZRP Murereka Police Post in Lions Dens.

‘‘As police, we are deeply concerned with the high prevalence of deaths in the mining sector. We are urging all those in the mining industry to carry out regular inspections and check on mine safety before workers go underground. This will help to avoid loss of life.’’

Zimbabwe Diamonds and Allied Workers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Justice Chinhema said mine workers face a lot of challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘‘The mine workers also face poor working conditions, poor remuneration and general poor welfare in our mines. Mine workers face threats of a new coloniser in the form of Chinese miners in the name of investors,’’ Chinhema said.

He called on strict measures by mining inspectors.

‘‘A lot needs to be done to safeguard mine workers,’’ said Chinhema.

NewsDay

The Midlands State University (MSU) has embarked on a US$11 million modified coal tar plant that is expected to create 2 500 jobs and save the country 40 percent of the money it uses to import bitumen.

The university’s silicon oxide nano-particles manufacturing plant is located in Zvishavane where the project’s main raw materials are found.

Preliminary studies conducted revealed that there will be 40 percent cost saving on road surfacing costs as a result of the new product developed by Midlands State University.

The university has already patented this product through the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO).

This is a cost effective, and high-quality road surfacing material using 100 percent of locally available materials and expertise.

The modified coal tar surfacing product will assist the country and region in their quest toconstruct new tarred roads and rehabilitate the ever-increasing deteriorating road networks across the nations.

Currently, the nation is producing tar from bitumen which is imported from South Africa at a heavy cost to the country’s already burdened fiscus.

A team of engineers, safety and design experts from Verify Engineering, a technology development company under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development visited the Modified Coal Tar Project to assess and recommend the best possible options for operating the plant.

The Verify Engineering team toured the proposed plant site where civil engineering and preparatory works are nearing completion.

They also visited the Shabanie-Mashaba Mine offices to assess the quality and availability of raw materials.

Verify Engineering Technical Services Manager, Engineer Passmore Dube, Safety Health Environment and Quality Officer Mr Abiota Gawe constituted the Verify Engineering team.

“We have come to conduct a site assessment where we are looking at possible scenarios to site the plant, utilities and all the infrastructure that is required at the plant.

“After this, we will sit with the design team and come up with the most appropriate arrangement of the plant equipment and produce a design report,” said Eng Dube.

MSU’s technical leader in the Modified Coal Tar project, Dr Munyaradzi Shumba said the role of Verify Engineering also included coming up with plant designs for the project.

“We have brought in a team of engineers from Verify Engineering, whose role is to assess where we are setting up the plant and also come up with plant designs, after which we will start procurement of the plant equipment,” he said.

“The major impact of this project will be the rehabilitation of roads using locally available raw materials and we are going to be utilising mine waste dumps that are scattered all over Zvishavane.”

Dr Gift Mehlana, one of the project inventors and MSU lecturer said the invention is both environmentally friendly and promotes import substitution since it will use locally available raw materials.

“This invention will make use of a locally available resource namely coal tar, which is a byproduct in the destructive distillation of coal. We will then blend this coal tar with silicone oxide nano-particles that we will produce at our plant using waste asbestos fibre,” he said.

MSU’s modified coal tar manufacturing business is expected to supply both the local and regional road construction industries.

MSU Zvishavane Campus Director Professor Advice Viriri indicated that at its optimum, the plant will create 2 500 direct and indirect jobs.

“This project will lead to employment creation in Zvishavane since it will employ about 2 500 people in and around Zvishavane,” he said.

During the tour of the Shabanie-Mashaba Mines offices, a senior staffer at the asbestos mining company confirmed that there were enough waste dumps in Zvishavane and Mashaba to feed production at the MSU plant.

The Chronicle

Zimbabwe’s largest platinum miner, Zimplats has spent US$159.1m on capital projects including mine expansion in the 12 months to June 30, 2021.

The development of Mupani Mine, the replacement production source for Rukodzi and Ngwarati mines which will deplete in 2022 and 2025, respectively, is progressing well and remains on schedule, the miner said.

“The project has a design capacity of 2.2 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA), which is expected to be achieved in September 2024 at a total estimated cost of US$264m,” Zimplats said.

The project to upgrade Mupani and Bimha mines as replacements for Mupfuti Mine, which depletes in 2027, was approved by the board this year.

Mupani Mine will be upgraded from the current design capacity of 2.2 metric tonnes per annum to 3.6 metric tonnes per annum at an additional cost of US$122.6m, thereby increasing the estimated total project cost from US$264m to US$386m.

Zimplats said the Bimha Mine upgrade was progressing well and is currently ramping up to achieve full production capacity in 2023.

About US$6.9m was spent during the year from an approved budget of US$81.7m.

During the year, the board approved the Phase 3A concentrator expansion, which will increase production capacity by 0.9MTPA.

The plant will process the additional ore volumes from the early ramp up at Mupani Mine and Bimha mines and is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2023.

Revenue for Zimplats increased 56% to US$1.4bn in the period under the review, largely due to the increase in the prevailing average metal prices during the year.

Despite the 2% decline in volumes sold, cost of sales increased by 14% to US$546.7m primarily due to an increase in revenue indexed expenses resulting from the higher revenue achieved in the year.

Operating cash cost per 6E ounce increased by 8% to US$661 per ounce from US$613 per ounce in 2020.

As a result, profit after tax stood at US$563.1m while net cash generated from operating activities increased to US$453.1m.

Business Times

Zimbabwe’s small scale miners are edging closure to sealing a deal with Chinese companies that will supply mining machinery, a move which is expected to boost gold production in the country.

ZANU PF youths have invaded ZimAlloys’ chrome mining claims in Darwendale, Zvimba district, in Mashonaland West Province.

It comes after the government, through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, forced ZimAlloys to surrender almost half of its chrome mining claims to enable a wider inclusion of locals in the sector.

ZimAlloys had been reluctant to comply.

But, it was forced to comply after another ferrochrome producer Zimasco complied with the directive.

However, Business Times can report that ZANU-PF youths have invaded ZimAlloys’ mining claims, which were not part of those ceded to the government.

Business Times

Illegal gold panners are wreaking havoc in Matabeleland South, damaging public infrastructure such as roads and schools as they search for the yellow metal.

Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights Coordinator Khumbulani Maphosa said it was criminal and irresponsible when they dig underneath the railway line or under the road.

“When you do that it’s criminal because you are vandalising infrastructure and it’s irresponsible because you are risking people’s lives,” Maphosa said.

He said the government should put in place stricter policing on the activities by omakorokoza.

“But beyond that we feel it is now time to ban detectors because the carriage of a detector outside the claim zone is destroying infrastructure,” Maphosa said.

“In other places they destroy some people’s houses. We have received reports on that, some are destroying school infrastructure that shows how metal detectors are destroying our infrastructure.”

It is also understood that Loreto Mission in Silobela, Midlands province is in danger of losing its infrastructure after illegal gold panners invaded the institution and dug large pits in search for gold.

Gold is the most liquid commodity as it can be easily sold.

The government estimates that the economy could be losing US$100m through the smuggling of the yellow metal.

The government has put incentives to encourage gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

The sweetener includes 5% incentive for those who deliver above 20 kilogrammes, removal of royalties, and payment at the prevailing international gold prices rate.

This has triggered gold deliveries through official channels with gold deliveries to Fidelity averaging over 2.8 tonnes per month in June and July from an average of 1.3 tonnes that existed before the incentives.

Zimbabwe is targeting a US$12bn mining economy annually by 2023. Gold is expected to lead the charge with a haul of US$4bn.

Business Times

A MINE worker died while his eight workmates were seriously injured after they were attacked by a gang of 14 men who were armed with machetes in what is believed to be a conflict between rival mining gangs.

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident which occurred on Saturday at Cobra Mine in Gwanda.

“We are investigating a case where one person died and eight others were injured after they were attacked with machetes by a gang. The victims were asleep in their shacks at their workplace when they were attacked by the gang.

The suspects went on to damage some property at the mine before fleeing,” he said.

“The injured were taken to Gwanda Provincial Hospital where one died upon admission and the others were further referred to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH). We are conducting investigations and we want to ascertain the cause of the conflict or whether these could be rival mining groups.

The suspects are 14 and they are based at Bina Mine which is close to the mine where the incident occurred. We want to warn people against using violence to resolve disputes.”

Asst Comm Nyathi appealed to members of the public with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects to contact the police.

Zimbabwe Christian Alliance Gwanda District coordinator who is also an ex-officio member of the Gwanda Local Peace Committee (LPC), Reverend Sipho Mhizha said the peace committee had scheduled a meeting for today to come up with an intervention strategy that will be implemented at Cobra and Bina Mines.

“We learnt with great concern of the incident which occurred at Cobra Mine where one person died and eight others were injured. From the information we have gathered so far it appears that these are rival mining gangs and they have had previous conflicts,” he said.

“As a peace committee we will be holding a strategic planning meeting in order to see how best to intervene and if need arises, we might even set up a peace committee in the area. We set up a peace committee at Vhovha Mine and it’s yielding some positive results. As peace ambassadors, we are concerned by the violence ongoing in mining areas and we hope to engage small scale miners in order to address this problem which keeps recurring in various mines around Gwanda.” 

The Chronicle

Two artisanal gold miners died in Mushandike resettlement area after a mine shaft they were digging for gold collapsed and trapped them on Saturday.

Paul Mhuka (20) and Cephas Pandasvika (41) of villages 15 and 23 respectively in Mushandike were found lifeless after fellow artisanal miners at Golden Echo, 7B removed rubble that had covered them.

The pair were working underground in the 25 metres-deep shaft with their third colleague who was lucky to escape after the shaft collapsed.

The trio had entered the shaft the previous evening around 8pm for the night shift when disaster struck.

According to eyewitness tragedy struck after boulders and mounds of earth fell into the shaft where the two deceased and the lone survivor were digging for the yellow metal.

Masvingo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said when police attended the scene bodies of the deceased had already been retrieved from the shaft by their colleagues.

The bodies were taken to Masvingo General Hospital for post-mortem.

Gold mining by artisanal miners is rife in the highly mineralised reefs in Mushandike where scores of fortune seekers lose lives every year in deep shafts.