Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has called on government to establish mobile vaccination sites at mines so that workers will not lose productive time in vaccination queues.

In an interview with NewZimbabawe.com Sunday, Zdamwu General Secretary Justice Chinhema said workers are losing productive time in queues waiting to be vaccinated.

Some mines are now demanding that workers must be fully vaccinated before they report for duty.

“Zdamwu is pro vaccination and we are encouraging workers to get vaccinated. Further instead of forcing workers , the mines must prioritize awareness campaigns . People are receiving a lot of fake news through social media and it is our request that mines work with us in educating workers. Instead of putting those restrictions which are meant to force workers , we must work towards awareness to workers, their families as well as communities,” Chinhema said.

“We are also urging the mines to make arrangements with the ministry of health to bring the vaccination at the mines rather than workers spending time looking for vaccination centers, Mine workers are losing productive time in vaccination queues. We are therefore, calling for mobile vaccination to be introduced in mining sites. Mining is a critical economic sector and there mustn’t be any disruptions to production,” he said.

Government has since said all its workers must be vaccinated.

NewZimbabwe

While most of the current focus on women in mining tends to be on their employment and advancement, there are a range of gender-related issues confronting the sector in its downstream value-chain.

These include the position of women in stakeholder groups like local communities and suppliers, for instance, where mines can still improve their contribution to inclusive development. According to Lisl Pullinger, principal ESG consultant at SRK Consulting, this might express itself in the mine’s social engagement processes – where traditional community structures are often male-dominated.

“Being aware of gender dynamics not only in the workplace but among important stakeholder groups will enable mines to raise the bar on managing impacts on women,” says Pullinger. “It is important to make more space for women’s voices and input in mine decisions ranging from corporate social investment and procurement, to resettlement and environmental permitting.”

She highlighted a growing appreciation of the fact that women in mine-host communities are often impacted differently by the presence of a mining operation. While many women are engaged formally or informally in the mine’s supply chain, their contribution is seldom ‘mainstreamed’ in company policies or even national mining regulations.

“This has led to calls by organisations like the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development for clear standards for stakeholder consultation in licencing processes, for example,” she said. “Such clarity would emphasise the need for mines to consult equally with men and women in host communities.”

This was particularly important in the context of communities dealing with contributing factors to systemic vulnerability like poverty, illiteracy and women’s lack of access to education. Mines and their service providers would then have to take more meaningful measures to ensure women fully understand the scope of the project, what is being proposed, and potential consequences.

Equally important, an ongoing and effective gender strategy would allow mines to identify opportunities for interventions. The ways that this could be done include the mine’s CSI function – to support community-based initiatives against gender-based violence faced by women in local communities, making special provision to log grievances in a safe and protected manner – and through procurement playing a more active role in empowering women suppliers in the local area.

“The inclusion of more women in the workforce remains an important element of enhancing mines’ positive impact,” she said. “However, employment equity is not about numbers on their own. Women working in mining companies will add value when they participate more fully in daily decision-making.”

The insights that women bring can be well-leveraged in improving the mine’s broader impact among stakeholders, helping guide the company’s engagement, recruitment and procurement strategies to best effect. Numerous studies have showed, she said, that expenditure by women heading poor households has a more positive spin-off in terms of family welfare and education.

“As with any development effort, it is important for the mining sector’s impact on female stakeholders to be assessed regularly,” said Pullinger. “This can be done by integrating gender into the impact assessment process, and reporting gender disaggregated data.”

Gender-sensitive monitoring can help understand how the changes that mining brings to a community often affect men and women differently. Women may not benefit directly from the financial gains of resettlement processes, for instance, if their ownership of certain assets is culturally or legally prescribed. At the same time, certain types of social change associated with mining such as site-induced migration, may raise the risk of gender-based violence.

“A broader focus on women’s participation in mining can ensure that mining’s impact does not exacerbate gender inequality and discrimination,” she says. “Rather, it needs to support women in sharing the benefits and opportunities the sector can offer.

About Lisl Pullinger

Lisl has over 20 years’ experience working on stakeholder communication and community development projects. Her experience in working with host community and mining executives places her in a unique position to provide advisory services regarding sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Lisl’s experience included a wide range of sustainable development management areas – developing in-migration management plans, leading due diligence teams and developing digital stakeholder engagement plans. Lisl has worked extensively in the African mining environment and has a thorough understanding of how social license to operate can influence operations and projects. She has deep insight into sustainability requirements across disciplines and how it collates into developing and maintaining sustainable frameworks for projects and operations. Lisl has recently worked on sustainable development projects in the SADC-region, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and is currently supporting the European Union’s ReSourcing project with advisory services on responsible sourcing. Lisl is passionate about creating shared value between communities and mines through local procurement and enterprise and supplier development. She is a member of two technical societies. 

About SRK

SRK is an independent, global network of consulting practices in over 45 countries on six continents. Its experienced engineers and scientists work with clients in multi-disciplinary teams to deliver integrated, sustainable technical solutions across a range of sectors – mining, water, environment, infrastructure and energy. For more information, visit www.srk.co.za

INCENTIVE schemes announced early this year to boost gold deliveries to the State-run Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) have bolstered shipments into the formal market, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya said on Friday, projecting higher year-end output.

Speaking during a mid-term monetary policy statement (MPS) review webinar organised by the country’s biggest circulating business weekly, Zimbabwe Independent, Mangudya said the strategy helped the country halt high-level smuggling.

Mangudya said following the introduction of incentives, small-scale miners alone boosted output by 1,3 tonnes between May and July this year.

“Gold deliveries have been going up,” Mangudya said in his keynote address.

“It was higher in June and July. That was the impact of the gold delivery incentive scheme which was implemented by government. If you look at the totals from January to May and you look at June and July totals, you can see the immediate impact of an incentive of 5%.

“If you remove that incentive, (you can see) incidents of smuggling gold out of Zimbabwe.

“It means that all that gold has been produced in Zimbabwe all along, but instead of bringing it to the formal market, to Fidelity Printers, it has been going out of the country.

“People (small-scale miners) produced 1,8 tonnes in July, almost two tonnes. But they were producing only about 700kg in May, it means that difference between 700kg and two tonnes, 1,3 tonnes, was just going out of the country.

“It was not going to the formal market. The incentive is a motivation for them to bring gold to the formal market,” the central bank chief noted.

The MPS announced early this month projected stronger gold output and exports this year, underpinned by the incentives, which range between 2,5% and 5%.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s package of incentives include incremental output schemes, which will see mining firms that opt to list on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange earning much higher incentives on their incremental output. Easing of COVID-19-induced restrictions that prevailed most of last year have also boosted gold output as markets reopened and supply chains got back on track.

“There was a remarkable surge in gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) in the months of June and July 2021.

“June 2021 gold deliveries to FPR were 2 924,3 kg compared to 1 409,6kg delivered in June 2020. Similarly, gold deliveries for July 2021 stood at 2 824,6 kg compared to July 2020 deliveries of 1 406,4 kg,” Mangudya said in the MPS.

He said small-scale gold producers contributed 52,8% of the total gold deliveries to FPR during the first seven months of 2021, which compared favourably with the 55,8% delivered for the same period in 2020.

Mines minister Winston Chitando has announced an ambitious plan to transform the sector into a US$12 billion industry by 2023, from the current total revenue of about US$2,5 billion.

Gold mines are expected to play a big role in this strategy.

NewsDay

As largely expected, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate fell to the lowest level in close to three years in August, but the scourge threatened to rear its ugly head again.

The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of August 2021 as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index stood at 50,24 percent down from 56,37 percent in July 2021.

However, the month-on-month inflation rate in August 2021 was 4,18 percent gaining 1,62 percentage points on the July 2021 rate of 2,56 percent. This is the highest monthly inflation rate since January this year when inflation stood at 5,4 percent.

While inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, according to American economist Milton Friedman, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is on record saying unavoidable shocks to international food and administered prices such as higher freight
rates is also a major contributor to current price instability. In revising its inflation rates from the previous year-end rate of 10 percent to 25 and 35 percent, the central bank said deviation from the initial end period forecast was due to unavoidable shocks to international food and administered prices.

“The recent sharp increase in international food prices has already slowly started to feed into domestic consumer prices in some regions as retailers, unable to absorb the rising costs, are passing on the increases to consumers,” said the RBZ in its Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement.

“International food prices are expected to increase by about 25 percent in 2021 from 2020, before stabilising in 2022. A pass-through of 20 percent (13 percent in the first year and 7 percent in the second) would, thus, imply an increase in consumer food price inflation of about 3,9 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points on average in 2021 and 2022, respectively for Zimbabwe.

“An additional one percentage point to the 2021 global consumer food inflation could be added by the higher freight rates,” reads part of the Mid-Term Monetary Policy statement.

Other market watchers, however, attributed high inflation levels on an unstable parallel market exchange rate which spent the better part of August between 140 and 150 to the greenback. The official exchange rate was below 86 throughout August, making little
impact, if any, on prices.

Many economic players in the country have been using parallel market rates to price their goods and services, driving inflation up.

According to economists, the country’s monthly inflation rate will have to stay below 3 percent to close within the RBZ’s targeted range.

For annual inflation to remain on a downward path as it did in August month on month inflation for the rest of the year should be below 3,8 percent for September; 4,4 percent for October; 3,2 percent for November; and 4,2 percent for December. But for it to close within the targeted range of between 25 and 35 percent, month-on-month inflation should fall below 3 percent or much lower. But with the widely used parallel market exchange rate heading north, with street money changers quoting rates as high as 160 yesterday, monthly inflation levels could close the year above the target range.

In a note to clients, economist John Robertson said the 4,19 percent increase this month can be attributed mainly to the movement in the black market exchange rate to around $140:US$1, “so a further weakening of the black market rate in the coming months could
prevent the annual inflation rate from falling”.

“Official mention has been made of the need to eliminate the currency black market, but so far the attempts made to bring it under control have failed.”

In August, consumers felt the most inflationary pain in the purchase of non-food items with the month-on-month non-food inflation rate at 4.95 percent, gaining 2,35 percentage points on the July 2021 rate of 2.60 percent.

Business Weekly

The President of Zimbabwe His Excellency Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is today launching a cattle ranching project owned by the country’s largest platinum producer, Zimplats in Ngezi.

The Zimplats Palmline Investments Cattle Ranching Project has 3 types of cattle; the Commercial/Beef Herd (1493), the Waygu (Japanese Cow) herd (178) and the Dairy herd (851).

Introduction 

This article seeks to give readers insights into mining tribute agreements as these are quite common in the mining sector and are regulated by the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 21:05) (the Act).

Key definitions

According to section 283 of the Act, a tribute agreement means any agreement or arrangement whereunder any person has given a tribute, licence, concession, authority or other right to mine a mining location to a tributor and any agreement to alter the terms of a
tribute agreement, which has been approved by the Mining Affairs Board (MAB) and any renewal of a tribute agreement which has been approved by the MAB.

In relation to a tribute agreement a tributor means the person who has been granted the right to mine a mining location under a tribute agreement. A grantor means any person who has under a tribute agreement given a tributor the right to mine a mining location. A mining location means a defined area of ground in respect to which mining rights, or rights in connection with mining, have been acquired under the Act or which were acquired under any previous law relating to mines and minerals.

Registration of tribute agreement

According to section 280 of the Act if any holder of a registered mining location has agreed in writing to grant a tribute or any other limited right to work such mining location to any other person, hereinafter called the tributor, such tributor may, after such agreement has been approved in terms of this Act apply to the mining commissioner (now known as provincial mining director) for the registration of a notarial deed embodying the terms of such agreement in the office of such mining commissioner, where a register shall be kept in which particulars as to such agreement shall be entered.

The particulars of the tribute agreement shall include:

The names of the parties to the agreement; and The name and registered number of the mining location or the registered number of the mining lease to which such agreement relates; and The date upon which the rights conferred by such agreement commence and expire.

It is emphasised that the tribute agreement has to be in the form of a notarial deed.

In terms of section 280(6) any agreement registered in terms of this section shall, while it remains in force, be binding upon any person who acquires the ownership of such mining location or any interest therein, and it shall not be lawful for the holder of such mining location to abandon the whole or part of such location during the period that such agreement remains in force.

Approval of tribute agreement

It is a requirement in terms of section 284 of the Act that the terms of every tribute agreement shall be reduced to writing and such agreement, together with the prescribed number of copies thereof shall be submitted to the mining commissioner for examination
and approval by the MAB or the mining commissioner.

Approval by the mining commissioner

Sections 285(1) provides that the MAB may authorise the mining commissioner to approve any tribute agreement which conforms to a standard agreement drawn up and approved by the MAB. If he or she approves the tribute agreement, the mining commissioner shall report such approval to the MAB, the occupier or the owner of the land concerned and furnish the MAB with a copy of the agreement.

In terms of section 283(3) of the Act if the mining commissioner does not himself approve a tribute agreement he shall submit the agreement to the MAB for consideration.

Approval by the Mining Affairs Board

According to section 286, if upon examination of any tribute agreement which has been submitted to it by a mining commissioner, the MAB may approve the agreement and shall endorse such approval thereon and shall inform the owner or occupier of the land
concerned, if satisfied:

That the method of fixing the tribute royalty payable to the grantor and the rate of such royalty are satisfactory and are not likely to retard the progress or expansion of the mine or bring about the early cessation of mining operations, and

That the interests of both the grantor and the tributor are adequately safeguarded, and

That the period of such agreement is clearly defined and, if termination of the agreement by notice is provided for, that the interests of the parties are adequately protected.

That the development work required by the agreement is reasonable in the circumstances and is not unduly burdensome or likely to cause the premature cessation of mining operations on the mine, and

That the tributor is required to carry out sufficient development work to ensure the continuity of mining operations on the mine, and
That the grantor is entitled periodically and at reasonable times to inspect the mine and satisfy himself that the terms of the agreement are being observed and That in all respects the agreement is satisfactory and likely to result in the mine being mined to the best advantage.

Disclaimer

This simplified article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute the writer’s professional advice. Due to the numerous laws involved frequent changes are inevitable. To be compliant organisations and individuals are advised to consult adequately.

Godknows Hofisi, LLB(UNISA), BAcc(UZ), CA(Z), MBA(EBS,UK) is a legal practitioner / conveyancer with a local law firm, chartered accountant, insolvency practitioner, registered tax accountant, consultant in deal structuring, business management and tax and is an experienced director including as chairperson. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on +263 772 246 900 or
[email protected].

Zimbabwe is starting to embrace electric cars with the Government, through the Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) buying six electric vehicles from a Chinese company.

Some of the cars are now being used at its driving school, EasyGo, and the rest as shuttle cars at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.

The vehicles, and the charging infrastructure now based at the CMED Harare depot, were bought by the CMED from BYD Company, which produces cars, buses, trucks, electric bicycles, forklifts and rechargeable batteries. CMED managing director Mr Davison Mhaka
has since presented the cars to Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and there are plans to buy more electric cars.

Mr Mhaka said using electric vehicles has a number of advantages, including that they are environmentally friendly, electricity is a renewable resource unlike petrol or diesel, they are less expensive and require less maintenance and are quieter than internal combustion engines.

The BYD e6 is an all-electric compact crossover/compact multi-purpose vehicle manufactured by BYD from 2009.

Field testing for the first generation model began in China in May 2010 with 40 units operating as taxis in the city of Shenzhen.

Sales to the general public began in Shenzhen in October 2011, over two years behind schedule of the originally planned release date of 2009.

By September 2009, a number of BYD e6 units were operating in fleet service as taxis in China, Indonesia, Colombia, Belgium, the US (New York and Chicago), the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Since 2010, sales in China totalled 34 862 units through December 2016. The BYD e6 ranked as the best-selling pure electric car in China in 2016 and won a golden medal for “Best Quality Product” at the Havana International Fair 2015.

Electric vehicles are likely to take over from petroleum-fuelled vehicles across the world over the next two decades, a move partly driven by their own advantages and partly by the need for major reductions in carbon emissions globally. Internal combustion engines are not very efficient, while electric motors and electric power stations are. Even if the electricity is generated from fossil fuels, there is a dramatic cut in carbon emissions and as more and more electricity comes from green sources such as hydro-power, solar and wind, the carbon footprint from transport continues to be slashed.

The rise of the lithium ion battery, now used in many consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptops, has finally provided a viable battery for electric vehicles. The global switch-over to electric cars will benefit Zimbabwe directly, since the country has abundant lithium ore deposits.

A pilot plant at Arcadia Lithium Mine near Harare was commissioned in January and if all goes well, Zimbabwe could become could become a major global supplier of lithium.

Australia-listed Prospect Resources, which secured a long-term off-take partner for Arcadia with Sibelco of Belgium, has been moving forward with its mining venture that will see high-grade lithium ore from Zimbabwe competing on world markets.

Demand for lithium is growing fast and as the world switches to electric cars, lithium consumption will grow exceptionally as the metal is the principal raw material for modern batteries.

THE Zimbabwe Institute of Foundries (ZIF) has appointed Mr Dosman Mangisi, as its new chief operations officer.
Coming from the background of small to medium-scale mining, where he has been spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) for seven years, Mangisi had previously served as the national executive committee member of the ZIF board responsible
for marketing and communications.

His passion for developing the potential of small-scale miners and their contribution to mainstream economy has over the years endeared him with the metal foundry industry in the country.

“I’m excited to assume the reins in the most challenging sector, which deals mainly with base metal industries,” said Mr Mangisi while confirming his appointment.

“Value addition and beneficiation of metals is critical to the turnaround of any economy in the world.

“We are learning from China, USA, Germany, South Africa and other emerging economies on how they are hedging their strength from metal casting.”

Mr Mangisi said Zimbabwe has a huge potential if it fully develops the metal industry value chain, which was one of the anchors since pre-independence times.

He said companies such as the now-defunct Zisco, ZimAlloys, Zimasco and Zimcast should be capacitated to drive massive growth in line with the Government’s Vision 2030 and attainment of the US$12 billion mining milestone by 2023.

“As part of our roadmap, we want to bring the ease of doing business in the metal casting sector. We want to see production of iron ore to sponge iron, harnessing scrap metal and promoting local manufacturing of metal products,” he said.

Through ZMF, Mr Mangisi has played a key role in projects such as establishment of the Bubi gold milling centre in Matabeleland North and Silobela gold centre in the Midlands, as well as forging strategic partnerships with established mining firms and the Government, among others.

Metal casting is a key sector in Zimbabwe — credited for supplying significant percentage to mining, agriculture, construction and other sectors.

“Total production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals hovers on average around 10 000 tons per annum. The sector also contributes to exports regionally,” said Mr Mangisi, who holds a Diploma in Mineral Resources Valuation from the Zimbabwe School of Mines and another Diploma in Mining and Mineral Resources Management with Zimbabwe Institute of Management.

“Metal foundries also support non-manufacturing jobs up and down the supply chain, from mining to warehousing, as well as engineering, financial and legal services.”

The ZIF is headed by Mr Itai Zaba as the president of the organisation, deputised by Mr Gary Green and Mr Vimbai Matarirano. Ambassador Zenzo as board chair. Mr Reason Purazeni is the executive secretary with Mr Cephas Mubvuta as treasurer.

The Chronicle

Cabinet says school will re-open on the 30th of August for examination classes and on the 6th of September for normal classes.

This was revealed in a Post-Cabinet Media Briefing by the Minister of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services Senator Monica Mutsvangwa a few minutes ago.

Schools will re-open on 30 August 2021 for examination classes and on 6 September 2021 for non-examination classes. Intercity and intracity transportation for learners will be allowed during this period.