Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

Prospect Resources is in discussions with an investor to develop its Arcadia Lithium project under a joint venture contract.

The company is also engaging its existing off-take partners as well as several potential off-take partners in relation to its spodumene production and its staged development plan.

Prospect said these activities will be run in parallel with the preparation of the revised feasibility study to deliver a more certain implementation plan.

“The company is advancing discussions with strategic corporate and institutional financiers as well as early-stage discussions to consider a development joint venture with a large corporate investor,” Prospect said in a statement.

The company said  it has decided to focus the pilot plant  at Arcadia on producing technical grade petalite samples using the dense medium separation (DMS) in accordance with the project’s existing feasibility study flow sheet rather than both petalite and spodumene samples using a flotation flow sheet.

The DMS flow sheet is considered the lower risk pathway to near-term production as determined through detailed analysis by management and a number of external third-party experts.

The company notes that petalite as a proportion of the Arcadia mineral endowment was significant and increasing the recovery of petalite and maximising sales into the technical market is an important strategic objective as the project progresses.

The pilot plant is considered as a key long-term operational asset for the company and its operation alongside commercial operations is considered vital as it will allow for geo-metallurgical confirmation and optimisation for each ore type prior to feed into the commercial operation.

The pilot plant is expected to produce and ship samples in the first half of this year.

According to the company, the production and export of petalite produced by the pilot plant will provide validation of the readiness of the regulatory and fiscal regime that will apply to the commercial operation.

This “commercial road-test” is expected to de-risk this element of the project for lenders and investors by demonstrating sales receipts through the off-take agreement and the ability to deal freely with foreign currency receipts.

The operation of the pilot plant will allow for the accumulation of knowledge during design, mitigating the scaling issues that peer lithium producers have experienced on account of a too rapid growth in supply.

The petalite flotation increases flow sheet risk, increases capital and operating cost against initial assessments, and would require considerable time and effort to fine tune and perfect for use in a commercial operation.

Business Times

MINE workers have petitioned government over what they feel were unfair labour practices by employers who have virtually turned them into mere labourers operating on short-term contracts.

In a letter to government recently, the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) said the casualisation of labour has become rampant among Zimbabwean mines.

The workers group said the problem emanated from the National Employment Council (NEC) which has not gazetted limits on the number of fixed term contracts within the mining industry.

“We address the Honourable Minister in reference to rampant casualisation of labour in the mining industry.

“The problem is emanating from the fact that our NEC has not set limits on a number of fixed term contracts in the mining industry,” Zdamwu said.

The union claimed most mines were exploiting their employees.

“Most employers in the mining industry are making workers sign consecutive fixed term contract on end.

“There is no cap as to the number of fixed term contracts a person can sign.

“Employees end up being engaged for several years but being made to sign a fixed term contract usually every month, or if one is lucky, they get a three month contract.

“This is being done regardless of the fact that the particular job will be permanent in nature.

“This was never the intention of the legislature when it provided for fixed term contracts. Fixed term contracts are mostly for temporary work, seasonal, or for a specific task.

“The mining industry is abusing this by engaging workers on short term contracts, thereby destroying job security completely.

“How can a person work for one company for 10 years continuously but remains a contract worker?” the union wrote.

The union is calling upon the minister to exercise his powers and set limits one could work on fixed contract.

“Our NEC has not set limits by amending or incorporating the spirit of Act 5 of 2015. However, as you may note, there is remedy provided for at law in case the specific industry NEC sleeps on the job.

GOVERNMENT has today sent a high-powered delegation to Hwange in a bid to coax Dinde villagers to allow a Chinese coal mining project to take off after they had resisted it citing eviction fears.

Villagers in Dinde are living in fear of eviction to pave way for the Chinese Beifa Investment company to start its coal mining operations.

A civic society group, Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG), and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) are now pursuing legal action to stop the eviction of the villagers.

Southern Eye heard that Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo and Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando will be in Dinde today to engage the villagers over the coal mining project.

Moyo confirmed the visit yesterday.

He appealed to the Dinde community to allow the Chinese firm to start operations, adding that the villagers stood to benefit from the project through job creation, among others.

“I will be accompanying the Mines minister to the area to engage the community and hear their concerns. There must have been some poor communication about this project, hence villagers have been resisting,” Moyo said.

“However, this investment will benefit the community through jobs and so forth, but if the villagers do not want it, that will be okay. However, if this investment goes to other parts of the country, there must be no crying foul on issues of lack of jobs and development.”

The proposed Dinde project comes a few months after government was forced to reverse a decision to let two other Chinese firms explore for coal inside the Hwange National Park.

Environmentalists took government to court in September 2020 to prevent ecological degradation after two Chinese firms were given exploration rights in the country’s biggest national park.

Reports indicate that desperate Dinde villagers intend to petition Parliament to stop the coal mining project.

Dinde is home to thousands of Nambyas and Tongas with a preponderance of the Tonga tribe which first settled in the then Whange district up to Victoria Falls upstream of the Zambezi River centuries ago.

They were settled in the Dinde area after their relocation from Sinamatela area in the 1920s to pave way for the establishment of Hwange National Park.

NewsDay

Zimbabwe’s female miners say their operations are being targeted by their male counterparts who are chasing them away from their claims.

They also claim they are not getting any protection from the authorities.

Mthandazo Women Miners Association Trust founder and chairperson Sithembile Ndlovu told Business Times: “Most women miners are now living in fear of losing their claims and their lives. We do not have any protection and some of our members are losing their claims. To make matters worse stakeholders in the mining sector do not communicate effectively with women in mining.”

Ndlovu said women miners were also struggling to pay statutory fees.

The Zimbabwe Miners Federation vice president, Lindiwe Mpofu, said the sector was appealing for government support and protection as women were being pushed out of the sector by men.

“The main challenge that women are facing is that our society is patriarchal and women who venture into this male-dominated industry do not get the support that they need,” Mpofu said.

“There are still a lot of issues that women still have to overcome within the industry.”

She said the closure of borders has halted the importation of machinery which has affected output.

Female miners, Ndlovu said, were also struggling to access foreign currency for operations.

“There is a dire need for access to foreign currency to continue with our operations,” she said adding that Nedbank and CBZ Bank have assisted the miners.

“But, we still need more banks that are integrated into it. This would help us have more access to foreign currency so as to acquire more capital for different miners. It is important that the banking sector looks at different programmes that they can make available to miners across the country.”

Business Times