ILLEGAL gold panners continue to wreak havoc along the banks of Bulawayo’s major supply dams, targeting mostly decommissioned ones such as Upper Ncema Dam in Esigodini, and in the process threatening Bulawayo’s water supplies.

In June, nine illegal gold panners were arrested, bringing the total of arrests since January to 68.

Illegal gold panning activities are posing a serious threat to Bulawayo’s water supplies as the panners are even digging in the dams that have dried up, something that is likely to cause heavy siltation.

Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube recently said the illegal gold panning activities could affect the city’s water supplies for a prolonged period.

He said in the event that a pipe was to burst at the dam due to the activities of the gold panners, the city would go for close to a month without water.

The gold panning activities are rampant in Upper Ncema, Inyankuni and Umzingwane dams that reportedly have alluvial gold deposits.

In February, police in Matabeleland South arrested 51 illegal gold panners who were operating at Upper Ncema Dam in Esigodini.

According to the latest council minutes, illegal gold panners are mainly targeting decommissioned dams.

However, due to inadequate resources, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) rangers and police are struggling to effectively conduct routine patrols in the affected areas.

“Routine patrols were conducted by the rangers and the ZRP in Esigodini.

“The invasion of decommissioned dams seem to be on the upward trend. Most of the patrols are conducted on foot due to shortage of fuel and patrol vehicles,” read the report.

“A total of nine illegal gold panners were arrested during the month of June, bringing the total to 68 as from January 2020.”

Gold panning activities affect the city’s supply dams and the activities in and around the dams are loosening the soil, leading to heavy siltation_The Chronicle

A Japanese ship that ran aground on a reef off Mauritius two weeks ago has now stopped leaking oil into the Indian Ocean but the island nation must still prepare for “a worst case scenario”, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said late on Monday.

Conservationists said they were starting to find dead fish as well as sea-birds covered in oil, increasing fears of an ecological catastrophe despite a massive local clean-up operation that includes making floating booms from leaves and human hair.

Jugnauth said the leak from a damaged oil tank on board the stricken vessel, the MV Wakashio, had stopped but that it still had 2 000 tonnes of oil in two other, undamaged tanks.

“The salvage team has observed several cracks in the ship hull, which means that we are facing a very serious situation,” Jugnauth said in a televised speech, parts of which were made available to Reuters by his office.

“We should prepare for a worst case scenario. It is clear that at some point the ship will fall apart.”

Mauritius has declared a state of emergency and former colonial ruler France has sent aid in what environmental group Greenpeace said could be a major ecological crisis. Japan has also sent help. Tourism is a major contributor to the Mauritius economy, generating 63 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion) last year. — Reuters.

THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has forced the shutdown of four mines in Mashonaland Central province for operating without the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate.

In a statement, EMA spokesperson Joyce Chapungu said the mines were closed last week after the environmental watchdog’s board, sitting as a court, found them guilty of violating regulations.

“The agency closed four mines in Mashonaland Central province during the week for operating without EIAs. The defaulting mines are, Pecho Minerals located in Galiver Farm in Bindura, Ruvimbo Mining Syndicate located in Mountanview Farm, Red Steel Mining Syndicate in Umfurudzi and Duiker 2&3 Gold Mining located in Wilowdean Farm,” Chapungu said.

“The defaulting projects were issued with fines between level 6 and 7, amounting to $4 800 and $ 9 600 respectively,” she said.

Mining is a prescribed project listed in the First Schedule of the Environmental Management Act 20:27 of 2002.

“All prescribed projects have the potential to cause environmental degradation hence should undergo the Environmental Impact Assessment process before implementation. This is in accordance with section 97 of the Environmental Management Act, and anyone found in violation of this, is liable to a fine of up to level 14,” Chapungu added.

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process which identifies the environmental impacts of a development project and clearly outlines measures to mitigate the negative impacts caused during project construction, implementation and decommissioning.

“The four projects were found to be operating without EIAs, and mining in a manner that harms the environment, causing massive land degradation in the environment. It is unfortunate that most of these projects are located in farming areas meaning that the amount of degradation they are causing will render the land unsuitable for farming purposes as well.”

“On that note, the agency is urging all those implementing prescribed projects to do so under an EIA as a way of promoting sustainable development; development which does not harm the environment.

“The agency will remain alert on the ground to stop any such activity, hence calling all developers to seek for guidance from the agency before implementing any projects that are likely to cause harm to the environment. The cost of rehabilitating, and living in a degraded environment, is more costly than preventing its degradation, hence the need to implement environmental sound projects,” she said. NewZimbabwe.com

…return of Anjin castigated by experts

Government critics, and natural resources experts say the new dispensation has gone the full circle of facilitating natural resources plunder by foreigners, rubbishing the return of Chinese firms to mine diamonds as retrogressive.

This follows the official return of Anjin Diamond Company to Chiadzwa after it injected US$38 million, in an opaque arrangement touted to change Zimbabwe’s fortunes despite the miner listed as one of diamond companies which externalized forex during its first stint.

Before it stopped operations in 2015 Anjin was also sued by the local community, through the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), for releasing effluent and polluting Odzi and Save Rivers.

Anjin also failed to produce audited annual financial statements since 2010 when the entity started mining diamonds in Marange and also failed to compensate families that were relocated to pave way for its operations.

Several natural resources experts, politicians, and civic society players took to micro blogging site Twitter to question the prudence of granting Anjin a new concession when there is currently no binding policies and the Mines and Minerals Act is yet to be amended.

Centre for Research and Development (CRD) said Anjin did not undertake due diligence processes including an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), “Mnangagwa blessed Anjin mining without binding policy reforms in diamond mining. Prior to opening Anjin did not undertake due diligence processes that will protect human rights.”

Outspoken opposition politician Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe has mortgaged its resources after allowing the Chinese miner, which was part of a coterie of companies disbanded in 2015 and consolidated for failing to remit to the national fiscus.

Biti called this rape and pillage of Zimbabwe’s natural resources which he said should be quantified in
the future through a review and audit of all mining contracts.

“A future democratic government in Zim must review & audit all mining contracts and concessions dished out by this regime. Further there must be an international audit of Zimbabwe’s diamond Earnings since 2010. The rape and pillage of Zimbabwe commodities must stop

“Zimbabwe’s alluvial Diamonds could have lasted 25 years but in under 5 years Anjin & others had stripped same and Zimbabwe has nothing to show for its diamonds. Looting of commodities (gold, diamonds, platinum, chrome, and gas) under (President Mnangagwa) Emmerson is criminal and should be stopped.

“Despite the fact that Anjin was the country’s largest diamond producer, averaging a million carats a month it hardly contributed anything to the fiscus. Of the $15 billion worth of diamond revenue lost between 2010 and 2015 Anjin was the biggest looter much worse than Mbada Diamonds and DMC,” said Biti.

Reas Sithole a resident of Chiadzwa said, “Returning Chinese Anjin Company after they failed to remit to the Zimbabwean national treasury and to look after communities in Chiadzwa is really worrisome. What has changed?” he queried.

Others said the government should have done its due diligence to check their Environmental Management Plans and Systems, their Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax remittances to treasury before Anjin began with mining and ensure that it compensate resettled families.

With this deal placing transparency and accountability off the table the international coalition the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) chair Helen Clark said Zimbabwe would greatly benefit from signing transparent deal and joining the initiative dominated by its African peers.

“(The) Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative which I chair is global initiative supporting transparency and best practice governance in extractive sectors. Around half of countries implementing EITI standard are in Africa. Zimbabwe would benet from implementing it,” she said.

Shamiso Mutisi who leads a civil society coalition of the Kimberly Processes Certification Scheme (KPCS) said the government should consider adopting diamond trading principles to safeguard revenue from diamonds and to ensure accountability.

Mutisi, is also deputy director of ZELA, said there are ‘a few insights from the Kimberley Process on trade of diamonds for Anjin and government to consider’.

“Diamond companies required to facilitate the audit of companies for traceability of rough diamonds. All
cash purchases of rough diamonds be routed through official banking channels supported by
veriable documentation.

“Effective security standards is a requirement. Records of diamond buyers, sellers, and exporters
including amounts and values sold, purchased, or exported required,” said Mutisi_263Chat

South Africa’s gold industry has been dying slowly for years. As the coronavirus undercuts the already fragile case for investment, its platinum mines may be next.

Beset by power and water shortages, alongside whipsawing government policies, South African producers have cut spending over the past decade on mines responsible for 75% of global platinum supply. The virus is accelerating that trend, damping demand for the catalytic converters that are the largest users of the metal, while stimulus packages push automakers to speed a shift to electric vehicles.

A series of mega open-cast projects risk being shelved — depriving a recession-hit economy of essential investment — but the toughest blow may land on the so-called western limb, the traditional heartland of the nation’s platinum belt.

“The western limb region has been the bedrock of South African platinum and that is in decline,” said Mandi Dungwa, an analyst at Kagiso Asset Management. “It is the end of an investment cycle in those type of mines.”

Shunning capital spending leaves one of South Africa’s biggest export industries in limbo, just as the demise of the nation’s gold mines enters its final phase. With about 170 000 people employed in platinum mining, the timing is bad for President Cyril Ramaphosa as he battles the biggest economic contraction since World War II.

Output from South Africa’s 130-year-old gold industry slumped over the past three decades as the geological challenges of operating the world’s deepest mines pushed up costs. The platinum deposits discovered by Hans Merensky in the 1920s contain about three-quarters of the world’s known resources, but were only exploited in the 1950s with a surge in demand from carmakers using the metal to cut exhaust pollution.

“The sun is definitely starting to set over some of the conventional, deep, high-grade, western limb areas,” said Johan Theron, a spokesman for Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. “It’s exactly like gold: there is more gold, but it’s deeper and requires more capex and prospects of making a return are slim.”

Platinum output peaked in 2006, and the lack of investment in deep-level western limb shafts will result in a further sharp contraction in production over the next 10 years.

The windfall from surging palladium prices — another platinum-group metal produced at South African mines — refilled the coffers of local producers over the past 18 months but hasn’t been enough to justify large capital expenditure projects. That’s delaying the construction of the next generation of mines on the northern limb of the platinum belt, and hastening reserve depletion.

In June, Implats balked at investing about R12 billion on building a new mine at Waterberg on the northern limb of the platinum belt. The outlook doesn’t support such spending over the next decade, said spokesman Theron.

Anglo American Platinum has delayed a decision until the second half of next year on whether to spend as much as $1.5 billion on expanding output at its key Mogalakwena mine.

Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines said it’s still evaluating finance for its new Platreef project, which could require about $1.5 billion of investment.

Still, notwithstanding the investment hiatus, the platinum sector remains in better shape than South Africa’s gold industry. Even without further spending, some deep-level mines have a 30-year lifespan, according to James Wellsted, a spokesman for Sibanye Stillwater, the world’s No 1 platinum miner.

Still, investment decisions are complicated because of an uncertain regulatory and policy environment, among other challenges, Wellsted said.

With the pandemic creating doubts over future demand, the development of new, lower-cost mines has been put on hold.

“With Covid-19, all the companies went into cash preservation mode,” said Arnold Van Graan, an analyst at Nedbank. “Over the next decade, there could be a big step change down in PGM production, if the industry does not invest.” – Bloomberg

The alleged syndicate involved two Zimbabweans Isaac Nhamo and Shadreck Pungurume, two Mozambicans Zacarias Wilstine and Mamodou Boye, and Democratic Republic of Congo national Hassane Kane.

A FIVE-MEMBER illegal diamond buying syndicate was recently busted and brought before a Mutare magistrate on Saturday.

The five, who are represented by Mutare lawyers Chris Ndlovu and Farai Matinhure, appeared before magistrate Prisca Manhibi facing charges of possession of articles for criminal use.
Nhamo, a diamond picker at Anjin, and Pungurume face an additional charge of money-laundering.

Wilstine, Boye, and Kane were remanded in custody to today as the State sought the services of a Portuguese interpreter.

Nhamo was granted US$25 000 bail and ordered to continue residing at his given address, surrender his passport and not interfere with witnesses.

He was remanded to August 21 for trial, while Pungurume was remanded to today.

The three foreigners were nabbed after the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) raided a house in Greenside, Mutare, after being tipped off that they were stealing diamonds from Anjin Diamond Mine in Chiadzwa and selling the precious stone on the black market.

Zacc detectives allegedly recovered diamond scales and cutters.

On August 7, Zacc allegedly received a tip-off that Pungurume was conducting illegal diamond mining in Chiadzwa and arrested him at a police roadblock in Wengezi, leading to the recovery of two small diamond scales, four expired access permits into Chiadzwa diamond fields, US$15 000 and $6 255.

In Nhamo’s money-laundering charge, it is the State’s case that between March and August 2020, the accused took advantage of his position as a diamond picker and joined the syndicate and allegedly diverted diamonds from Anjin Investments to the black market for personal gain.

The State alleges that Nhamo went on to buy three vehicles and some immovable properties in Mutare_NewsDay

The CZM boss said there was need for an aggressive government funding programme particularly in the gold sector that could fund up to 10 000 miners at once in a bid to improve the viability of the industry.

CONFEDERATION of Zimbabwe Miners (CZM) president Rangani Chauke has urged government to speedily recapitalise mining operations to achieve its ambitious US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.

“There is need for a fast-track mining programme that avails substantial amounts of capital investment to recapitalise particularly the small-to-medium scale miners,” Chauke told NewsDay Business.

“Yes, we might have our socio-economic challenges as a country, we might be feeling the impact of COVID-19 on our economy, but every dark cloud has a silver lining and mining is the only remaining silver lining.”

Chauke said the support they expected from government was in terms of secured loans with 90% of the loans being new plant and machinery while 10% could be channelled towards working capital.

“I don’t see the 10 000 or more miners getting government support failing to produce half a kilogramme or more of gold each per month,” he said.

“Compared to other minerals and sectors in mining, gold is the fastest foreign currency earner and this sector requires big support from government. Investment in new plant and machinery will ensure growth in terms of volumes and revenue in the gold sector.”

Last year’s gold delivery data from Fidelity Printers and Refiners showed that artisanal and small scale-miners (ASMs) accounted for 63% of total gold deliveries, which amounted to 27 tonnes.

Global economic analysts say ASMs produce about 20% of the current world gold supply_NewsDay