Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

RioZim’s story reflects the power behind self-sufficiency. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listing arose in August of 1956 as Rio Tinto Southern Rhodesia Limited.

It was an incorporation of Rio Tinto plc, an Anglo-Australian multinational mining company founded in 1873 when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Spanish River (Rio Tinto), a common hub of ore mining then.

Empress Nickel Refinery (ENR) coloured operations from inception year until the acquisitions of Cam and Motor Mines at Eiffel Flats (1959) and Sandawana Emerald mine (1961). Rio Tinto Southern Rhodesia detached itself from the parent company between 1965 and 1979 and grew into the single largest money earner, exporting millions of pounds’ worth of nickel, emeralds and tin.

In September of 1968, the company briefly closed Cam and Motor Mine and diverted attention to Empress Nickel Refinery taking advantage of firm nickel prices then. By 1969 Rio Industries came into being. A few years later in 1975, Renco Mine was acquired and duly opened in 1982.

Rio Tinto Zimbabwe Limited, as it became known after independence, entered a Joint Venture Agreement in 1994 with RTZ Mining and Exploration Limited to establish and operate Sengwa Colliery.

Each of the parties acquired 50 percent shareholding in the colliery.

The Company parted ways with the holding Rio Tinto plc in 2004 and became an overtly self-sufficient entity (RioZim) producing gold, coal, toll refines, nickel and copper. Weaning the company off its parent never led to demise.  Former parent Rio Tinto plc exited Zimbabwe in 2015 and by then RioZim acquired Murowa Diamonds, rescuing the almost crumbling concern through assuming its management.

Upon expansion, value-addition was sought through mineral processing. In October 2016 Cam and Motor Mine gold-processing plant was launched with a capacity to process 2400 tonnes per day.

It had a recovery potential of 93 percent.

The huge tonnage out-shined the usual 700 tonnes processed at old Dalny Mine. The new development that tripled production ushered in a major turnaround, making RioZim the leading gold miner in Zimbabwe.

Dalny Mine at Chakari in Kadoma was a component bundled in Falcon Gold’s subsidiary (Palatial Gold Investments) that RioZim acquired in 2013.

Imbued in the purchase was the mine, a gold processing plant, several surrounding gold claims as well as equipment and a mining compound.

Weighing credit on the acquisition, RioZim’s revenue for the half-year ended June 2017 rose 16 percent to $37,8 million from the prior 2016 amount.  Acquisitions were in line with RioZim’s initiative then to consolidate gold assets and output under Rio Gold through mergers and acquisitions for the envisaged expansion of gold operations.

RioZim currently banks on the projected success of lined up strategic projects which include construction of the BIOX plant at Cam and Motor Mine and the Sengwa Power Station. Success is anchored on engagements made with Monetary Authorities_Business Weekly

THE proposed new National Land Policy should help resolve conflicts between miners and farming communities as well as address issues of land inheritance, stakeholders have said.

These emerged during a land policy consultative workshop, which was held in Gweru on Monday where participants called for harmonisation of policy to ensure smooth business operations.

Policy consultant Dr Charles Chavhunduka said a lot of gaps need to be addressed in the proposed policy including dealing with conflicts between communities and miners. He said the proposed policy also seeks to position the rights of the community on communal land, which is State land with a view to compensating affected families in case of displacements.

“It (new policy) also seeks to transfer offer letters into tradable 99 years leases among other proposals, which will be given by stakeholders.

“We have got the land governance policy, which is set to deal with people who are coming in to settle on grazing land. The population is growing and yet the land is not expanding,” said Dr Chavhunduka.

“The policy should be clear on who should be settled where. We need demarcation and mapping of community boundaries to deal with conflicts of overlapping.”

He said the Mines and Minerals Act amendment process must also be sensitive to community interests as it currently gives too much power to people who come to invest in communities with owners of the land sometimes left with nothing.

“We also need to make sure that the regulatory authorities are constituted in such a way that will address gender issues in line with the national gender policy,” said Dr Chavhunduka.

Stakeholders who attended the consultative meeting said they needed the land policy to address disputes that often arise between farmers and miners.

“Currently we have a law that gives the miner the right to come and mine in my farm. This often raises conflicts and we want this law to come clean and correct this,” said Mr Bernard Chanakira, a participant.

“We have been dealing with a colonial law, which needs to be revisited.”

Another participant, Mrs Melody Moyo, said the new policy should address gender disparities that gave men a right to land ownership and often sidelines women.

“I have been touched by your document’s desire to deal with issues of gender parity. I believe there are a lot of historical injustices on the way the land has been distributed in the past,” she said.

“How do you intend to correct these imbalances where certain widows’ land was taken away when there was no such a policy? I propose that you use existing empirical evidence based on baseline surveys in addressing such issues,” she said.

Chief Mapanzure of Zvishavane who also attended the consultative meeting said traditional leaders have been facing challenges in resolving land disputes and proposed a land policy, which will deal with inheritance of land.

“As a traditional leader we have been facing a number of issues with regards to land disputes. You can’t separate issues of land and our culture. We have witnessed a number of challenges where the surviving spouse is given the rights to land, which belongs to her husband’s clan,” he said.

The Chronicle