Inside Mining Zimbabwe with Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga (RD) met the Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Polite Kambamura (PK) (aged 42). Polite Kambamura is also a Member of Parliament for the Sanyati constituency. They discussed mining matters and answered pertinent questions which have frequently been asked by miners.
RD: Good day Hon. Polite Kambamura, welcome to Inside Mining Zimbabwe with Rudairo. Miners would like to know about your brief mining background before you became Deputy Minister. Can you please share in brief?
PK: Thank you Mapuranga. I’m an engineer by profession, graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 2002 with a BSc (Hons) in Mining Engineering. I worked in several mines in Zimbabwe which include Trojan Nickel Mine, Shamva Mine (LONRHO) and Ashanti Goldfields. I went to South Africa where I increased my knowledge in mining, working in several mines starting from junior positions to management. Then I came back to Zimbabwe where I joined politics. In 2018 I was duly elected Sanyati constituency legislator, then His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, appointed me to the position of Deputy Minister where I’m serving right now.
RD: Hon. Kambamura, farmers have been complaining that their land is being destroyed by illegal miners, and sometimes they lose land to unscrupulous people who come with fake mining titles. By the time they discover the claims are fake, the damage would have already been done. Have you ever come across such reports, and what advice can you give to farmers?
PK: It is very unfortunate that such things are happening in the mining sector. The reports haven’t reached my desk yet, but my advice is that farmers should report such cases to our provincial offices so that they can verify if the mining titles brought by the miners are real. This should also be reported to the police because we might have a cartel amongst us that is working on creating these fake concessions. Reporting to the police might lead us to something that we are unaware of.
So I urge farmers to work closely with law enforcement agents so that the whole issue of this scam may be brought to light as soon as possible.
Regarding illegal miners who come secretly to mine on the farmers’ land, I urge farmers to tighten their security and report such incidents to the police. Farmers also need to come up with associations to deal with these illegal mining activities.
RD: Gold delivery to the country’s sole gold buyer and exporter, Fidelity Printers and Refineries, took a knock in the first half of the year compared to last year, receiving only 15 tonnes of gold. Last year Fidelity received 33.2 tonnes of gold and 17 tonnes in the first quarter. Are you still hopeful that the target of 40 tonnes this year can be reached?
PK: We are very hopeful that the gold production target of 40 tonnes will still be reached. We haven’t lost hope. However, the challenge is we are only recording gold delivery to Fidelity Printers and Refineries, yet on the ground, in the small-scale mining sector, the real prospecting hasn’t stopped. As the Ministry, we are working on policies that will attract artisanal and small-scale miners to sell their production to Fidelity, so that we curb leakages which are reportedly very rampant.
RD: Hon Deputy Minister, Fidelity Printers and Refineries appears to be selling their gold at a better price than most illegal buyers, according to my research. Nevertheless, small-scale and artisanal miners still sell their gold to illegal buyers, avoiding Fidelity. What could be the problem?
PK: There is not much that needs to be done in order to attract small-scale and artisanal miners to sell their gold to Fidelity Printers and Refineries. The sole gold buyer should know that sometimes it is about creating a relationship between the buyer and the seller. That is why black market gold buyers are winning. Also, in terms of strategy, Fidelity needs to give licences to many gold agents who will actually be on the ground where mining is taking place. Some miners do not care whether they are paid in US dollars or not; what they want is the true value of their production, paid immediately without delay.
For example, in Makaha, there is small-scale mining activity taking place, but there is no Fidelity agent near the area or at nearby Mutoko Centre. The miners are therefore expected to board a bus to Marondera, the capital of Mashonaland East province. Can we expect a miner to go that far to sell only a gram of gold?
I also suggest that Fidelity should pay small-scale and artisanal miners in cash because the majority don’t have bank accounts and some want to use their money instantly as they are paid. It is therefore advisable to pay small-scale miners all their balances in cash. By doing so, Fidelity would curb gold leakages.
We have discovered that small-scale miners actually sign equipment agreement deals with buyers, and sometimes they are given money upfront for food and other consumables. That is why we are going to establish gold milling centres right where mining is taking place, so that we can create a mutual relationship with the miners, selling equipment at very affordable prices. This will encourage miners to do business with us, therefore we will be able to record a high gold delivery and may even surpass our gold target.
RD: Small-scale miners are advocating for the removal of EPOs so that mining production takes place. Do you, as the Minister, think it is wise for the government to stop gazetting EPOs?
PK: Exclusive Prospecting Orders are a large area of ground targeting selected minerals for exploration. The maximum is 65,000 hectares, and the tenure currently for these EPOs is three years. Firms doing high technical exploration are required by law to drop most of the EPO ground after three years.
It is not advisable for the government to drop EPOs because small-scale miners are saying so. These EPOs are very crucial for the country to discover new mineral deposits.
It is not a secret that miners who have claims acquired those claims with geological knowledge that there are areas rich in certain minerals.
As the government, we are also working towards reviewing these EPOs to accommodate small-scale miners, for example (not in all circumstances) allowing mining operations of 1 hectare to take place.
We will also ask EPO holders to release some land after exploring it, even after six months, so that mining can take place if there is any mining to do on the land. We will also raise our taxes for an EPO holder after one year if they fail to give us geological results for some of the land under their exploration zone.
We will also raise the taxes if the holder does not release the land under his watch. As the government, we are going to make sure that exploration does take place and at the same time production does not stop. Therefore, we have come up with these measures and others to keep our mining sector mobile.
RD: Zimbabwe is reportedly losing a lot of revenue through predatory buying of gemstones. What do you think needs to be done to curb predatory buying?
PK: Zimbabwe lost quite a sum in gemstone leakages where foreign buyers would come and buy gemstones that might cost over USD 2,000 for only USD 20. The buyers would ask villagers to mine gemstones of different types and pay them very little because the villagers lack sufficient knowledge about these gemstones. MMCZ is therefore working on a model that is going to help Zimbabwe secure gemstones by liberalising the mining of these stones and spreading knowledge about the stones.
