Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

RAMPANT illegal gold mining activities in timber plantations in Chimanimani is still going unabated with artisanal miners leaving a trail of destruction in both the commercial forest areas as well as the environment, The Manica Post can reveal.

A recent visit to the area revealed a sad story of deep tunnels being dug in forests while rivers are not only diverted but also polluted as multitudes of artisanal miners excavate the red soils of Chimanimani in search of the precious mineral.

Water in the Nyabamba River near Roscommon Estate, a once stunning haven of globally endangered species of birds with imposing pine and tea plantations starting from its banks, is now bright red in colour due to soil and chemical residue contained in the waste after the panning processes.

Down in Rusitu village in Tarka Forest within Chimanimani district, a timber estate of hundreds hectares of prime timber owned by Allied Timbers has been damaged to make way for the illegal mining.

Chief executive of the Timber Producers Federation Mr Darlington Duwa warned of lasting damage as a result of the disappearing forests and water pollution caused by illegal mining.

“It (illegal mining) reduces the timber resource, thus affecting direct and indirect employment, economic development, foreign currency earnings and leads to environmental degradation and reduced resilience to climate change effects.

“In some areas illegal miners (settlers) uproot young trees that have been planted,” Mr Duwa said.

“At this rate, the industry is bound to suffer irreversible damage.”

Chimanimani Tourism Associ- ation vice chairperson Mr Collen Sibanda lamented the effects of illegal mining and its effects not only on timber plantations but the generality of flora and fauna.

“It is sad that people want quick returns and they engage in illegal gold mining.

“This is happening at the expense of timber plantations here in Chimanimani and also the indigenous forests that used to provide the much needed cover to our land.

“As people of Chimanimani, we are crying out that let the economy of the district stand on all legs and that is tourism, timber production and mining.

“We really want mining but it has to be organised and mindful of its environmental consequences.

There have been a number of deaths in different areas around the villages in Chimanimani owing to water-borne diseases and even though data has not been formally collected, suspicion is rife that contamination of water by illegal panners was a major contributor.

“We strongly believe that consumption of water downstream is leading to ailments and in some cases deaths simply because the water is no longer safe for drinking as artisanal miners have mixed it with several chemicals during their operations,” said Mr Sibanda.

Security forces have often carried out sporadic raids in different parts of Chimanimani where illegal mining is rmpant but facts on the ground suggest that this has not deterred artisanal miners from flocking the gold-rich area.

Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa said they remained resolute in keeping artisanal miners at bay and to that end the law enforcement agents would keep on carrying out sporadic raids.

“We have been carrying out raids in different parts of Chimanimani and the Eastern Highlands at large where artisanal miners operate illegally. Yes, there has been resistance since we always see the artisanal miners returning to the same areas.

“However, we will keep on raiding those areas until sanity prevails. We want people to do the right thing and formalise their operations for the benefit of the economy,” said Inspector Kakohwa.

Manica Post

BULAWAYO High Court judge, Justice Martin Makonese, has sentenced a gold panner to 18 years in prison for stabbing his cousin twice on the chest with a knife in a fight over gold ore at Arizona 74 Mine, Matobo in Gweru.

Passmore Musanika (28) of Nemangwe Village, Gokwe South, appeared before Justice Makonese who is sitting at the Gweru High Court Circuit, facing one count of murder.

Musanika pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He was, however, convicted of murder with actual intent after a full trial and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Justice Makonese said Musanika deserved a lengthy prison stay but had been in custody since his arrest in August 2018 as the key State witnesses were not being found.

“There has been a surge in murders in the mining communities and it is the courts’ duty to pass lengthy custodial sentences to deter would-be offenders,” he said.

Prosecutor Mr. Mirirai Shumba told the court that the now deceased Jaison (34), was Passmore’s cousin who also stayed in the same village as the accused.

On August 27, 2018 at around 4PM at Arizona 74 Mine, Matobo, Gweru, Mr. Shumba said, Jaison was in the company of his cousin Hardlife on their way to the shops.

The court heard that the accused person approached Jaison and accused him of having stolen his gold ore.

Mr. Shumba said a misunderstanding then ensued between the two.

The Chronicle

KUSILE Rural District Council (KRDC) in Lupane is calling on the Government to revoke mining licences of three prospective investors for taking long to kick-start their energy resources projects.

KRDC chairperson Councillor Fibion Ngwenya told Sunday News Business last Wednesday that the local authority was in the process of engaging the Government through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to consider forfeiting licences of two firms, which were given Special Grants to explore and exploit for coal and another one for coalbed methane gas as they have taken long to start operations.

The three companies, namely China Africa Sunlight Energy, Liberation Coal Mining and Discovery Investments are part of the 20 entities, which were awarded a Special Grant by the Government to explore and extract coal and coal bed methane gas in the Hwange-Lupane area in 2010.

“We have three mining companies that had indicated to start operations within our area of jurisdiction and these are China Africa Sunlight Energy, Liberation Mining and Discovery Investments. There is nothing going on at their concessions and to make matters worse these companies haven’t been paying levies to the council claiming that they are still to start operations thus they are not obliged to pay. 

“We, however, think that these companies don’t have the capacity to run these mines and are probably holding onto them for speculative purposes and therefore we are calling on the Ministry of Mines to cancel their licences. During our meeting with the President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) he had assured us that such mines who fail to pay levies to local authorities won’t have their licenses renewed but that hasn’t been implemented yet,” said Clr Ngwenya.

China Africa Sunlight Energy and Liberation Coal Mining’s concessions are located in the Gwayi area. Apart from extracting coal China Africa Sunlight Energy had indicated that it would inject more than US$1 billion for the construction of a thermal power station. Discovery Investments seeks to extract coalbed methane gas within its Special Grant situated at Mzola and Dandanda communal areas.

The company was issued with an Environmental Impact Assessment certificate by the Environmental Management Agency in 2015 to start setting up its infrastructure in preparation to start harnessing the methane gas at its concession. The gas has an estimated lifespan of about 50 years. The three mining firms are reported to be owing the local authority over $500 000 in levies.

“Their failure to pay levies is affecting our revenue collection initiatives and it impacts negatively on our yearly budget as we will have factored the funds we are entitled to get from them. We are now planning to have our own concessions and seek investors to partner us to harness these natural resources at our disposal,” said Clr Ngwenya.

Local Government and Public Works Deputy Minister Marian Chombo said there was an agreement which the ministry reached with the Ministry Mines and Mining Development whereby miners’ mining licences would not be renewed without proof of them having paid their levies to local authorities.

“There is an agreement between the Ministry of Mines and that of Local Government that whenever a local mining company wants to renew their permit or licence they have to produce clearance from a local authority. If they don’t do that, they have to clear up the arrears with the local authority first and that will bring us a little bit of revenue for the local authorities to be more viable,” she said.

A comment from the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Wiston Chitando or his Deputy Polite Kambamura could not be obtained by the time of going to press.

The Sunday News

At least 8 000 Zimbabweans who worked in South African gold mines during the 1960s will this week inch closer to receiving millions in compensation and unclaimed benefits from six gold mining companies in line with a court ruling made last year.

It is understood that some of the former Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (Wenela) employees will receive pay-outs of up to 500 000 ZAR. Lawyers representing the ex-Wenela workers and the gold mining companies reached a historic 5 billion ZAR settlement agreement in 2016, before the South Gauteng High Court approved the settlement in July last year.

This paved the way for the workers and their dependants to start receiving the windfall. Thousands of Zimbabweans migrated to South Africa during the mid-century gold rush to work in gold mines owned by African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.

However, as a result of poor ventilation in the mines, many of the employees contracted respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and silicosis. Also, the migrant workers were not paid employment benefits accrued during their years of service.

Ex-Wenela Miners Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Lungelwe Mkwananzi told our Harare Bureau that a meeting has been scheduled for this week with Abrahams Kiewitz Incorporated, the lawyers representing the Zimbabwean former Wenela workers.

The meeting seeks to tie up any loose ends to pave way for the release of payments. He said all claimants were being taken through Benefit Medical Examination (BME) at the Occupational Health Service Centre (OHSC) in Kadoma to assess the extent to which they were affected during their time in the mines. The compensation, said Mr Mkwananzi, will be paid once claim forms and medical examination records are submitted to the Tshiamiso Trust — a Trust founded to handle the 5 billion ZAR.

“We are taking the local claimants to the OHSC in Kadoma for what they call Benefit Medical Examinations, which is used to assess the harm each individual suffered during the time. For anyone to claim compensation, they have to go through this exercise. There are two categories of payment — the unclaimed benefits and compensation. For compensation, you have to go through BME in order to assess the extent of one’s injuries or health complications. For the benefit medical aid, we have registered at least 8 000 people against the target of 10 000.”

Mr Mkwananzi said this week’s meeting with the lawyers in Cape Town indicates a momentous move towards the release of payments.

“The money is being administered by the Tshiamiso Trust. The Trust comes from the agreement between the mining companies, lawyers representing us and the South African Government through the Health Ministry. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Abrahams Kiewitz and I will be taking the names of all the people we have registered here to that meeting with the lawyers in Cape Town.”

According to the terms of the settlement agreement, every former Wenela worker will receive unclaimed benefits, while those who undergo medical examinations will also get medical compensation if it is proven that they contracted TB or silicosis-related diseases. The final tranche relates to the class settlement, which is an out of court settlement agreed by the mine owners. This will be determined by a Trust.

Compensation will be paid out to current and former workers who were employed from March 1965 and have contracted silicosis and TB. Former mine workers who are now late but were certified as having contracted silicosis and TB at their time of death will have their compensations passed on to their dependants.

The former Wenela miners were drawn from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Mr Charles Abrahams of Abrahams Kiewitz Incorporated is responsible for the welfare of the Zimbabwean former mine workers while Richard Spoor Incorporated Attorneys and Legal Resources Centre are handling affairs for workers from the other countries. Our Harare Bureau reached out to Mr Abrahams for a comment. However, he had not responded by the time of going to print.

The Sunday News

WATER levels at Kariba Dam, home to the country’s biggest and only hydro-electric power station, have started going down.

 the dam is left with power generation water that is at one metre level, it has been learnt.

Over the past few weeks, there has been hope that water inflows into Kariba, which is fed from the Zambezi River, had started rising, but latest statistics from the Zambezi River Authority which manages the dam on behalf of Zambia and Zimbabwe, showed that levels had started going down, further dampening hopes of adequate power generation.

According to the statistics, water level in the Kariba Dam was at 476,75 metres translating to 8,64 percent of the dam capacity on Thursday last week. 

The water level was 1,25 metres above the minimum 475,50m recommended for power generation.

“The Kariba Lake is designed to operate between levels 475,50m and 488,50m (with 0,70m freeboard) for hydro-power generation. The lake level has been decreasing due to reduced rainfall activities around and on the lake to close the period under review at 476,75m (8,64 percent usable storage) on 30 January 2020. Last year on the same date, the lake level was 481,73m (44,83 percent usable storage),” Zambezi River Authority said in the update. 

According to the figures, inflows into the dam increased from 476,67m (8,09 percent full) from 17 January to 476,82m (9,18 percent full) on 25 January. 

However, since 26 January levels started going down, dropping to 476,75 metres by Thursday.

Compared to last year, the water levels are a massive 36 percent apart. 

Kariba has the capacity to produce 1 050MW of electricity but on Friday it was only generating 306 MW, according to the Zimbabwe Power Company. 

Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi told Sunday News yesterday that it was unfortunate that the country and others in the region that feed into the Zambezi River have not received significant rains that have brought notable changes to the water levels in the lake.

“Of course, the rains that we have been receiving have not brought much change to the levels in Kariba Dam so we still do not have enough water to improve power generation at Kariba. We are still hopeful but remember the issue of rain is also beyond our control.”

According to the Zambian Meteorological Department, in the period between December and this month, no meaningful rainfall is expected in the country. Zambia also feeds water into Kariba.

“The northern half of the country has a high chance of receiving normal to above normal rainfall while the southern half is likely to receive normal to below normal rainfall. This part of the season will be characterised by reduced rainfall due to dry spells around February,” the department announced in its forecast for the December to February period.

However, Minister Chasi said the Government will not sit and mourn about Kariba as it has put in place alternatives to improve power generation in the country.

“There are efforts that are underway to mitigate the low power generation at Kariba and the one I can safely say is in the pipeline is the Mozambique deal.”

Zimbabwe is importing power from Eskom of South Africa and Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique to mitigate challenges. However, the imports are not enough due to a debt overhang that the country has battled to clear over the years.

“We are expecting the deal with Mozambique to come through by March or April. Right now, I wouldn’t want to divulge much as the negotiation teams are still liaising but I can promise the nation that in one or two months, the power situation would have changed,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco) board has written to Government seeking confirmation of transfer of the US$225 million debt owed to a German bank by the company to ZimCoke, an investment vehicle that acquired some of the mothballed former steelmaking giant’s assets.

This comes as Government has ordered the deal to be reviewed following its termination by the new board, chaired by economist Dr Gift Mugano.

The board had resolved that the ZimCoke deal, struck in 2017, impinged on Zisco’s revival as an integrated steelworks company.

Zisco stopped operations in 2008 after it was plagued by a lack of funding to recapitalise its operations.

Before then and with a capacity to produce up to one million tonnes of steel per year, the company was among the country’s major foreign currency earners.

Under a debt/asset swap, ZimCoke bought some of Zisco’s assets, equipment and infrastructure, which saw ZimCoke assuming the debt owed to a German bank, KFW.

Under the deal, other key assets to be taken over included the coke oven battery, rail infrastructure, coal handling facilities, residential houses and gas storage facilities.

The US$225 million transaction was signed in July 2017 when Dr Mike Bimha was the Minister of Industry and Commerce. Cabinet gave the deal its seal of approval on May 4 last year. The transfer of the assets was signed for a month later.

But upon assuming office, the current Zisco board directed management to look into the ZimCoke deal and determine its potential impact on the resuscitation of the firm..

The management presented a paper to the board in October 2019, detailing its observations.

It was observed that the ZimCoke deal impinged on the resuscitation of the company. In fact, Zisco’s revival as an integrated steelworks company would be difficult since most of the important components would be inaccessible.

In addition, revival of Zisco would necessitate building of new coke ovens or relying on ZimCoke for coke and coke oven gas.

In an interview, Dr Mugano said the Government had formally responded, directing the deal to be reviewed.

“It is a matter we are seized with,” Dr Mugano said.

“We have written a letter to (the Ministry of) Finance through our parent ministry (of Industry and Commerce) to furnish the board with the confirmation that the debt was indeed transferred from the Government to the private sector. That will form the basis for negotiations with Zim-Coke.

“We also have other processes that will follow, including conducting a proper valuation of the assets to establish if the deal is fair. Things have to be done properly.”

ZimCoke director Mr Eddie Cross recently said some of the acquired assets, including the coke oven battery, were completely “derelict” and had not functioned for over 12                                             years.

He said Zisco itself remained heavily in debt and had not functioned since 2008 and hence it had no capacity to raise the funds to settle its own obligations or to rebuild the plant.

Mr Cross said ZimCoke had plans to invest over US$500 million to revive the coke oven battery. According to him, it would further invest in clean water supplies, power generation, railways and coal mining.

“When this investment programme is complete, ZimCoke will be the largest industrial exporter from Zimbabwe.”

He said the rebuilding of the coke oven plant was the first stage of the long process of resuscitating Zisco.

“The plant cannot function without coke and ZimCoke will make the restart of steelmaking much easier. Clearly both companies will have to work closely together to achieve that. The directors are well aware of the obligations,” he said.

Recently, ZimCoke appointed a nine-member board comprising Dr Nicholas Ncube, a former deputy governor of the RBZ, as chairman.

The Sunday Mail

Government is in talks with local platinum producers under the ambit of the Platinum Producers’ Association (PPA) for the establishment of platinum smelters as well as base and precious metal refineries. The talks are part of the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development’s plans for the mining sector to contribute towards the attainment of Vision 2030.

Zimbabwe is working towards attaining Upper Middle Income status in the next 10 years.

The Mining Ministry is already chasing a 2023 milestone for the mining sector to generate US$12 billion in annual exports.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando revealed this in Norton last Thursday when he officiated at the first box cut function which signalled the commencement of Great Dyke Investments (GDI)’s mine design at the Darwendale platinum project.

The Darwendale platinum project is a US$2 billion joint venture between Russia’s Vi Holdings and Zimbabwe’s Landela Mining Venture (Pvt) Ltd.

Its implementation was accelerated after President Mnangagwa visited Russia last year in search of investments to kick-start the country’s economic revival.

Minister Chitando said while Government was concerned with meeting its 2023 milestone in the short term, plans were afoot to further boost the mining sector’s economic footprint, with Vision 2030 in mind.

The minister’s sentiments are in sync with President Mnangagwa’s push for local mineral beneficiation and value addition so as to boost earnings and create more jobs.

One of the country’s three existing PGM mines —Unki Mine — last year launched a US$62 million smelter which has a 61 000 tonnes annual capacity and can meet the miner’s current output. However, it has the potential to be upgraded to meet future increased mine production.

The miners have in the past justified their indifference to beneficiation investments citing lack of viability concerns, especially given their production figures.

However, they have agreed on different expansion drives to meet Government’s 2023 target. Platinum is expected to contribute US$3 billion.

In this regard, Government has gone further to look beyond smelters. It has initiated discussion around the setting up of base and precious metal refineries.

“Part of the strategy of the 2030 vision and part of the value addition strategy is to ensure that for all the minerals (being mined in the country), there is value addition and beneficiation (before export),” said Minister Chitando.

“The platinum members have formed what is called the Platinum Producers’ Association (PPA) and we have said to them, as Government, we would like you to come up with a value addition strategy.

“Platinum value addition starts from the concentration to produce the concentrates, back to the smelter to produce matte, then base metal refinery to extract the base metals and then a precious metal refinery to extract the precious metals.

“When you now take new production from Great Dyke Investments, when you take the new production coming from Karo Resources and the expansion from some of the existing ones, there is sufficient mass for the establishment of base and precious metal refineries.

“I am pleased to say that as Government, we are working closely with the PPA to ensure that there is establishment of a base and precious metal refinery,” he said.

In their three-stage project implementation outline, GDI have already indicated that they would want to establish a smelter in their second stage of implementation, which is expected to start after 2022.

GDI chief executive officer Mr Alex Ivanov told this publication (See Q &A on Page B4) that the miner plans to increase its production from an initial estimate of about 180 000 tonnes of concentrate per year to a stage where production can justify the setting up of a smelter.

Mr Ivanov spoke glowingly of the Darwendale project, describing it as one that will change the face of Norton and also position Zimbabwe as a key global platinum player.

“There are basically three stages of production which we are working on,” said Mr Ivanov.

“On the first stage we seek to achieve 180 000 tonnes concentrate per annum. On the second stage we will increase production to a stage where we will start to build our own smelter. However, for now, I would want to limit our view to the first stage because it’s a very big investment and it takes time.

“For now it’s not best to talk much about it (smelter) because it is still in the investigation process,” said Mr Ivanov.

Minister Chitando advised that there were other platinum investors on the horizon and these could further boost the country’s PGM output.

“In platinum, we are going to achieve over 50 tonnes per year by 2023. There are a number of interventions, Karo Resources is coming on board, Great Dyke Investments and the Todal shaft are coming on board.

“We have other investments coming on stream but these are not captured in the US$3 billion by 2023. The long and short of it is that Zimbabwe is poised to be a major force in platinum production. Our being here is part of the journey,” said Minister Chitando_The Sunday Mail