Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

This was revealed by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) in its COVID-19 mining sector and communities’ situational report.

DISRUPTION of employment and increasing levels of poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic has forced artisanal small-scale miners to resume their activities, raising fear of the resurfacing of the dreaded machete gangs.

“With many jobs and sources of income being disrupted, and the high costs of basic commodities, many people are increasingly moving into the ASM [artisanal small-scale] gold sector for the quick money they can get,” the Zela report said.

“A series of machete violence cases have been reported in June and July 2020. In Zvishavane, one man was injured during a gold rush.

“In Matobo, at Nugget Mine, a machete gang violence case was reported. Reports of the gang invasions were also recorded in Maphisa, Makwe, and Mvana, with criminals and gold gangs escaping with cash, digital scales, and gold ore.”

Added Zela: “Machete violence incidents have been recorded in a number of mines in Bubi, where the criminal gangs managed to get away with the gold ore.

“In Gwanda, machete gangs have been reported at Vhovha Mine, where they assaulted and injured several miners and got away with gold ore. The police were able to arrest the gang leader after he was handed over to police by the miners who tracked him down to Gwanda.”

The Zela report also said soldiers were reported to be raiding artisanal miners, while police were arresting and closing some mines in cases where miners were not complying with COVID 19 regulations.

“In Matabeleland South, 145 ASM miners were arrested in Gwanda, while 115 were arrested in Bulilimangwe.

“During a recent Parliamentary Committee on Mines meeting in Mutare (23 July 2020) a representative of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) informed parliamentarians that many artisanal and small-scale miners are being arrested, but gold mining activities go on even at mid-night in the ASM sector,” Zela said.

Recently, the Zimbabwe Miners Federation leader Wellington Takavarasha appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines led by Edmond Mkaratigwa and called for the formalisation of artisanal mining to enable the miners to operate within the law.

Zela also said there were growing mining claims disputes within the ASM which could be attributed to the use of archaic manual claim allocation and mapping systems in Zimbabwe.
“The use of the manual system has resulted in claim disputes with some claims being double pegged or boundaries overlapping.

“The disputes have resulted in violence. A case was recorded in Penhalonga. A gold miner allegedly hired bouncers to rob a rival of gold ore worth over USD 500 over a mining boundary dispute.”

They said the Ministry of Mines confirmed that processing of mining licenses was slow due to a high number of applications in 2020 and shortages of staff.

“Over the year, the Ministry of Mines has been issuing 2 500 mining titles per year. However, by July 2020, there have been a massive number of applications for mining licences to the Ministry of Mines.

“A large number of applications are straining the Ministry since it does not have adequate resources-human resources and equipment to process mining titles. This has affected the speed of processing mining titles.” Zela said_NewsDay

DESPERATE Chiadzwa villagers, who are fed up with unfulfilled pledges and neglect by the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), have decided to pool resources and start income-generating projects in the community.

Pushed by persistent hunger, the villagers contributed funds to the Bocha Diamonds Development Trust (BDDT) for horticulture, poultry and piggery projects, among others, launched in June this year.

BDDT board chairperson Moses Mukwada recently told NewsDay that they were tired of engaging the diamond miners, who have failed to fulfil their own promises.

“For the meantime, we have stopped engaging the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company because they are failing to attend to our challenges. It seems they are reluctant to assist us. There are legacy issues because as villagers, we were supposed to be assisted in these projects. So starting from 2020, we are not speaking to them and we are now doing our own things,’’ he said.

“The company is even failing to maintain a borehole and the roads are in a bad state. Everything is stuck. There is nothing on community development. So how can we continue to engage them yet it is clear that they do not care about us? We have realised that we need to take action by starting our own projects.”

Added Mukwada: “So these projects that we have started are meant to sustain our livelihoods. We have few resources, through the contribution of funds from the villagers and this has shown dedication. With these contributions we are starting to move on with our lives.”

Since the inception of diamond mining in Marange around 2005, the villagers affected by mining operations were supposed to be compensated and benefit from miners’ corporate social responsibility programmes.

But sadly, infrastructure including roads and water was never developed.

Last week, ZCDC acting chief executive officer Roberto de Pretto said he was shocked by the level of poverty and underdevelopment in Chiadzwa despite being endowed with one of the largest diamond deposits in the world.

De Pretto made the remarks at a stakeholders meeting in Mutare which was hosted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development.

“It is disheartening to walk past Chiadzwa. The area still has no running water and poor roads while children walk long distances to school,” he said
“It is a shock to me that there is no development despite that Chiadzwa fields have one of the largest diamond deposits in the world.”_NewsDay

Parliament of Zimbabwe says pushing for the formalization of artisanal miners through legal amendments will curb illicit flows of minerals, particularly gold, out of the country.

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda says if the law recognizes artisanal miners formally, it will not only curb illicit financial flows but significantly boost their production which has been on the decline.

Mudenda was speaking at the recently ended review of mining policies by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines said even the Gold Trade Act must also be amended to decriminalize possession of bullion.

He said formalization will safeguard the contribution of the sector to the fiscus, increase gold reserves for the country and also ensure the protection of the millions of Zimbabweans who are reliant on the sector for livelihood.

“Gold Trade Act must also be looked at, no doubt that small scale miners are making a significant contribution to the economy, in 2017 it accounted for 53% but this has gone down, we have to recover that status by coming up with proposals to ensure that they continue to make that significant contribution to gold deliveries.

“We need substantial reserves of gold in the RBZ, to get these the leakages must be plugged so that gold goes where it must to strengthen our currency.

“This sector provides livelihood for a million people, we must amend the Gold Trade Act to ensure those sections that criminalize the possession of gold and in turn disempower the small scale miners this has been one major cause of leakages in the mining industry,” said Mudenda.

Mudenda said given the precarious nature of artisanal mining, there was a need to protect miners, perishing in mining related accidents, through formalization which will entail adoption of standard operating procedures.

He said a Fund envisaged under the proposed Mines and Minerals Act must be expedited to ensure that occupational health and safety of indigenous miners is guaranteed, through a Health Fund proposed in the bill.

“There is need to formalize all artisanal and small scale miners so that they practice beneficial mining practices, they need to be assisted to follow proper mining methodology.

“We have lost many artisanal, miners through unsafe mining practices and conditions, the safety and Health Fund envisaged under the mines and Minerals should go a long way in ameliorating the challenges faced by these miners,” said Mudenda.

Minister of Mines and Mineral Development, Winston Chitando said amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act are at an advanced stage with the office of the Attorney General addressing reservations
of the President.

Chitando also revealed that once the mines law is finalised, focus will shift towards addressing policies and amendments of other Acts which affect mining business, under an orderly mining
concept.

“The amendments are around the corner, recently the AG spent the whole week working on the amendments, and they need another session or two to finalize those amendments.

“Amendments to the Gold Trade Act, the Precious Stones Act, and the Mines and Minerals development
policies, we have the principles of these acts but there is no way we can push these until we have concluded the Mines Acts.

“As soon as amendments are concluded we will be able to finalize those three-issue all of which have
drafts in place” said Chitando.

He added, “We are also coming with an orderly mining concept which complies with the immigration laws, labour laws. We need to ensure that there is the enforcement of all requirements in terms of operation of mines, compliance with the environment.”

Deputy Attorney General Nelson Dias said the process of amending the Mines and Mineral Act has been slowed down due to constitutional compliance and alignment as the proposed bill was turned down by the President.

He said the coming act will also give power to the Provincial Mines Director to settle disputes, while Rural District Councils will be awarded powers for communal registration and custodianship of land.

“We have come up with a solution where Rural District Councils register land for pasture on behalf of the communities. This is part of the solution for this farmer mining conflict which is now with the Ministry of Mines, they will reveal this when the act is finalized.

“Dispute settlement and civil penalty regime, the act is very deficient on administrative judgment to guide the Provincial Mining Directors in terms of how to manage conflict and adjudicate on conflict, we have aligned this to the constitution.

“PMD will be granted power of enforcing environmental obligations, compliance with mining title or license, removing the criminal obligation to civil crimes as some case taken as criminal could be better resolved through civil means,” said Dias

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The national lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the Coronavirus has impacted negatively on the gold sector, lowering production and spiking cases of gold smuggling, a new report by a civic watchdog Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) has revealed.

In the report titled ‘From blood diamonds to blood gold’ CNRG interrogates origins of machete violence, which rocked the gold sector claiming over 200 lives in 2019, examines drivers of artisanal mining, and gives recommendations to policymakers.

CNRG said it has noted that the disrupted international travel has fueled illicit trade facilitated by
corrupt security officials, while smugglers have also taken advantage of the country’s porous borders.

“The lockdown also slowed down artisanal gold production due to limited supply of chemicals such as cyanide which is imported from countries that closed their borders much earlier than Zimbabwe.

“CNRG noted that smuggling went up during the lockdown as the illicit gold market adapted to the lockdown conditions in various ways. RG Mugabe International Airport remained open to both passenger and cargo planes whilst the country’s porous borders remained active.

“The closure of Beitbridge Border Post has seen a rise in organized crime as security officials on both sides of the border facilitate illegal passage of smugglers into both countries,” reads part of the CNRG report.

CNRG recommendations to government in ending machete violence calls for formalization of artisanal miners to avoid the deliberate conation of artisanal and small-scale mining for expediency.

It also noted the influx of Zimbabweans into artisanal gold mining pushed by economic hardships, despite efforts to regulate artisanal mining being resisted by both large scale miners and government.

CNRG said if the artisanal sector continues operating without proper regulation it could soon degenerate into a national security crisis as the gangs continue to enrich themselves from easy pickings.

“…the majority of Zimbabweans have been turning to artisanal gold mining as it gives them an opportunity to earn the greenback which gives them stronger purchasing power. People have been digging anywhere and everywhere, where they suspect there are gold deposits.

“The chaotic situation in the artisanal mining sector which is characterized by an ever-rising number
of desperate artisanal miners preyed on by armed gangs with links to politicians poses a security a threat to the country.”

CNRG said that there is a ‘danger that some gangs shall be armed by their political godfathers to venture into wide-scale organized crime’ urging the government to respond accordingly to adopt policies and legal frameworks to curb this.

It said government must among other things end impunity of perpetrators by commissioning a thorough investigation on the surge in violence in the sector and bring perpetrators to book.

“Amend the Mines and Minerals Act and the Environmental Management Act to ensure thorough land rehabilitation after mine closure. Impose tough sentences on those found guilty of machete violence or robberies in the ASM sector.

“Adopt artisanal mining best practices from around the world and ensure the sector is properly regulated for the safety, security, and benet of the miners, women, communities, and the country.

“Craft an artisanal mining policy that improves the safety, health, and well-being of those involved in
the sector,” said CNRG.

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THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has called on the government to close mines in the wake of a surge in Covid-19 cases in mining communities across the country.

ZDAMWU general secretary Justice Chinhema said the government must move in to enforce a temporary shutdown of mines to allow testing of all workers.

“Statements from Bulawayo Mine, How Mine, Unki Mine, Hwange Colliery indicate that the mines have been hit by the wave,” Chinhema said.

How Mine is reported to have the highest number with 10 infections as of Sunday.

“In light with this, ZDAMWU is calling the government to enforce a temporary shutdown of all mines to allow testing of all workers and everyone staying in compounds as well as carrying out proper disinfection against Covid-19 to safeguard workers and their families,” Chinhema said Sunday.

The veteran trade unionist insisted, “lives matter ahead of profits”.

The union, Chinhema said, is calling on all mines to start putting in place strict measures by proving adequate Personal Protective Equipment to their workers and families who stay within compounds as a matter of urgency, especially Chinese employers.

“It is sad to note that the government allowed mines to operate against our advice without putting strict measures to protect their workers at the onset of the lockdown in April this year,” he added.

Chinhema further said the continued influx of imported cases especially from Botswana and South Africa has affected communities in the Southern parts of the country as returnees are reported to be crossing the borders using undesignated points.

“We are calling on the government to move fast and curtail this crisis before it continues to spread in the mines which are closed communities,” he said.

New Zimbabwe