Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

THE Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will next month hold a meeting aimed at unlocking the potential value of base metals and gemstones in the country’s economy.

ZMF public relations manager Mr Dosman Mangisi said the two-day meeting to be held in Gweru on 10-11 September seeks to unravel vast opportunities existing in the country’s base minerals and gemstone industry.

“This is a great convention where we are unlocking potential and value in base minerals as well as gemstones. It will offer that opportunity to unveil opportunities that these minerals can play in economic development taking cognisance of the role which the mining sector plays towards achieving vision 2030,” he said.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando and Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube are expected to grace the occasion, which would also attract mining experts drawn across the country.

Mr Mangisi said not much attention has been made to promote the exploitation of base metals and gemstones in the country as most focus is mainly directed towards gold production.

“Much focus is on gold and to a certain extent diamond, but we also have other minerals that have the potential of playing a critical role in the economic turnaround strategy. The focus will be on how to fully benefit from base minerals like chrome, copper, tantalite and other unrecognised minerals. We will look at how these minerals can benefit the economy,” said Mr Mangisi.

Zimbabwe is home to large deposits of semi-precious minerals such as agate, amethyst, alexandrite, aquamarine and heliodor, among others, with an estimated value of US$20 billion. 

However, the minerals are largely under-explored and remain a target for smuggling by international cartels of dealers_The Sunday News

Awakening asbestos mining giant Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM) is set to resume chrysotile asbestos fibre exports for the first time in over a decade as Government’s master plan to revive the mine begins to bear dividend, according to Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando.

This fibre is a key ingredient in the manufacture of roofing tiles, sheets and other asbestos-related products.

Minister Chitando told The Sunday Mail Business in an exclusive interview this week that the asbestos behemoth, which closed shop in 2007, will resume exports with an order to India in the next two weeks.

The fibre is being generated from SMM’s rich dump tailings totalling 143 million tonnes, which was accumulated during the firm’s 100 years of operation from 1907 to 2007.

Local industry is already benefiting from the SMM revival, with Turnall Holdings last week telling our sister paper, Business Weekly, that they have since cut on their asbestos fibre imports and are expecting to buy all their fibre locally in the coming weeks.

Government, Minister Chitando said, was excited by the news coming from SMM, particularly at a time authorities are seeking to grow exports from the mining sector from US$3,2 billion attained last year to US$12 billion by 2023.

“Work on the SMM dump is going on well and I am advised by their management that they are expecting to resume exports to India in the next two weeks,” said Minister Chitando.

“Information that they have given us is that they are now producing an average of 500 tonnes of asbestos fibre from the dump that is already on the ground.

“This is against an estimated domestic consumption of 300 tonnes per month,” he said.

Underground mining at Mashaba

Minister Chitando said there has also been considerable progress on the de-watering exercise at Mashaba Mine, which is effectively done, as engineers have now managed to access a lot of equipment that was submerged.

On completion, which will be about six months from closure of a funding structure to complete the de-watering exercise, an initial 800 workers will be employed at the mine.

At full throttle, Mashaba is expected to produce 18 000 tonnes of asbestos fibre worth an estimated US$8,5 million in its first year of operation.

Production is expected to jump to 21 000 tonnes in the second year and up to 75 000 tonnes in the third year_The Sunday Mail

ZIMBABWE last week lost 160 Megawatts of power after one of the only reliable generation station Hwange Unit Five went down, further crippling power supply at a time authorities are battling to secure more imports from regional power suppliers.

The latest development saw power company Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority  (Zesa) implementing increased load shedding times, a week after the programme was eased after the country struck a deal with South Africa power generator Eskom to improve supplies.

Zesa agreed to pay $890 000 per week towards settling its debt with Eskom estimated at US$23 million.

In an interview yesterday, Zesa acting chief executive officer Engineer Patrick Chivaura said the Unit was likely to be back on the grip this week and ease electricity shortages. Eng Chivaura said the fault developed last Sunday and engineers have been working tirelessly to bring the unit back to fire.

“We lost about 160MW from Unit Five at Hwange Power Station on 18 August 2019 and returning today (yesterday) for service in the evening and we should see an improvement,” he said.

Eng Chivaura said once Unit Five was back on line this would reduce load shedding hours in the affected areas. According to power update by Zimbabwe Power Company, Hwange Power Station was only producing 323MW of electricity by Friday out of the total 709MW that the country was producing.

At full throttle, Hwange Power Station, the largest coal-powered power station in the country, has capacity to generate 920MW

Eng Chivaura also allayed fears that Zesa has been failing to service its debt with Eskom. He said Eskom has been honouring its commitment to supply Zimbabwe since the latest deal was struck.

“We are getting power from Eskom, South Africa continuously as contracted, there has been no curtailment. The maximum from Eskom is 400MW,” he said. 

Eng Chivaura said the country was also getting power from Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique to ease power shortages in the country.

“We are receiving 50MW from HCB according to our contract at US6cents /Kwhr flat rate. There are no conditions given save an expectation for the outstanding debt being paid. HCB has been sympathetic to our plight and I give props to them,” he said.

Zimbabwe has been battling serious power shortages that have seen some areas across the country going for more than 20 hours a day without power. The situation has been made worse by the decreasing water levels in the Kariba dam which powers the country’s hydroelectric power station — Kariba.

Apart from the issues surrounding water levels, almost all power stations in the country are generating below capacity due to ageing equipment_The Sunday News

GWANDA residents have called for heavy police presence as some gold panners operating in the area have been terrorising members of the public.

Speaking recently during a Gwanda Local Peace Committee (LPC) meeting, Ward Five councillor, Mr Ernest Ncube, said the rowdy gold panners who were sometimes armed with machetes were a menace to residents from his area.

He said the gang was destroying property, fighting in public and threatening residents.

“We have a serious problem in Ward Five. There are two business centres namely Njanji Shopping Centre and Red Cross Business Centre which have become hotspots. 

“At Njanji Shopping Centre there is a nightclub where gangs comprising mostly gold panners gather. When the nightclub closes at 4AM these gangs regroup and start gambling outside.

“Their gambling results in altercations and these fights move to residential areas and in the process people are affected. Their property is destroyed and all of these violent activities have left residents unsettled as they fear for their lives,” he said.

Mr Ncube said in the morning the gangs who will be armed with machetes move to Red Cross Business Centre where the fighting continues. He said the business centre houses shops and the gangs usually harass residents there.

“During the day these gangs terrorise people at Red Cross Business Centre. They threaten and insult people. During their fights they hurl insults at one another in the full view of young children.

“They damage windows at people’s homes and throw stones on roof tops. At night they go back to Njanji Business Centre and this has almost become a daily cycle.

“Residents are living in fear and they are tired of being harassed. They are calling for heavy police presence and a police post in the area as the ward has become a war zone. These gang members come and rent houses in the area while others use houses that are still under construction,” he said.

Also speaking during the same meeting National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Matabeleland South Provincial Peace Committee deputy chairperson who is also the secretariat of the Gwanda Local Peace Committee, Pastor Phathisiwe Dube said the local peace committee was seized with the matter to ensure the problem was resolved. She said they had engaged the police to ensure that a police base was opened to increase police visibility.

She said members of the business community operating in Ward Five raised concern as their property was being vandalised by the gangs.

“We held a meeting with Ward Five residents and they complained that some of these gambling and public drinking activities are taking place in the presence of the police and the culprits are not being arrested. As a committee we have engaged ZRP so that a police base is opened in the area and there is effective policing to ensure that members of the public are safe,” she said_The Chronicle

Speaking at this year’s heroes commemoration held at the national heroes acre, the President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa said that the mining sector is now driving towards full production due to the liberalisation of the interbank foreign currency exchange rate that has been put in place.

Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga

According to the president, the interbank exchange market produced tremendous results since its initiation and it is now attracting USD5 million a day.

“To date, the interbank trades average around US$5 million per day. We expect this to continue to increase on account of further liberalisation put in place by the Reserve Bank” said president Mnangagwa.

According to the president, through liberalisation, the mining, manufacturing and commerce will drive towards full production.

“The mining, manufacturing and commerce sectors of the economy should now drive full production ” said the president.

According to the president, the mining sector continues to receive investments due to the government liberalisation of different sectors.

According to the president ,the sector is receiving mining investments from both the exploration, mining setup and benefitiation sectors.

“In the mining sector we continue to receive investments through the expansion of existing projects, exploration, the opening of new mines as well as mineral benefiation ” said Mnangagwa.

The president also urged miners to transform the mining sector through hard work and honesty.

The president also urged miners to transform the mining sector through hard work and honesty.

The myths surrounding the African mining sector raises a lot of debates and arguments which at times would lead to conflicts between people of different religious backgrounds . recently Norton miners held a Bira with traditional leaders in an attempt to demystify the myth surrounding the sector.

Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga

The traditional Bira for all miners was attended by famous Zimbabwean traditional leaders among them Chief Chivero and Tenzi Nehoreka, who are considered to be the real custodians of Zim culture.

According to Norton Miners Association chairperson Privilege Moyo, the traditional Bira for all miners is a pioneer event in trying to bring spiritual land ownership and the physical. It is the African ground breaking mining ceremony which is a missing link in Zimbabwe’s mining sector.

“We want to follow our traditional beliefs as miners because even in the western world they do their own ground breaking ceremonies. Why should we copy them when our ancestors had their own ground breaking ceremonies in their mines?”

“African ground breaking ceremony is the missing link in the mining industry in Zimbabwe” said Moyo

Norton Member of Parliament Hon Temba Mliswa said that the event was long over due, traditional leaders should be involved in community development projects and mining is an underground project which is undeniably dangerous therefore it requires experts who operate in realms.

Themba also said that his constituency is engaging in various businesses since development is a bottom up approach.

According to the traditional leaders, it is very crucial for miners to follow laws of the land . Hence they should not include foreign ancestors when mining in the land of Zimbabwe, a country which has its own ancestors.

“We are not supposed to call Abraham or whoever when digging in Chief Chivero’s area, the area belongs to Dzimbahwe, the ancestors of Zimbabwe” said Tenzi Nehoreka.

Spiritual partnership

According to Tenzi Nehoreka, every stone and minerals found in certain areas in Zimbabwe belong to the people of that particular area therefore it is necessary for miners to respect the spiritual significance of the area by seeking permission from Chiefs and spirit mediums who are the representatives of the people.

Nehoreka also blasted government policies for being Eurocentric, according to Nehoreka all the laws in Zimbabwe are meant to benefit white people and politicians are doing nothing to right this wrong except fighting each other everyday.

Nehoreka said African prophets (spirit mediums) and Chiefs should be given enough power through the constitution so that they bring people together regardless of their political differences.

“When you want to mine, first consult spiritual leaders in order for them to open doors of blessings from the ancestors of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Spiritual laws

The traditional leaders warned miners against going to witch-doctors seeking luck and other charms because this is against Zimbabwean ancestors.

They were also warned against rowdy behaviors in mining areas, killing each other with machetes and they were also urged to desist from  sexual activities during working hours.

“You must not visit n’anga  or engage in sexual activities when going to your mines or during working hours, do not be promiscuous , you must shun violence!,” exclaimed Tenzi Nehoreka .

Nehoreka also said that, although they can own and manage mines ,women are not supposed to go underground to dig as this will anger the ancestors.

“Women are ‘kings’ they should be provided for by men, therefore they should never go into pits as this is against our own culture and tradition, doing so will anger our ancestors ,” he said.

However, women in mining were not happy with Nehoreka’s sentiments . The representative  of women in Norton Miners Association , Pamela is of the view that the move will see more women having low self –esteem and being looked down upon by their workers.

Physical deals

According to Chief Chivero,  if the people unite and adhere to their agreements,  their mining operations will be blessed.

“Zimbabweans are united , we do our  businesses in harmony whist honouring our agreements , the spiritual world will also be happy” said Chief Chivero