Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

The distant relationship between the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) has become a major stumbling block for the chrome miners in attaining their exporting license.

By Mirirai Ngoya

This was said at the Meeting between the MMCZ and Chrome miners held at the Crown Plaza Monomotapa Hotel last week.

Small-scale Chrome miners are complaining as they are facing difficulties in attaining exporting licenses as such there is a need for ZIMRA and MMCZ to revise their mode of operation in a way to create favourable working conditions to the miners.

Mr. Matamba a Chrome miner said, “These two organisations must work hand in glove to make work easy for us small-scale miners in receiving our exporting licenses. Paperwork must be done together to avoid unnecessary delays since they cripple production”.

“As MMCZ and ZIMRA you have the power to take initiatives in making easy ways for miners to get their license which then makes work easy,” he added.

Exporting license in the chrome mining industry is very critical, it is the one that gives miners permission to carry further work thus MMCZ and ZIMRA needs to assist miners with immediate effect.

More so, lack of empowerment and mechanisation is crippling the chrome production as such there is the need for MMCZ and ZIMRA to work hand in glove to create a conducive and reliable working condition for the chrome miners.

Glitter stones are minerals located in Zimbabwe which can add value in the construction industry adding beauty to the country’s buildings and creating employment for the citizens.

By Mirirai Ngoya

Glitter stone mining is popularly done in the Kariba area which if promoted can add value and create export opportunities leading to foreign currency income for the nation.

In the construction industry, these stones can be used for flooring, tilling and walling. Talking to Mining Zimbabwe, Chiedza Chipangura said “I am into glitter stone mining in Kariba. The stone is a strategic mineral for developing the country in as far as construction is concerned”

The mineral can benefit the nation in a way that “Zimbabwe can save over $50 million USD that is used for importing ceramic tiles” she added on.

This is the time that the nation, must maximise the value of its minerals by fully utilising them and making its communities benefit from the minerals located in their areas.

Chiedza added on saying “Using glitter stones is good since they aid durability to the walls and floors that (they do not easily crack), they are easy to maintain and the final finish is not slippery but natural and strong.”

If fully utilised there is a significant reduction of importation of wall and floor tilling equipment.

Value addition to our own minerals is a major advantage since importing building materials is just promoting and creating jobs for other countries economies.

SOUTH AFRICA – A new report on illegal mining suggests that South Africa is losing upwards of R14 billion a year to the illicit gold trade. This is substantially more than previous estimates of about R7 billion.

Speaking at the launch of the report at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria yesterday, author and investigative researcher Alan Martin said one way to track SA’s illicit gold trade is to look at shipment data from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where most illegal gold ends up because of the UAE’s lax import controls.

Most of this illegal gold is exported in the form of doré bars, which are a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver. SA reported no doré exports between 2007 and 2017, yet UAE data shows more than 34 tonnes arrived between 2012 and 2016. This does not count illegal exports through neighbouring countries, which would substantially increase this figure. The market value of a 1kg doré bar is estimated at between R51 000 and R54 000.

Lax controls

“UAE’s hand-carry gold policy allows couriers to sell their merchandise directly to gold traders in the Dubai souk without demonstrating provenance, export taxes or documentation,” says the report, entitled Uncovered – The Dark World of the Zama Zamas.

The unfolding economic crisis in Zimbabwe is adding to the illicit trade. Police report that around 500 000kg of gold is being smuggled into SA each week from Zimbabwe due to the inability to fetch fair market prices in that country. The gold is then laundered through buyers in SA for eventual export to Dubai.

Martin says these illegal gold exports probably left through the legal system – being processed at one of about 100 illegal refineries in Gauteng and given legal export papers by the SA Diamonds and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR), which has been in disarray for years. Given that Rand Refinery exports the entire industrial production of South Africa to countries other than Dubai, these figures give a more accurate picture of the scale of the illegal trade.

An estimated 70% of zama zamas (or illegal miners/ Makorokoza) are undocumented migrants. Some are operating in abandoned mines in the Johannesburg area, while others in the Free State manage to infiltrate operating mines by bribing security officials.

Illegal mining is gang-controlled, with zama zamas at the bottom of the food chain. They complain of having to bribe police to avoid having their gold or equipment confiscated and facilitated by bulk buyers such as licensed jewellers or scrap metal dealers, who can easily side-step the requirement to carefully document any gold purchases. They are able to disguise the origins of the gold by mixing it with alloys. The gold is then laundered and exported by companies to international intermediaries.

The detrimental effects of illegal mining on SA’s economy spread far further than the problems of lost gold and government royalties.

Sibanye-Stillwater has reportedly spent close to R600 million in recent years to counter the zama zama intrusion at its mines.

James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye-Stillwater, says the group still has issues with zama zamas. “It is an ongoing problem,” he says, although the incursion has been drastically reduced in recent years.

Illegal mining also represents a huge cost to the City of Johannesburg, which has incurred massive expenses caused by poor mining practices, vandalism and theft.

The biggest problem for the city is the use of explosives, which have compromised support pillars in decommissioned mines and resulted in tremors, which put the structural integrity of roads, adjacent residential communities and businesses at risk. It also poses a significant public safety threat as some of the blasting has taken place close to pipelines carrying gas and fuel. A spark could start a fire capable of incinerating property within a radius of up to 300m², according to the report.

Johannesburg’s Infrastructure Protection Unit head Conel Mackay earlier told Moneyweb that illegal miners came within centimetres of blowing up a fuel pipeline running underneath the FNB Stadium in Soweto. The miners were advised of the catastrophic danger of their mining practices, and have since moved to other, less dangerous areas.

‘Easy deflection’ from uncomfortable truths

The criminalising of illegal mining in SA is having no effect, and is “an easy deflection away from more difficult discussions of uncomfortable truths about the persistent poverty, poor service delivery in marginalised areas and political instability in neighbouring countries that contribute to men becoming zama zamas in the first place.”

One of the obvious causes of the zama zama problem is the South African government’s neglect of the political crisis in Zimbabwe and its tolerance for what has been described as the repeated theft of elections by Zanu-PF. The resultant economic crisis north of our border resulted in a mass exodus to SA. A high percentage of illegal miners in SA are from Zimbabwe.

One solution to the illegal mining problem is a change to the Mineral Petrol Resource Development Act (MPRDA) to better align the licensing process to the realities of artisanal mining. The current act mandates the SADPMR to license, monitor and investigate mining permit holders, tasks critics claim it is not equipped to carry out. An amended act should enable this role to either be shared with or returned to the exclusive control of the SA Police Service (Saps), says the report.

The Saps and SADPMR should also cooperate in monitoring permit holders and their operations. Any legislative amendments should tighten the licensing requirements for scrap metal dealers and gold export permit holders, and mandate the Department of Mineral Resources to publish their corporate details. CITIZEN

The government is open to assist chrome small scale miners in order to fully benefit from chrome mining leading to the potential economic growth by 2030. This was indicated at the chrome Stakeholders consultative meeting held at Monomutapa hotel yesterday.

By Mirirai Ngoya

Small scale Chrome miners have indicated to MMCZ that chrome is the key mineral taking into consideration that Zimbabwe has the second largest chrome reserves, and the major players in chrome mining are Small scale and Artisanal miners.

“We have the best grades of chrome here in the nation and we are looking forward to implementing a chrome policy to bring sanity in terms of transparency and value addition,” said Mr. P Kambamure

“Chrome is also a key mineral to see Zimbabwe attaining its upper middle class by 2030 and also produce a 12 billion dollars by 2023” he added. As such MMCZ is there to assist small scale Chrome miners in order to attain the country’s economic vision by 2030.

MMCZ General manager Mr. T M Muzenda said: “MMCZ together with other departments in the mining industry are going to make sure that they establish good infrastructure development, affordable logistics and to gain reliability from their chrome major suppliers (small scale miners).”

He added on, saying “ MMCZ will revise the mode of Chrome purchasing price which is becoming a stumbling block for the artisanal and small scale miner together with the government to fully benefit from chrome production.”

The current President of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, Ms Henrietta Rushwaya also added on saying “For chrome production to fully benefit the miners and the country, there is need of market price regulation which will, in turn, increase foreign currency revenue and help ease foreign currency shortages.”

And as such MMCZ has pledged to improve in order to attain a billion dollar from chrome production.