Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

The 2020 budget has projected that the Mining sector will improve by 4.2 per cent next year on account of the expected improvement in the availability of electricity, it also noted that it was instrumental to consider the country foreign currency retention policy to see growth in the sector taking shape.

Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga

According to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Prof Mthuli Ncube during National budget presentation yesterday, the government of Zimbabwe is aware of challenges in the Mining sector which includes retention threshold, gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refineries, ring-fencing arrangements among others and these are receiving serious attention.

“With regards to gold mining, Government is aware of challenges related to ring-fencing arrangements, retention, gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers, among others and these are receiving serious attention,” said Ncube.

The Finance Minister also said that the realisation of the USD 12 billion road map will be supported by a 2020 National budget in which the sector is anticipated to improve by over 4 per cent on account of expected improvements in the availability of electricity.

“Realising of the US$12 billion Mining industry by 2023 will be advanced through the 2020 Budget. The sector is projected to rebound to 4.2% on account of the expected improvements in the availability of electricity” said Prof Mthuli Ncube.

Professor Mthuli Ncube also said that the gold, platinum and chrome sector is expected to boost output through agreements that will be fulfilled in the coming year.

“Going forward, investment agreements in platinum, gold, and chrome among others which have been concluded, are expected to boost output in the sector,” said the Finance Minister.

The Minister of Finance and economic development also said that MMCZ was going to be supported with credit guarantee to support other minerals non-other than gold and silver which will be supported through Fidelity Printers and Refinery.

“Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe will be supported through a credit guarantee scheme to provide funding and support to the non-gold sector,” the Minister of Finance and economic development said.

It took the intervention of the Joint Operation Command to calm the situation in Chegutu, when the Machete-wielding criminals, who usually target small scale and artisanal miners unleashed terror on anyone whom they thought deals in gold mining after a gold rush in Chegutu industrial area in the CBD, Chegutu Miners Association chairperson Mr Innocent Nicks has said.

Rudairo Mapuranga

According to Nicks, the situation in Chegutu only became calm after the involvement of JOC late yesterday which resulted in some of the criminal elements vanishing from the area without a trace.

“Thanks to the JOC team set today to end this devilish situation. The situation and area are now calm and cool due to the heavy security deployment done after 4-hour JOC closed-door meeting” said Nicks.

According to Nicks, the situation in Chegutu for the past five days has been a horror to the people of Chegutu because of the unscrupulous operations by these machete criminals who pounced on miners. The criminals were controlling the small area, robbing people of their valuables and attacking everyone whom they suspected was involved in mining or mining activities.

“The situation in Chegutu for the past 5 days was bad for the Chegutu miners, gold buyers, millers, and the general Chegutu residents.”

“The machete-wielding men from Kadoma, Kwekwe, Gokwe and their recruits in Chegutu were pouncing on everyone whom they suspect to have valuables including gold, money, cellphones, etc.”

“They attacked people at a gold rush at a David Whitehead Textile company dumpsite and seriously injured several people who were rushed to Chegutu hospital for treatment,” said Nicks.

The Joint Operations Command (JOC) is the supreme organ for the coordination of state security in Zimbabwe. It was first established by the Rhodesian Security Forces to supervise its counter-insurgency campaign in the Rhodesian Bush War as well as external incursions into neighbouring countries such as Zambia and Mozambique.

The Minister of Finance and economic development has allocated $293.2 towards exploration to promote the Mining sector, the diamond tax was also slashed by 5 per cent with the aim of enabling diamond firms to finance exploration.

Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga

It is a fact that Zimbabwe is hamstrung by lack of exploration, in order to improve the sector the Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube through 2020 budget state has channelled $293 million towards exploration which is critical for expansion of the sector.

The money will help the Ministry to acquire relevant equipment in terms of planning and promotion of exploration, data capturing and automation.

“Furthermore, in 2020, a will be fine-tuned and improve while the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development will be resourced to enhance exploration which is critical for expansion in the sector. This will allow the Ministry to acquire relevant equipment such as computers among others.”

“Accordingly, I am, allocating ZWL 293.2 million to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development for its capacitation in terms of planning, promotion of exploration, data capturing, and automation, among others” reads the 2020 budget in part.

According to the budget statement, the cost of prospecting for diamonds has increased and therefore in order to promote investment and exploration in the diamond sector, the government has seen it fit to decrease diamond taxes.

“Diamond mines are exploiting conglomerate deposits, hence the cost of  extraction has significantly increased.”

‘In order to promote investment in exploration and extraction, I propose to review the royalty on diamond from 15 per cent to 10 per cent of gross revenue with effective from 1 January 2020″ reads the report.

The Zimbabwe Diamond and Mineral Workers Union has learned with shock the deteriorating health condition of workers employed by Shabani Mine who are suspected to be suffering from asbestosis after long years working at the asbestos mine.

The union is calling for mine to facilitate a compulsory exit test for the affected workers by independent medical doctors without interference from the government and other stakeholders.

While the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) can be mandated to carry out such an exercise, its impartiality can be compromised since it is an interested party.

This, the union believes, will be the first step towards instituting litigation if proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the affected workers could have been poisoned by years of exposure to asbestos.

We are calling on the government, international labour bodies and other stakeholders to treat this issue as a matter of urgency because this act amounts to commercial genocide and those affected should be given some form of compensation as what happened in South Africa to former mineworkers who were employed during the Wenela period in the mining industry in that country.

The union is disturbed that most of the visibly sick workers, some of whom have retired to their rural homes have been living destitute lives without any meaningful source of income since the company fired 1800 workers in 2009 in unclear circumstances throwing hundreds of workers and their families into an uncertain future.

The mine which is under judicial management now employs a skeleton workforce of fewer than 350 workers.

It is disheartening to learn that some of the workers who are on unpaid leave are being evicted from the company houses after failing to pay rentals despite the company owning them huge amounts of money in unpaid salary arrears.

Those who have reached retirement years are now being treated as lodgers and this has created a social crisis and a humanitarian disaster for the desperate workers and their families.

The union also calls upon the Zimbabwe Mine Development Corporation to ensure that sanity prevails at the mine and that normal mining operations resume and jobs are restored.
In equal measure, ZDMWU is urging the Mine to stop evicting workers from the company houses until a lasting solution is found by all stakeholders to end an impending disaster that threatens lives and livelihoods for hundreds of workers in this dilapidated mining establishment.

As a last resort, the union will not hesitate to mobilise its members against all cruel acts of victimisation that might occur as a result of this move of seeking justice for the affected workers and those who have since passed on.

Justice Chimhema
General Secretary

November 12, 2019

The Zimbabwe government is investigating reports that the newly released Zimbabwe dollar notes have flooded the black market where they are being sold at a premium, the  Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services said on  Thursday.

The new notes started circulating this week on Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the new notes after the government mid-this year returned the local currency as part of wider reforms, aimed at stabilizing the economy.

The currency reforms saw the government dumping use of multiple foreign  currencies for local transactions, a decade after it adopted them.

In $2 and $5 denominations as well as $2 bond coins, the new currency came as a huge relief to Zimbabweans who had for years endured cash shortages and were now only managing to access it on the parallel market, for a premium.

Images of crispy new notes have however been circulating on social media, raising fears that they had been offloaded onto the black market straight from the central bank.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Media, Information and Broadcasting  Services said investigations were underway to track the source of the new notes being traded on the black market.

“Government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is investigating allegations of abuse of newly released banknotes. Cash was collected by banks using their CIT vehicles on Monday. All serial numbers were recorded in the register. The offending banks will be named and severe action taken,” it said.

The central bank has said it injected over $30 million into the market and will continue drip-feeding the new notes for the next six months until total issued cash is about a 10th of total deposits in both foreign and local currency.

Zimbabweans had over the years endured cash shortages as the central bank uncharacteristically kept cash in circulation very low compared to what is done in other economies.

The shortages of cash gave birth to multi-pricing in the economy as well as a thriving bank note selling business as some businesses such as transport operators preferred to transact in cash only. – New Ziana

Chegutu legislator, Hon Dexter Nduna has issued a statement in which he warned Chegutu residents that their area has been invaded by machete-wielding criminals due to the gold rush in the area. The criminals have injured many, Zimbabwe Miners Federation ZMF youth chairperson Timothy Chizuzu has confirmed.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

According to the statement allegedly released by the Chegutu MP, the gold rush has occurred in the industrial area of the town which makes it dangerous for the locals to work or walk in the area because they might be pounded by these criminals in the process.

Nduna also allegedly said that the criminals are even attacking people during the day and doctors have been deployed in the area to tend to the wounded.

” There’s a gold rush in the constituency at two areas justice Chitakunye and David Whitehead textiles, I urge you all to be alert and not visit these areas. The crime of machetes has increased both in the day and night, the police are on high alert the Airforce doctors and nurses are attending to the injured at the general hospital since yesterday” allegedly said Hon Nduna.

Hon Dexter Nduna also encouraged the residents to work with the police in order to flush out the criminals from society.

“Please cooperate with the Police to weed out the machete criminals at these sites,” said Nduna.

The Chegutu west legislator also said that he has contacted Zimbabwe Power utility, ZESA holdings to restore power in the area for the injured to be nursed to full recovery.

Nduna said that the criminals are targeting gold buyers, miners, and processors.

“I have spoken to ZESA they will restore power to the hospital as a priority as the armed robbers are now targeting gold processors and buyers in and around Chegutu. People should stay out of trouble and secure themselves and premises during this trying time. The situation will normalize soon” said Nduna.

African countries have begun the process of assessing whether its vast mineral resources are benefiting its citizens or outsiders. The assessment follows a realisation that despite the huge amount of mineral resources that is in abundance across the continent, African countries remain among the poorest in the world.

In fact, the majority of countries in Africa continue to export minerals such as gold, diamond, and platinum in their raw or unprocessed form, and later import them back as finished goods.

To address some of these challenges, the inaugural Africa Forum on Mining that is meeting from 13 to 16 November in Accra, Ghana is taking stock on how the continent could fully utilise its mineral resources to finance its development agenda.

Speaking at the forum, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh said such an assessment “gives all of us hope that the continent is desirous of finding workable solutions to the paradox of great minerals wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty.”

He urged African countries to implement the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), adding that the mining sector had the capacity to promote sustainable development in Africa.

Launched in 2009, the AMV is a policy framework that charts a path for generating and realizing various types of linkages arising from the mineral sector through industrial development and technical upgrading.

Speaking at the same occasion, Commissioner for Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission, Ambassador Albert Muchanga said since the adoption of the AMV a decade ago, the importance of minerals, both globally and in Africa, have increased significantly, as a result of the growing demand and fears of supply shortages.

“While resource-rich African economies continue to embrace reforms to optimise the socio-economic and financial benefits from their mineral sector, new challenges compel for more efficient and smart policies,” he said.

Muchanga said it is therefore not a mere coincidence that the inaugural African Forum on Mining is being held exactly 10 years since the adoption of the AMV.

“During the last 10 years, a number of stakeholders have come forward in support and while others criticized the AMV for addressing and not addressing certain important elements.

“The Forum therefore provides us all with an opportunity for frank discussions on all emerging and recurrent policy issues within the sector and decide for ourselves the focus on the future we want for the African mineral sector.”

He said the Forum running under the theme “Africa Mining Vision at 10: looking back, moving forward” will now be an annual event to be held every year around October and November.

The Africa Forum on Mining is being organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with various partners including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Development Bank (AfDB)Mo and the Ghana Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

According to a statement from the African Union Commission, the outcomes of the Forum will, amongst others, feed into global and regional discussions, including informing the AMV revision process and AMV implementing partners’ programmes in Africa_Spiked

Zimbabwean mining firms want to retain all of their export earnings in foreign currencies, saying they are disadvantaged by having a proportion paid to them in Zimbabwe dollars.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is pinning its hopes on the mining sector, which generates Zimbabwe’s biggest export earnings, to drive the recovery of an economy grappling with power cuts and acute shortages of U.S. dollars and fuel.

Zimbabwe is home to the second largest known platinum reserves and large lithium, gold and diamond deposits, but many investors fret over whether they can take money out.

The Chamber of Mines said shortages of power and foreign exchange remain the two biggest problems facing the sector, which was operating at 70% capacity, down from 75% last year.

Mining companies are only allowed to keep up to 55% of their foreign exchange sales and the central bank pays them in local currency for the balance at the official interbank rate.

A survey by the Chamber of Mines showed that mining companies wanted to retain all their forex earnings and settle all obligations, including taxes and power purchases in dollars.

Isaac Kwesu, chief executive of the Chamber of Mines, said on Thursday that local suppliers had increased prices by up to 30 times this year, which meant the Zimbabwe dollar payments at the official exchange rate were inadequate.

“Our miners are now paid at a deep discount, which makes us uncompetitive when compared with our neighbours,” Kwesu said during a presentation of the survey’s results in Harare.

Mines Minister Winston Chitando said the government was looking at the request but could not say when it would respond. Reuters