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Miners in court over soldiers’ murder

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Miners in court over soldiers’ murder

Bindura illegal small scale miners popularly known as “Mashurugwi” who allegedly assaulted and killed members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in a scuffle over girlfriends were arraigned before Bindura magistrate Christopher Maturure on Wednesday.

Alexio Gumbato (36) and Job Chitsvimbo (age not given) were remanded in custody to May 2 and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

The prosecution alleges that at around 2am on Tuesday, the suspects had a misunderstanding with three soldiers at a bar in Chiwaridzo high-density suburb, Bindura, over girlfriends.

The soldiers, Shaw Tizora (33), Tawanda Garega (35) and Pumulani Khuumani (30), were part of a team that was taking part in rehearsals for Independence Day celebrations in Bindura and were camped at Chipadze Secondary School.

Khuumani was headed for the bar in the company of female friends Lesley Chitabura (25) and Nyasha Ngozo (19), both from Chipadze suburb when a scuffle broke out.

He allegedly assaulted Chitabura, who screamed for help, attracting the attention of Gumbato and Chitsvimbo, who rushed to the scene armed with knives and attacked the soldiers.

Tizora and Garega died from the injuries while Khuumani was rushed to a nearby police station, where he filed a report before being taken to Bindura Provincial Hospital._NewsDay

Karo unsure of the viability of its project

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Karo unsure of the viability of its project

Exploration work at Karo Platinum still underway, however, the mining company is still unsure of the viability of its much-touted USD4,2 Billion project.

Zimbabwe has the second largest platinum deposits in the world after South Africa and hopes to resurrect its economy by attracting mining investments.

The Karo project was launched last year by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, but mine geologist Stony Steenkamp yesterday said after drilling neatly 18km of samples, he could not as yet tell if the concession had enough resources for the envisaged huge platinum project.

“Were expect to finish exploration by end of year and then we can have a resource upon which we can hopefully do a mine design that would lead to an actual development of a mine,” he said.

“I can’t guarantee what is in the ground. That is the purpose of the exploration process, to scientifically determine exactly what mineralisation is in the ground, what it is that can be economically mined. Therefore, I can’t guarantee you because I can’t see what is in the ground.”

Karo Platinum, a unit of London Stock Exchange-listed Tharisa plc, says it has so far invested US$8 million for the first stage of the exploration work, employing up to 200 people and would provide jobs to 25 000 people once the mine is operational.

Steenkamp said the company was positive the mine would be a big project given the historical data, although they needed to complete the exploration for them to be sure.

“From what we know, from the neighbours from both sides of us, from initial information we have got, we are very positive we will become a big mine. In order to gain confidence worth investors providing money for this work, we need to quantify it and that is the process where we are,” she said.

Mnangagwa was yesterday upbeat after assessing the progress at the mine, saying Karo would contribute in excess of $5 billion to the national fiscus by 2020 and has the capacity to be bigger than the largest platinum miners Zimplats, Unki and Mimosa combined.

“When we reach the final development stage, its size will be bigger than what we already have in terms of platinum production in the country, Zimplats here in Ngezi, Unki Shurugwi and Mimosa Zvishavane, all those three put together are smaller than this project,” he said.

“In terms of employment, last time we estimated that this project at the final end, it will be employing around.

15 000, but now, the estimate is around 25 000 people directly employed by this project and at full production, they will be adding to the GDP [gross domestic product] about $5 billion a year. Such are the projects which are called mega projects and very successful.

“Our media were already talking negatively about this project, saying that we had a groundbreaking ceremony, but there is nothing that is happening and President Mnangagwa talks of major projects, there is nothing of that sort, so I think they should apologise.”_NewsDay

Blanket fails to meet production target due to unstable electricity supply

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Blanket fails to meet production target due to unstable electricity supply

Caledonia’s Blanket Mine Chief Executive officer Steve Curtis blames unstable electricity supply and grade dilution for the mine’s failure to meet its production target for the first quarter of 2019.

According to the Mine’s statement, approximately 11,948 ounces of gold were produced during the Quarter, slightly below the firm’s target and also below the comparable first quarter in 2018 which produced 12,924 ounces.

“Production in the first quarter of 2019 was slightly below our target and below the comparable quarter
in 2018 (Q1 2018: 12,924)” said Steve Curtis

The statement also said that, Caledonia maintains its 2019 full year production guidance of 53,000 ounces to 56,000 ounces and remains on track with progress towards its target of 80,000 ounces by 2022.

According to the Mine statement, Curtis blames unstable electricity supply.

“Continued difficulties with unstable electricity supply and grade dilution which we experienced in 2018 had an adverse effect on production, but improved drilling and blasting practices have been put in place in pursuit of improved grade control and I am pleased to say that efforts to minimize dilution are proving successful” said Curtis.

The Mine’s Chief Executive Officer, said that efforts to address the electricity situation were underway.

“Our technical team has worked tirelessly to mitigate the effects of electricity supply interruptions and we continue to work closely with the Zimbabwean electricity supply authorities to address these challenges as well as investing internally to improve our resilience to this issue” said Steve Curtis.

“The sinking of the central shaft continues according to plan; we are now only months away from the
completion of the shaft sinking phase of the project and are set to commence shaft equipping from mid 2019. We look forward to commencing production from the central shaft from mid-2020 which is expected to deliver the Company’s growth plan to achieve 75,000 ounces in 2021 and 80,000 ounces by 2022.”

Caledonia’s primary asset is a 49 per cent interest in an operating gold mine in Zimbabwe, Blanket. In November 2018, Caledonia announced that it had signed a legally binding agreement to increase its shareholding in Blanket to 64%, subject to the receipt of, among other things, regulatory approvals. Caledonia’s shares are listed on the NYSE American (symbol: CMCL) and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: CAL) and depository interests representing the shares are traded on London’s AIM (symbol: CMCL).

As at December 31 2018, Caledonia had cash of approximately US$11.2 million. The Company plans for Blanket to increase gold production from 54,511 ounces in 2018 to approximately 75,000 ounces in 2021 and approximately 80,000 ounces by 2022, Blanket’s target production for 2019 is 53,000 to 56,000 ounces. Caledonia expects to publish its results for the quarter to March 31, 2019 on or around May 14, 2019.

Minrom your mineral resource management partner

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Minrom your mineral resource management partner

MINROM is a geological consulting company that specialises in Mineral Resource Management and exploration project management. With over 25 years of experience in Mineral Resource Management and exploration, MINROM should be your geological partner of choice.

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  • Mineral Resource Management
    • MRM Structures & Reconciliations
    • MRM Performance Management Systems
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  • Project Management & Exploration
    • Scoping, Execution, and Management of exploration projects
    • Mapping, Pitting, Trenching, Drilling, & Sampling Programmes
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At MINROM, we pride ourselves on being agile, flexible, self-sufficient, and independent. Where required, we work closely with geophysical, geostatistical, and metallurgical experts to maximize project value for our clients. Mitigate your financial risks by knowing your rocks!

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Why gold delivery to FPR is declining

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Why gold delivery to FPR is declining

Last month the president of Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) Henrietta Rushwaya reportedly said that gold output to FPR in 2019 production had drastically dropped from 500kg to 20 kg a week. Fidelity used to average 1- 2 tonnes per month, end of February stats showed a paltry delivery of 20kg.

Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga

The drastic decline in gold delivery to Fidelity printers and Refiners (FPR) is as a result of many factors, last year miners were advocating for foreign currency retention of 90 to 100 percent because the 70 percent they were receiving was not viable and re-investing the money for operations and development was always a challenging to the them considering the fact that consumables are sold in USD or at a market RTGS dollar amount that reduces the real gold value.

FPR is the sole gold buyer, refiner and exporter of gold in Zimbabwe and subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). Following the announcement of the new monetary policy in February, gold delivery to FPR extremely declined due to many factors chief among them is the lowering of forex retention percentage from 70 to 55. The following are the major reasons why gold delivery to Fidelity Printers and Refiners continue to decline despite increases in gold mining activities.

Miners suspended operations

Small scale and artisanal miners have been protesting over the reduction of foreign currency retention by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, this has led some reportedly suspending their operations. However, representatives of small scale miners who refused to be named said that artisanal miners are only saying that they have suspended operations in a disguise to decoy the fact that they have only suspended delivering gold to FPR.

Fuel shortages

Following the high popular fuel shortages and price hikes, the delivery of gold to Fidelity Printers and Refiners have been on a precipitous decline, this is due to the fact that many small scale and artisanal miners who were delivering more gold to fidelity usually operate with machineries that uses diesel or petrol. ZMF even applied a license for the importation of fuel in order to improve production among small scale and artisanal miners, however, the association is complaining that, fuel import fees charged by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) are excessively high and prohibitive.

Gold milling centres under declaration

The deputy minister of Mines and Mining development Polite Kambamura was quoted by The Sunday News saying that, around 60 percent of gold millers in Zimbabwe were not declaring their production to Fidelity Printers and Refiners. The deputy minister went further saying that those gold milling centres will be forced to shut down. However this did not go well with some miners who accused the government of seeing ghosts.

One miner advised the government to withdraw unscrupulous licenses issued to private individual most of them he accused of being connected to top politicians and also advocated for the government through Fidelity to pay gold producers their money without delaying.

“The government should start by withdrawing the gold buying licenses, it issued to private individuals who are obviously the chief culprits in gold leakages, and then carry out a self-introspection of itself by making good the outstanding payments to various mining houses for gold delivered to Fidelity but not yet paid for, which is causing gold mine closures and therefore affecting a lot of working miners and their families. Government should not look at the speck in the eye of the milling houses ignoring the logs in its own eyes” he said.

Miners selling on the Black market

Following the announcement of the new monetary policy, gold delivery to FPR declined due to the fact that the RTGS to USD value being offered by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is too low thereby in actual sense decreasing the value of gold in the hands of miners. This has reportedly caused miners to abandon formal channels of exporting their productions to informal channels that are reportedly paying a reasonable price.

Following an outcry by miners after the lowering of the foreign currency retention threshold from 70 to 55 percent by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya in his recent Monetary Policy Statement, the deputy minister reportedly said that the government is considering reviewing the RTGS incentive from 1:2,5 offered by banks to 1:3,5 for small scale and artisanal miners, “Initially there was a lot of noise before we engaged the RBZ Governor. After engagement he did not review the retention figure as such but put an incentive instead of 45 percent being in the ratio of 1:1 he reviewed to 1:3.50. So a lot of miners are happy and they are quiet and we actually expect our March production to improve,” he said.

However this did not go well with other miners who accused the government of being inconsistent in policies and being one sided instead of solving problems for every exporter.

“Another lopsided idea. Why not all gold producers? So the RTGS$ is not market driven if RBZ has to pay more? Zimbabwe’s problem is policy inconsistencies” Kennedy Mtetwa said.

Anti-mining activists in South Africa face harassment, death — report

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Anti-mining activists in South Africa face harassment, death — report

Community activists who oppose mining projects in South Africa live in constant fear as they are often harassed, threatened and sometimes killed, a group of human rights advocates says.

In a joint report and video released on Tuesday, the Centre for Environmental Rights, groundWork, Earthjustice, and Human Rights Watch say locals who mobilize to raise concerns about potential environmental and health risks arising from mining and coal-fired power plants have reported intimidation, violence, damage to property, use of excessive force during peaceful protests and arbitrary arrest.

Community activists opposed to mining face violence, intimidation, as well as legal and bureaucratic hurdles while trying to express their rights — report

South Africa has one of the world’s biggest and oldest mining industries. The country is a top producer of platinum, palladium, and it also has significant gold and coal operations.

All those activities tend to trigger divided positions. While mining operations and projects bring jobs and other opportunities to locals, they often also clash with locals because of the impact they have on land use ranging from traditional burial grounds to grazing land.

Municipalities frequently block attempts by communities to protest against projects by using reasons that have no basis in law, the 74-page report entitled “We Know Our Lives Are in Danger” contends. Peaceful demonstrations are repeatedly violently broken up by police, it reads.

The joint report documents threats and attacks in four provinces between 2013 and 2018, acknowledging that their origins were often unknown. Activists, however, believe they were instigated by the police, government officials, private security companies or other groups acting on behalf of mining companies.

Hoping to find their own answers, the authors conducted interviews with more than 100 activists, community leaders, environmental groups, lawyers representing activists, police, and municipal officials. They also wrote to government agencies and several mining companies with a presence in the research areas.

Four out of eleven companies responded, the report shows. The Minerals Council of South Africa, representing 77 mining companies, also replied, noting it was “not aware of any threats or attacks against community rights defenders where [its] members operate.”

Mining companies also have concerns of their own. Canada’s Fraser Institute ranks South Africa as the tenth-worst country in the world in which to own mining interests, out of 91 mining nations.

Most miners report that regulatory uncertainty, the taxation regime, labour relations and employment law, and political instability are deterrents to investment in the sector._Mining.com

Katanga Mining resumes cobalt exports from DRC

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Katanga Mining resumes cobalt exports from DRC

Katanga Mining Ltd, a unit of Glencore Plc, said on Monday it resumed exporting and selling a limited quantity of cobalt from its Kamoto Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The company said in November it had temporarily suspended the export and sale of cobalt from the project after uranium was found in levels above the acceptable limit for export.

Katanga said on Monday it produced about 930 tonnes of contained cobalt since January through interim operational solutions.

The company also said it will focus on processing an ion exchange plant, which will help remove the excess level of uranium.

In November, Katanga had said it expects the plant to be completed by the end of the second quarter.

Analysts have said that they did not expect any material hit to Glencore from the temporary halt in exports.

Glencore’s shares were down 0.5 percent in afternoon trading on the London Stock Exchange._Reuters

Two soldiers killed in violent altercation with gold panners in Bindura

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Two soldiers killed in violent altercation with gold panners in Bindura

Suspected illegal small scale gold miners popularly known as “Mashurugwi” allegedly killed two soldiers while one is battling for life at Bindura Provincial Hospital following a dispute over sex workers at Chiwaridzo, Bindura yesterday morning.

Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe confirmed the incident, but could not give details.

“Yes, two soldiers were killed by machete-wielding gold panners, but investigations are still in progress and we are yet to establish what really transpired,” Mundembe said.

A witness, Nyasha Muwomba alleged that the soldiers clashed with artisanal miners who thought they would lose out on some commercial sex workers at a local bar, resulting in a bloody fight that claimed the life of the two soldiers.

“These soldiers were killed by jealousy gold panners who did not want them to snatch their commercial sex workers. They were fatally struck on the neck, faces and back and died on the spot. The survivor is in critical condition,” Muwomba said.

Another source who declined not to be named said that after the killings, a team of police and soldiers went on the rampage, harassing sex workers and force-marching them to the police station for questioning as they hunted for the culprits.

The soldiers were allegedly part of the team that was taking part in rehearsals for Independence Day celebrations to be held in the town tomorrow.

Names of the deceased could not be establish by the time of going to print._NewsDay

Rifle-wielding robbers up for Diamond theft

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Rifle-wielding robbers up for Diamond theft

FOUR suspected rifle-wielding armed robbers appeared in court facing accusations of stealing diamond ore in Chiadzwa where Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) is operating.

Foaster Mukwada, Amato Zivanai, Munyaradzi Charakupa and Brian Marungamise appeared before Mutare magistrate Mr Lazarus Murendo charged with 10 counts of robbery.

They denied the charges when they initially appeared in court before being remanded in custody to April 17 for trial.

Prosecuting, Mr Brighton Shamuyarira, alleged that on March 24 last year at around 3am, Mukwada and Zivanai armed themselves with AK47 rifles.

They then called about 100 illegal miners and went into ZCDC mining concessions.

Reports are that they cocked their rifles and ordered security guards to lie down before tying them up.

Further allegations were that they, along with the illegal miners, stoned policemen who were at the gate.

It is said that they stashed diamond ore into sacks and vanished.

Mukwada was in possession of US$1 320 which he intended to pay the illegal miners.

Mr Shamuyarira said on April 4 this year, the quartet connived and hatched a plan to rob ZCDC of diamond ore again.

In pursuit of their plan, they proceeded to the mining concessions with their vehicles along with some illegal diamond miners.

Police detectives who were on patrol received information and swiftly reacted, leading to their arrest.

In a separate, but related matter, a general worker at Lead Mine, Patrick Nkoma, appeared in court after he allegedly stole 10kg of gold ore from his employer.

Nkoma denied the charges when he appeared before Mr Murendo who remanded him to April 17 on $100  bail.

Vast resources ready for Zimbabwe diamond mining

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Vast resources ready for Zimbabwe diamond mining

Vast Resources Plc (Vast) says it has raised US$393 130 through a placement and subscription of shares as it prepares for the signing of a joint venture contract at Chiadzwa.

This comes as the Aim-listed diversified miner last week announced it is disposing its gold business in the country to enable the group to refocus on its two growth opportunities – the Heritage diamond concession in Zimbabwe and Baita Plai polymetal mine in Romania.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s exports to the UK have increased by 276 percent to US$112 million in 2018 from US$30 million in 2012, according to ZimTrade, with Harare now working on strengthening bilateral and trade ties with London in preparation for BREXIT.

The UK is preparing to leave the European Union in the next few months and Zimbabwe has already drafted a bilateral trade agreement in preparation for BREXIT to strengthen the already existing trade relationships, ZimTrade said yesterday.

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