Nearly 4000 people employed in the mining industry lost employment during the second quarter of 2023, statistics by Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) show.
Rudairo Mapuranga
According to ZimStat, overall during the period, 68 296 people lost employment in all the sectors of the economy with the mining industry accounting for 5.6 per cent of the total which is 3 825.
Zimstat shows that of the 3,239,965 people formally employed in the country, 6.2 per cent translating to 200 878 were employed by the mining industry during the second quarter of 2023. The statistics show that 8,017 people reported work-related illness or injury in the mining industry.
According to Zimstat 138 925 in the mining industry are informally employed meaning they work mostly in the artisanal sector where workers work without registers or any documentation.
The mining industry of Zimbabwe is highly diversified, with 63 different minerals. The predominant minerals mined by the industry include platinum, chrome, gold, coal, and diamonds. The country boasts the second-largest platinum deposit and high-grade chromium ores in the world, with approximately 2.8 billion tons of platinum group metals and 10 billion tons of chromium ore. The sector accounts for about 12 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).