For years, peggers (also known as staking agents or approved prospectors) have been the go-to professionals for prospecting and claim beacons across the country. They wielded handheld GPS units, knowledge of terrain, and the trust of miners navigating an often opaque mining title system. But in 2025, the game is changing—and if peggers don’t evolve, they risk extinction.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has now made it mandatory that all mining title applications, including prospecting and registration, must come with survey-grade coordinates authenticated by registered mine surveyors. This effectively renders the handheld GPS era obsolete and pegs a new standard—professional precision.
“This isn’t a suggestion. It’s now mandatory,” a Ministry official said. “If you want your paperwork processed, make sure your coordinates come from someone who’s registered and recognised by the Ministry and AMSZ. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.”
While this may sound like a technical update, its implications cut deep into the livelihood of traditional peggers. Their monopoly on claim location services is under threat from a growing class of certified surveyors, many of them fresh graduates from the Zimbabwe School of Mines. These young professionals, armed with legal recognition and superior instruments, are quickly becoming the new faces of mineral rights authentication.
And they are not just technicians—they are staking agents too.
Surveyors as Peggers? A Career Collision
Under the new regime, many licensed mine surveyors are also being registered as staking agents, collapsing two roles into one (Survegger). What was once a sequential process—peg first, survey later—is being compressed into a single service. The result? Peggers face irrelevance unless they upgrade their skills, obtain formal qualifications, and become surveyors themselves.
“Surveying is the heart of a mine. Everything starts and ends with a coordinate, and only professionals should handle that responsibility,” noted Association of Mine Surveyors of Zimbabwe (AMSZ) Secretary General Takunda Paul Mubaiwa.
This quote isn’t poetic—it’s policy. Surveyors are now centre stage. From title security to environmental compliance, their signatures will be on every mining coordinate submitted.
A Saturated Field Looms
Worse still for traditional peggers, the pipeline of competition is growing.
Each year, dozens of young surveyors graduate with diplomas and degrees, and with limited job openings in big mining companies, the field of prospecting and staking is their immediate fallback. Backed by both AMSZ and the Ministry, these young professionals will likely charge competitive rates, meet modern compliance standards, and attract miners hungry for legal security.
This evolution is no longer theoretical. Already, miners are being turned away from Ministry offices for submitting handheld GPS coordinates. The days when a miner and a pegger could walk in with a receipt and rough coordinates are gone.
“I bought a prospecting licence and thought I was ready to submit my paperwork,” said artisanal miner Tafadzwa Chikowore. “To my surprise, the Ministry officer said I must bring coordinates signed off by a surveyor from their list.”
ZPA Calls for Phased Rollout—but That Won’t Stop the Clock
The Zimbabwe Prospectors Association (ZPA), fully aware of the existential threat to its members, has urged the Ministry to take a phased approach.
ZPA President Timothy Chizuzu proposes that the government begin with dispute-prone areas, test the system, and then expand nationwide, buying time for prospectors to adapt.
“Start with claims that already have disputes and survey those first. That way, we’ll see how effective the process is before applying it nationwide,” Chizuzu advised.
He also called on the Ministry to upgrade experienced prospectors, enabling them to complement the current shortage of registered mine surveyors.
“The government must upgrade the prospectors already doing the work. With proper training, they can complement the few surveyors we have and help carry out the work faster and more cost-effectively,” Chizuzu said.
But make no mistake—while these calls are reasonable, they are not a shield. The law has already changed. The Ministry is enforcing it. Peggers need to move now or risk being left behind.
The Surveyor-Pegger Hybrid Is the Future
It’s important to note that peggers and staking agents aren’t being banned. But their legal authority is shrinking. Without the power to submit legally binding coordinates, their influence is diminished, and if surveyors take on both roles, their services may no longer be required.
This hybridisation is not just a theoretical concept—it is already happening. Young professionals are registering under the AMSZ database, fulfilling both survey and staking duties. And miners, desperate to avoid claim disputes and double payments, will naturally gravitate to one-stop-shop service providers.
Realignment or Redundancy?
The question every peggers’ association, including ZPA, must now answer is: What’s our next move?
It could be reskilling. It could be lobbying for a new certification framework. It could even be merging with the surveyors’ ecosystem to form accredited teams that deliver both human and technical value.
But what’s clear is this: the days of handheld GPS, freelance pegging, and paper-only maps are numbered.
Mining is moving toward professionalism, transparency, and digital governance. And in this environment, relevance is earned, not inherited.
If peggers don’t reinvent themselves now, they won’t be pushed out. They’ll simply fade away as the miners—and the market—move on.
What Should Peggers Do?
Seek training and certification in basic mine surveying
Partner with registered surveyors as subcontractors
Lobby for a formalised peggers’ certification route through the Ministry
Participate in awareness campaigns to understand the law
Embrace digitisation and modern surveying instruments
This isn’t the first time a traditional occupation has been disrupted by policy and technology. It won’t be the last. But peggers in Zimbabwe now stand at a crossroads.
Either they professionalise and integrate with the new system, or they stand on the periphery, watching as graduates from the Zimbabwe School of Mines reshape the landscape.
This is similar to Nokia, which had the majority of the mobile market share but chose not to adjust to world trends. The rest is history.
It’s not about populism, your long history in the pegging business or requesting to have meetings with the powers that be.
The message is simple: make yourself relevant, or lose out.
