Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) observed that there is a high number of closed, large scale mines around the country due to mismanagement according to a situational report into the mining sector.
ZELA gathered information on mines around the country to assess the state of play at the site, why and when the companies were closed.
“Most of these mines were closed due to the poor economic and political environment obtaining in the country or purely mismanagement especially some of the state-owned ones and those under the administration of the Government appointed managers,” reads the report.
“Some of the mines are operating under judicial management or under the management of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).”
ZELA also observed that there has been an increase in the number of formalised artisanal small-scale miners into cooperatives which in turn entered into mining agreements to mine on land belonging to closed mining companies, and this is being done through tributary agreements.
The situational report says “At some closed mine sites, illegal artisanal mining operations are taking place and in some cases such operations involve child participation in mining especially during the height of COVID-19 lockdown and the school closure period. This has negative implications on the artisanal and small-scale mining value chain.”
“Another observation was that at some of the old mines’ partnerships with artisanal and small-scale miners have been entered into to exploit gold resources, while in some cases former workers are mining illegally for gold, chrome or other minerals.”
“The machinery and infrastructure at many of the closed mine sites is highly depreciated to be used again. Retrenched workers from these mines are now working as artisanal miners in these areas, using rudimentary mining tools and methods,” the report says.
Zimbabwe’s mining is expected is expected to contribute US$ 12 billion by 2023, despite challenges facing the extractive sector.
Finance Minister Proffesor Mthuli Ncube projects the mining industry to rebound by 11% in 2021 after a -4.7% contraction in 2020.
The Minister also allocated $1.4 billion Zimbabwean Dollars to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development in the 2021 budget.
