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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
SMALL scale miners say the $1 billion mining sector cushion fund from Government will bring a huge relief to their operations as they have been hard hit by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The funding is part of the $18 billion Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package unveiled by President Mnangagwa aimed at reinvigorating the economy and providing relief to individuals, families, small businesses and industries impacted by the economic slowdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The stimulus package is aimed at providing liquidity and support to all productive sectors of the economy such as tourism, mining manufacturing, SMEs and agriculture.
Government has allocated $1 billion to the mining sector through a credit facility for the gold sector targeting both small scale and large scale miners.
In an interview Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) secretary general, Mr Philemon Mokuele, said the pandemic had caused a huge impact on the mining sector leaving some companies on the brink of collapse.
“This money will go a long way in assisting many small scale miners that have been affected and some might fail to resume operations. Many mines closed and workers were laid off leaving many people stranded. Some miners have to start from scratch by buying explosives but they don’t have the capital as they used it all up,” he said.
“Miners were forced to hire private security companies to guard the property in their mines from being stolen during the time they were not operational, which further affected the limited finances they had. Most of the small scale miners are youths who are still trying to find their feet and the effects of Covid-19 have taken a huge toll on them.
“These funds will go a long way and save many mines from collapsing,” he said.
Mr Mokuele said there was need for Government to ensure that the fund was properly administered and benefitted the right people.
He said the mining sector was crucial as it was a huge contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product with small scale miners as significant contributors.
Mr Mokuele said it was a relief to miners that Government’s intervention also sought to address other grievances, which miners were facing such as application fees and rentals that were beyond the reach of many and the computerised cadastre system.
“There are other outstanding issues such as the computerised cadastre system that we have long awaited for as miners. The absence of this system has resulted in double allocation of claims as the Ministry of Mines does not have a computerised database. Rentals and application fees have also been a hindrance to many wishing to venture into the mining sector,” he said.
The fund will see resuscitation of closed gold mines by designating them Special Economic Zones. It will also see the reduction of application fees and annual rentals to encourage investments in exploration activities, ring fence guaranteed fuel and power for the mining sector to ensure that production is not disrupted. It will also see the speeding up of the implementation of computerised cadastre system to create confidence in the management of mining title and strengthen security of tenure so as to promote investment in the mining sector. — @DubeMatutu
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