adminNgoni Dapira Business Correspondent
SMALL-SCALE miners have called on Government to act on its word and implement the ‘use it or lose’ policy on idle gold mining claims.
This was highlighted during the Manicaland Miners Association annual general meeting held last Friday at the Wise Owl Hotel in Mutare.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation national chairman Mr Lufeyi Shato said the only way to further increase the country’s gold deliveries was to boost production by capacitating more small-scale miners and artisanal miners (informal gold panners).
He therefore called on the Government to expedite the implementation of the ‘use it or lose’ it policy to buttress President Mugabe’s 10 point plan to boost the economy.
“While we appreciate that a lot of indigenous miners have benefited from the empowerment programmes that were initiated by the Government over the years, unfortunately some are not fully utilising these resources, therefore, there is a need for an audit to make sure that those who are not utilising or are underutilising may lose it,” said Mr Shato.
He said in the mining sector those who acquired the mining rights but were failing to utilise the rights should surrender them to those who can produce or engage willing partners.
“Mining Companies holding resources for speculative reasons must be regulated and consultation with relevant stakeholders must begin to establish sustainable solutions to the many idle claims at the expense of thousands of artisanal miners that are in dire need to mine and feed their families.
There should be a policy, which states that claims have a 12 months tenure after which they shall expire or be renewed,” he said.
He added that failure to renew the titles should result in forfeiture of the mining claims.
“If this is correctly followed, space for productive miners will be created hence increasing production,” said Mr Shato.
Small-scale miners present also called for transparency in tribute agreements.
They cited that in other provinces tributes on idles gold claims had been issued but in Manicaland, youths, women and war veterans had not yet benefited as initiated in other regions.
MMA chairman Mr Lovemore Kasha said the formalisation process of artisanal mining was also being stalled by failure to push the agenda and release idle claims to willing miners.
“Most of the youth are engaging in illegal gold panning in mining claims of big mines which are lying idle. In Mutasa we ultimately reached an agreement with Metallon Gold (Redwing) Mine but the process is taking long for the rights to be transferred to the community, which has become an issue of concern to the community,” said Mr Kasha.
The director in the office of the Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs, Mr Luck Bhasopo said mining was the backbone of the economy which was why more dialogue between Government and players in the sector was important to improve gold deliveries.
According to the Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe, the mining sector has contributed more than 50 percent of foreign direct investment of the $1,9 billion inflows Zimbabwe received since 2009.
“As a country we are in dire need of money. My office is there to hear all these concerns you are highlighting. Please engage us and we will look for best ways to assist miners in Manicaland,” said Mr Bhasopo.
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