Chamber of junior miners formed

The Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation president Mr Trinos Nkomo said the formation of the chamber meant that the miners were taking a paradigm shift from being referred to as small-scale miners.

“The Zimbabwe Chamber of Junior Miners has been formed taking a paradigm shift to junior miners. As entrepreneurs   in from the term small-scale to junior  miners.

“In Zimbabwe, the term ‘small-scale miners’ derives upon the number employed by a particular miner.

“In practical terms, our members are conducting mining as a business and on their own the miners can come up with sustainable structures for growth and development,” he said, adding that the  miners were not small in terms of            business.

He said their counterparts in other countries like Canada were referred to as junior miners.

The thrust of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Junior Miners, among others, includes promoting sustainable growth and development of its members as well as fostering the extraction and marketing of minerals by the country’s junior mining industry.

He said their members were not only into the extraction of gold but involved other minerals such as chrome, among others.

At the moment, an interim committee for the chamber is in place.

“We are being assisted by Government through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe and a Harare-based law firm in coming up with our own chamber.

“The law firm is assisting in coming up with the constitution and the legalities to govern the chamber of junior miners.

“Right now, we already have an interim committee for the Zimbabwe Chamber of Junior Miners and anytime in January the chamber will be fully operational,” he said.

He said structures of the chamber would be announced in due course.

In the past, small-scale miners have played a critical role towards promoting economic development.For example, in the gold sector small-scale miners were producing a third of Zimbabwe’s gold output.

In recognition of their role, Government has over the years launched the Mining Industry Loan Fund to ensure that                small-scale miners were capacitated through the provision of technical and financial support.