MINING is a critical part of the growing Zimbabwean economy and the anchor of our fast-rising exports and monetary reserves, but that does not mean the communities that host the mines can be trampled underfoot.
A clear Government policy, mine management and investors, and general good neighbourliness can work and has worked in many areas, and so needs to become universal, allowing the host communities to benefit from having a mine suddenly appear in their midst.
This is the driver behind the new policy of setting up district committees to link miners and their host communities and bring these together in provincial committees under the Minister of State for the province, whose job description does include ironing out conflict between interests while pushing the fastest possible economic growth.
For a start, our environmental law limits the impact of a mine on the host farming community, and the hosts are always farmers since mining is banned in built up areas.
So streams and rivers should not be polluted, forests and woodlands not cut down, wetlands preserved and the inevitable waste rock carefully managed and eventually allowed to return to nature, as least as woodland or grazing land.
That is a legal requirement and miners are obliged to follow rules, usually a much easier process when they co-operate fully and discuss options with the host community as well as the Environmental Protection Authority. Consultation might well find the most useful or least objectionable site for a mine dump, for example.
A mine will always disrupt some farmer or farmers and with the need for mineworker housing and facilities, some agriculturalists will need to be relocated. In the old days the miner could just buy a large farm so they were the landowner as well, but these days following land reform and other land use, this is rarely possible.
So once again there is need for careful negotiation with both the authorities and the affected farmers about where they can resume their life, the houses that should be built on their new farms, and the rest of the relocation process.
This, as with all other aspects, will be much easier when everyone can be included, rather than just be treated as collateral damage.
It is now general policy, and most miners accept this, for as many of the jobs in setting up the mine and then running the mine should be filled from the local community. It is helpful if there are skilled local people, but even here training for some jobs can be given, or those with known skills, such as for drivers, be given the extra training required. But any extra job is usually welcome in any community.
Local procurement is another area. For a start, mineworkers need meals, and the food can be bought from the local farmers, giving them a market. There are other areas. Local craftsmen such as builders and carpenters should be given first option when suitable work has to be done, and local businesses can be included in the general running of the mine. Not everything has to be trucked in from the nearest big city.
Community involvement can and should go further. The mine workers will need schools for their children and health facilities for their families. A smart miner can make sure these are of adequate size that they can also serve the children and families of the local host community helping to cement relations.
The host community usually benefits from a new business, especially a large business like a mine, set up in their area.
This is one way why new towns arise, and new opportunities are created for local businesses in servicing the after-hours needs of the mining staff.
It is not just the mine, but the expansion of the community that is so helpful.
Essentially, a mine like any other business, especially a large business, should be a good neighbour and not just deal with the host community but be part of that community.
This should be one of the major stresses of the district and provincial committees, making sure that the mines, the farmers and resulting businesses can work together to develop their areas.
The mines get a decent home, rather than hostile neighbours; the farmers get a helpful neighbour who is also a customer; and the business sector grows with a joint community moving ahead together.
