Metallon Gold allocates gold claims to small-scale miners

**Part of the crowd at a function where Metallon Gold allocated 288 claims to small-scale miners to extract gold at its Redwing Mine in Manicaland on Monday**

Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
LEADING gold producers, Metallon Gold Corporation has allocated 288 gold claims at its Redwing Mine to small-scale miners as part of its efforts to increase the mineral production in the country.

Metallon Gold Corporation chief executive officer Mr Ken Mekani said the allocation of claims to small-scale miners was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility and efforts to ramp up gold production in the country.

“It’s part of Metallon Gold’s responsibility to assist communities and also to contribute to gold production in the country. We also wanted to assist the Redwing small-scale mining communities,” he said.

Metallon Gold allocated 288 claims which are 40 hectares each translating to a total of 11 560 hectares, which the mining house parceled out to small-scale miners to extract gold.

Redwing Mine is located in Manicaland Province, about 20km northeast of the city of Mutare and 265 kilometres southeast of Harare.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation chief executive officer Mr Wellington Takavarasha said the gesture by Metallon Gold would go a long way towards increasing gold production as well as formalising operations by artisanal and small-scale miners.

“Redwing Mine has dished out 288 claims which are 40 hectares each and translate to 11 560 hectares which is outside their mining lease but is part of their claims as part of their corporate social responsibility. Metallon Gold which owns Redwing hasn’t been doing much towards corporate social responsibility.”

“As the Federation we are going to organise the miners in Mutare which includes women, war veterans and youths into companies each mining on 40 hectares. There has been a lot of illegall mining at Redwing and this becomes part of the formalisation exercise,” he said.

Small-scale gold miners are expected to double their output to more than 12 tonnes this year on the back of improved support from the on-going formalisation exercise.

There are more than 600 000 small-scale miners operating in Zimbabwe with combined figures of both registered and unregistered artisanal miners pegged at 700 000.

@DNsingo