adminAbel Zhakata Senior Reporter
THE Mutasa community has appealed to Government to facilitate the speedy re-opening of the DTZ-OZGEO alluvial gold mining plant in Penhalonga, which was shut down in 2013 due to environmental concerns rendering 400 workers jobless.
Raising her concerns to Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko during a familiarisation visit to the closed mine last Friday, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, said people in Mutasa were now living in abject poverty following the closure of the mine in October 2013.
She said the mine was an employment creator as most of the villagers in Penhalonga were earning a living through contract employment.
“I urge Government to assist in the resumption of operations at the mine because the suspension has brought misery to the Mutasa community as more than 400 villagers lost their jobs.
“I am speaking on behalf of the Mutasa community because I know the challenges they are facing. I have a farm a stone throw away from this mine and I understand the daily challenges being met by the villagers as a result of the closure of the plant.
“We want the plant to start operating to enable villagers to send their children to school and fend for their families. Illegal panning activities are on the increase because of the closure of the plant,” she said.
DTZ-OZGEO chairman, Mr Alexander Derkach, also appealed to Vice-President Mphoko saying the closure of the mine had adversely affected their operations, including the newly opened diamond mining plant in Chimanimani.
He said the company was now facing financial constraints.
“The suspension of alluvial gold mining in the country has greatly affected our operations. Following the closure of alluvial mining we faced liquidity challenges which subsequently affected the rehabilitation process of reclaiming bad lands caused by our mining operations.
“We were also forced to lay off more than 400 workers drawn from the local Mutasa community,” he said.
This also resulted in the company cutting its Russian expatriate workers from about 90 people to 13.
“We had targeted to mine about 400kg of gold this year, which amounts to about US$21 million using current gold prices, but there is nothing we can do because of the suspension of alluvial gold mining. Of that money, close to US$3 million was going to Government as taxes and various royalties,” he said.
VP Mphoko pledged Government assistance, saying it was critical to look into DTZ-OZGEO’s concerns since the company is employing more than 400 people as well as generating revenue for the country.
“It is a very important thing (to assist DTZ-OZGEO) because it employs more than 400 people. Apart from that, it is making a profit of more than US$21 million. A thing of that nature is critical,” he said.
VP Mphoko, Cde Chimene, DZT-OZGEO officials, Environmental Management Agency directors and other interested parties held a two-hour closed-door meeting whose thrust was to lay the groundwork for the re-opening of the plant and align its activities with environmental demands from EMA.
In 2011, the company produced 453kg of gold, 487kg in 2012 and 282kg in 2013 before the suspension was effected in October that year.
DTZ-OZGEO (Private) Limited is a joint-venture mining company established in 1994 jointly owned by the Development Trust of Zimbabwe and a Russian company, Econedra Limited.
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