Miners want ban on special grants lifted

 

Business Reporter

THE Chrome Miners Association of Zimbabwe has appealed to the Government to lift a ban on the issuance of special grants (SGs) to foster increased production of ferrochrome and contribute to Vision 2030.

Under Vision 2030, the country seeks to attain an upper middle-income society anchored by the mining industry, one of Zimbabwe’s major economic centrepieces, contributing over 75 percent of the national export earnings.

Chrome, a base mineral, is one of the country’s major exports after gold, Platinum Group Metals and diamonds and is largely used in a diverse range of applications, including being added to molten iron to provide a range of speciality alloys like stainless steel.

Zimbabwe has the world’s second largest known chrome ore deposits after South Africa, with about 900 million tonnes of untapped ore largely along the Great Dyke against total global reserves estimated at 7,5 billion tonnes.

The Chrome Miners Association of Zimbabwe chairperson, Mr Shelton Lucas whose organisation represents small-scale chrome miners, said the Government suspended issuing SGs a few years ago and this, among other issues, was limiting ferrochrome output.

“The whole of the Great Dyke is reserved and for one to venture into chrome mining there, you need licensing in the form of a Special Grant, which needs Cabinet approval,” he said.

“As small-scale chrome miners, we are saying this (going through Cabinet approval) is cumbersome and discourages locals from owning claims.

“There has been a ban on the issuance of SGs by the Government for a long time now, leading some people to mine illegally,” he said.

The Government has not given the exact reason for the halt on SGs issuance, but analysts speculate that this could have been prompted by the authorities reviewing their policies to ensure effective utilisation of existing grants.

Presently, Zimbabwe’s chrome sector is dominated by large-scale miners that include Zimasco and ZimAlloys, with vast tracts of titles, which in some cases, are being exploited through tributary arrangements with small-scale miners.

The country’s chrome production is projected to rise to 2,7 million tonnes this year, up from 2,5 million tonnes in 2024 as ZimAlloys revitalises its high-carbon ferrochrome plant in Gweru.

“If the issuance of SGs ban can be lifted, we will get 90 percent of the chrome extracted improving the chrome sector’s contribution to the economy as the country aspires to become an upper-middle-income society by 2030,” said Mr Lucas.

In recent years, following a directive by the Government, Zimasco and ZimAlloys ceded some of their underutilised claims to potential investors, including small-scale miners.

“It (ceding of underutilised mining claims) was a positive thing, and if we had a continuation of that, it could have unlocked more value in the chrome sector with the participation of local investors.

“And also what we want is that even through the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, we don’t want foreign companies to just come and register claims — they should have some form of local content in the form of partnerships with small-scale miners, not to have the foreigners owning the whole value chain, ” said Mr Lucas.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Miners Federation of Zimbabwe (ZMF) president, Ms Henrietta Rushwaya, at the Chamber of Mines Annual congress in Victoria Falls last month said illegal chrome mining taking place under the cover of darkness is a “new cancer” in the mining industry.

The ZMF president, whose organisation is the mother body of small-scale mining operations in the country, has threatened to name and shame those involved in unlawful chrome mining as a way of protecting legitimate small-scale miners.

Ms Rushwaya accused the operators, often bankrolled by foreign capital, of dragging the image of the local mining sector into the mud.

“It is very unfortunate that we, as small-scale miners, continue to carry the label of illegal miners while those sophisticated syndicates run operations on our claims at night. These aren’t just illegal miners, they are criminal entrepreneurs exploiting the system, undermining our livelihoods and destabilising our mining communities,” she said.