Mining Bill set to be game changer

Zvamaida Murwira in Kariba

The Mines and Mining Amendment Bill is expected to be a game changer in the country as it will treat both miners and farmers equally in the utilisation of the land and extraction of minerals, legislators have heard.

Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Polite Kambamura said the Bill is now before the Attorney General’s office before it is brought before Parliament for debate.

Deputy Minister Kambamura said this today during a gold production value chain workshop bringing together the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Fidelity Printers and Refiners, legislators and Mining stakeholders.

“We are looking forward to concluding the Bill in the next two months. It will touch on the relationship between farmers and miners where we are saying every Zimbabwe citizen should be treated equally. We have equal rights to our minerals and to our land,” said Deputy Minister Kambamura.

“The Bill is going to be a game changer. You need to support it as legislators.”

He said Cabinet has since approved the Bill setting the stage for it to be taken to Parliament.

Parliament’s portfolio committee on Mines and Mining Development chairperson and Shurugwi South MP Cde Edmund Mukaratigwa said the workshop should brainstorm how the country can benefit from its mineral endowment.

He said the workshop will review Government’s targets to have a US$12 billion mining industry with gold production contributing US$4 billion by 2023.