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Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
A MANICALAND-based gold mine, DTZ-OZGEO Limited says it has lost about US$1 million in potential revenue last months following a blanket decision by Government to stop all mining activities along river banks. Ministries of Mines and Mining Development and Environment, Water and Climate in October jointly directed, through the Environmental Management Agency, mining firms to cease operations along rivers following massive environmental degradation along Mazoe River as a result of gold mining. The firm, that is jointly owned Development Trust of Zimbabwe and Russian company, OZGEO extracts gold along Mutare River.
“The company has been producing between 20-30kg gold per month,” DTZ-OZGEO deputy managing director, Mr Bornwell Mupaya told Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa who toured the company at the weekend.
“Mining stoppages are having adverse effects, which include loss of revenue,” said Mr Mupaya. “Around 513 employees have also been made redundant with their jobs in jeopardy.”
DTZ-Ozgeo board member Mrs Thandi Nkomo-Ebrahim pleaded with Minister Chidhakwa to consult with his Environment, Water and Climate counterpart Mr Saviour Kasukuwere to ensure the company resumes operations.
Mr Mupaya said his company’s operations were environmentally friendly as they always rehabilitate areas it would mined. He said according to the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, mining would anchor the economy hence there was need for Government to make decisions that negatively affect the sector.
It is also understood the firm was first stopped from operating between June and September this year by EMA to rehabilitate some of the sites it had finished mining.
The firm was allowed to resume operations in October before the blanket suspension.
“What is important to me in this whole project is the social responsibility that the company is doing. The fact that we are also an indigenised company that has been shedding shares to the community as well as the workers,” she said.
Mrs Ebrahim who is daughter to the late Vice President and national hero, Dr Joshua Nkomo said they were environmental conscious evidenced by the rehabilitation exercise that they conducted after mining.
She said out of the seven mining sites, they have mined, five had been successfully rehabilitated. In his remarks, Minister Chidhakwa said Government decided to suspend mining activities along rivers for it to come up with mechanisms to ensure sustainable mining by protecting the environment.
“In that process, your company was caught up in that national decision which encompassed everybody who was doing mining on or along the rivers across the country.
“Government has no intention of frustrating mining activities but it has every intention of ensuring that the environment is properly managed so that we do not at the end of the day find ourselves with an environment that is damaged after the mining activities have been completed.
“After this visit, I have got my own impressions about the situation that ought to be done. I want to discuss with the Minister of Environment (Water and Climate) so that we can agree on the way forward.
“We did agree that I come here and then discuss with him after this visit. Thereafter, then having dealt with the issues of how to manage the environment, we can then enable the companies to continue their activities,” said Minister Chidhakwa.
Online Reporter