admin
Gibson Mhaka Business Correspondent
GOVERNMENT is mulling plans to formalise activities of artisanal and small-scale miners as a way of increasing mineral production, particularly gold, as well as ensuring that the mining sector remains key for sustainable economic growth.
Speaking to Business Chronicle on Friday, Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Fred Moyo said plans to formalise activities by artisanal and small-scale miners were at an advanced stage.
To that end, he said, the ministry was in the process of creating a database to establish their exact number.
“There is no doubt that artisanal and small-scale miners, through their activities, are playing a big role in maintaining the nation’s economic growth hence the need to formalise and regularise their activities.
“We need to create a register of them and once that register is in place then we can work on the numbers that we have to regularise their operations.
“On top of that we also need to find claims which they are going to work on because there is no point formalising them if there is no ground to work on.
“They are working illegally at the moment on other people’s claims and if all the things go according to plan, by early next year their operations will have been formalised,” he said.
The Deputy Minister said the Government was aware of the immense contribution by small-scale miners to the growth of the country’s economy but said that there was a need for them to work taking cognizance of environmental issues.
Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Council chief executive officer, Mr Wellington Takavarasha expressed concern over the levies and fees which were enacted by Government last year saying they were too high for small-scale miners to operate productively.
“The levies that were introduced in 2012 are too high to the extent of affecting mining operations right from the registration part to the mill.
“For instance to be registered as a pegger, it’s $4 000 and out of 300 registered peggers across the country only 15 have complied with the new fees, which means that the rest of the peggers are illegal.
“Similarly with millers, those with milling customs used to pay the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development $2 000 to get licences but that fee was raised to $4 000 and out of the 427 only 60 complied with the regulation, which means a number of them are illegal,” he said.
He said there was need to repeal the Mines and Minerals Act since it was no longer aligned to the developments that have taken place over the years.
Online Reporter