adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Mining Federation (ZMF), a lobby group representing small scale miners, will soon embark on a restructuring exercise that will see the setting up of provincial and district structures.
The new structures will pave the way for the disbursement of the $100 million credit facility from the Chinese Development Bank.
ZMF president Apollonia Munzverengwi said once the exercise is completed miners would be put into clusters according to their specific needs in terms of equipment before loans can be disbursed.
“We’ve a programme that we’ve put in place. We’re just waiting for resources for us to go round the country where we’re going to be restructuring the provincial and district executives. This will assist us in data collection of all our miners within a mining district, which will lead to mechanisation of small scale miners.
“The data we’re going to collect will inform us on the requirements of miners according to their level of mining. We’re going to put people in clusters and also identify their needs and the type of equipment they require,” she said.
The restructuring exercise will result in a beneficiary list being drawn up from district level, which will see small scale miners benefiting from the Chinese loan deal.
Munzverengwi said the restructuring exercise will also include awareness campaigns to encourage small scale gold miners to sell their gold to Fidelity Printers and Refiners instead of engaging in underhand dealings.
The ZMF has also made strides in formalising artisanal miners where over 45,000 miners have so far been incorporated into mining syndicates, a development, which has ramped up gold production. The country aims to triple gold volumes by 2018 from the current 15 tonnes per year to about 48 tonnes per annum.
According to ZMF the country has about 500,000 small scale and artisanal miners.
Online Reporter