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Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
ZVISHAVANE-Mberengwa Miners’ Association (ZMMA) says lack of a viable market for base minerals is depriving small-scale miners and the country full benefit from its vast natural resources.
ZMMA chairman, Mr Thembinkosi Sibanda, said the Midlands province was endowed with vast mineral deposits that have not been fully exploited owing to lack of a viable market.
“We have a wide range of base minerals such as antimony, talc, silver, tantalite, scheelite, emeralds and limestone in this area.
“We have some small-scale miners that are extracting some of the minerals but it’s on a very low scale because the demand is low.
“We believe there are numerous minerals, which we aren’t aware of because not much has been done with regards to exploration,” he said.
Zvishavane and Mberengwa districts are located at the heart of the mineral rich Great Dyke.
“We believe effective exploitation and marketing of these base minerals and gemstones can go a long way in turning around the economy.
“Government has anchored the revival of the economy on the mining sector and there is therefore a need to boost mining production,” said Mr Sibanda said.
He said a number of small-scale miners used to eke a living through extracting talc and limestone deposits but most of the companies, which use the minerals as raw materials have since acquired their own claims.
“There were small-scale miners that used to mine talc and sell it to Agricura for the production of its agricultural chemicals but the company now has its own claims.
Some were into limestone extraction but all the companies that use limestone now have their own reserves as well,” said Mr Sibanda.
He also said over the years Fidelity Printers and Refiners used to pay for the silver found while refining gold but has since stopped doing so.
“Fidelity use to pay for the silver, which they got while refining the gold delivered by miners but it stopped doing so some years ago.
“Although the amount we got for the silver wasn’t much it used to go a long way towards acquiring consumables such as explosives,” said Mr Sibanda. — @DNsingo
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