GOVERNMENT has embarked on a drive to formalise the operations of all artisanal miners as Treasury turns to small-scale miners to grow bullion output.
Tarisai Mandizha
The government has already allocated $100 million to capacitate small-scale operations.
In an interview with NewsDay, national joint taskforce for the formalisation of artisanal miner’s chairperson Wellington Takavarasha said the government has put in place a team to improve the transparency of the sector amid concerns that Treasury could be losing millions in potential revenue.
Zimbabwe, according to Takavarasha, has 1,3 million artisanal miners. The task force for the formalisation of artisanal miners, according to Takavarasha, comprises officials from the Ministry of Finance, Mines and Mining Developments, Environment, Water and Climate, Environmental Management Agency, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Fidelity Printers and Refiners, Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
“We are going around the whole country to each and every province, mostly where we know there are high artisanal mining activities,” Takavarasha said.
Takavarasha added that the formalisation plan covers 80 places in the country, mostly known for artisanal mining activities and the exercise would be conducted over a period of three months.
“This is conservative, for example we have 10 places in Zimbabwe so we will be visiting each and every province throughout the country,” he said.
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He, however, said the official launch for the formalisation of artisanal miners will take place next month in Shamva. “In Mashonaland Central we will do the official launch and we will invite other provinces,” Takavarasha said.
He added that after concluding the exercise, the joint taskforces are expected to produce an evaluation report in line with the $100 million budget allocation by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa.
According to the 2014 National Budget statement, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the mining sector is projected to grow by 11,4%, on the back of planned investments and largely driven by strong performance in gold, diamonds, nickel and coal.
Chinamasa said the capital intensive nature of mining activities pose challenges to the operations of many small-scale miners.
“This is notwithstanding that small scale mining activities employ a lot of people in the country. Most of these artisanal small-scale miners lack skills and, hence, government will support their capacity building programmes.
“Initiatives on joint ventures with external partners will also be supported,” Chinamasa said. Total gold output for the first eleven months of 2013 amounted to 12 914kg relative to 13 651kg in 2012, according to the Ministry of Finance.
