ABOUT 95% of mining land in Matabeleland is now under exclusive prospective orders (EPOs), making it hard for new players to enter the mining sector, a youth advocacy group has said.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
Community Youth Development Trust (CYDT) convened an all-stakeholders meeting in Gwanda last week to deliberate on the issues affecting the mining sector, and it discovered that 95% of the mining land in the region was under EPOs.
“CYDT notes with sadness that while the organisation is clamouring for young people in the mining sector to formalise their activities, this seems like a pipe dream as 95% of mining land in Matabeleland is now under exclusive prospective orders,” the organisation said.
“This licence protects one from competition with other interested parties. This really came as a surprise to the stakeholders who were in attendance as it dawned on them that only 5% of the land is left for all and sundry to get mining claims,” it said.
The organisation also noted that the Mining Act was silent on the issue of mine claims, yet this has proven to be the major source of conflict and corruption.
