THE Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ) says Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) should be maintained as they promote growth of the mining sector if properly used.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
This comes as Parliament’s Mines Committee members said the introduction of EPOs has resulted in high leakages of the gold output as well as pushing small scale miners from pegging title space.
State media reported that President Emmerson Mnangagwa told delegates at a Zanu-PF youth convention that EPOs were not serving any tangible purpose and mulled removing them.
EPOs are exploration titles for undertaking geo-scientific investigations that show the mineral potential of a defined area, and were introduced into the mining law of Zimbabwe in 1947.
“Our current functional legal and institutional framework, if properly enforced, can promote the critical role of EPOs in the development and growth of the mining industry. The current framework encourages both small and large-scale (miners) to co-exist — ensuring the optimal development of the mining industry,” the Chamber said in a statement.
It also recommended that the Geological Survey department be strengthened to better monitor exploration activities to ensure that the quality of the reports are of the highest standard and the country and any future investor can benefit from work of the previous investor who would have worked the same ground.
“EPOs has been granted over ground where mineralisation was not known (green field) and ground where mineralisation was known to be present (brownfields) resulting in some discoveries of deposits that have been developed into major mines,” the Chamber added.
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Since its co-existence with the EPOs, the small-scale mining sector has grown, while the success rate for mineral exploration is in the order of 0,1%.
“The success rate for exploration in Zimbabwe was at 3,9% by 1984, which is high by global standards. Some of the successes include Murowa Diamonds, Trojan Nickel Mines, Freda Rebecca Mine, Blanket Mine extension, Marange Diamonds, Mhangura Copper Mines, Kanyemba Uranium Deposit, Great Dyke Platinum-Nickel-Copper deposit among others,” CoMZ said
The Chamber said it was the duty of the regulator to craft policies, laws and the necessary institutional framework to guarantee that activities are conducted in an orderly manner and are aligned to the developmental thrust of the country.
Important considerations including reducing the impact of mining on the environment, ensuring co-existence with other land and desired structure of the mining industry should be made, it added.
The world over, there is competition for ground to explore for and mine minerals among investors large and small and the EPOs have been pivotal in generating geo-scientific information which has been archived and used for mining and other land uses.
