ZIMBABWE could be losing billions of dollars annually amid reports that 85% of artisanal and small-scale gold miners are not registered.
There are over 1 million artisanal and small-scale gold miners.
Small-scale miners are paid 100% of their proceeds in foreign currency, shielding them from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s 30% surrender requirement as the government moves to lure the constituency to deliver gold to Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR).
The move forms part of the government’s efforts to boost gold deliveries to FGR to 40 tonnes this year. There has been a 40% year-to-date surge in gold prices.
Analysts predict that Zimbabwe’s gold sector is set for significant growth in 2025, with output projected to rise to 43,39 tonnes from 38,45 tonnes in 2024.
However, with most of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector operating outside the law, the country’s true potential may remain unclear.
“The committee was informed by the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) that there were over one million artisanal and small-scale miners operating in Zimbabwe and approximately 85% of them were not registered,” Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development chairperson Remigious Matangira said in a report submitted to Parliament last week.
“As a result, the majority of the ASMs were not operating within the ambit of the law. To address this challenge, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development informed the committee that it had come up with an Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining Strategy. This strategy lays out the principles towards the formalisation and optimisation of the ASM sector for sustainable livelihoods.”
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However, he said the strategy was yet to be implemented due to a number of constraints that include financial and human capacity.
Some ASM operators shun registration to get better forex from smuggling, where they are paid timeously for their deliveries.
“On the trading of gold, the ASM sector was governed by the Gold Trade Act, whereupon Fidelity Gold was the sole buyer of the country’s gold. To curb leakages and smuggling of gold, the ‘no questions asked policy’ was announced by the government a decade ago, whereby the ASM sector is allowed to sell its gold to Fidelity Gold without any conditions,” Matangira said.
“The committee was told by ZMF that, despite this policy, criminalisation of the ASM sector has not stopped. Some small-scale miners were being arrested for the illegal possession of gold under section 3 of the Gold Trade Act.”
