The Sunday Mail
Tanyaradzwa Rusike
ZIMBABWE’s mining sector has raked in US$6 billion from exports since the beginning of the year, with the industry on course to eclipse its US$8 billion target by year-end.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will, in the next few weeks, unveil a US$10 million fund to bankroll youths, in the latest strategy to ramp-up production.
This is in line with the Second Republic’s ambition to achieve a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.
Platinum, gold, diamonds and lithium are among major minerals that have anchored growth in the sector this year.
Zimbabwe intends to generate US$4 billion from gold by next year.
As of June, the country’s gold deliveries were up by 60 percent compared to what was delivered last year.
Platinum, one of the country’s main mineral exports, has also been performing well as global prices of the metal have firmed, boosting the country’s ambitions to rake in US$4 billion from PGMs next year.
This year, Zimbabwe is on course to produce more than 10 million carats of diamonds, as the leading diamond producers, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Mining Company, Alrosa and Anjin, have all stepped-up production.
Several lithium projects are taking shape in the country, with the sought-after mineral expected to contribute at least US$500 million to the US$12 billion milestone.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said the U$$12 billion milestone was well in sight.
“On account of what we have achieved so far, you can see that the US$12 billion milestone is within reach. We have attained revenues of US$6 million this year and this means our target of US$8 billion by the end of the year is achievable.”
Minister Chitando said one of the strategies that Government will implement to boost production in mining is to support youths. To that end, Government has allocated an initial US$10 million for youth in mining projects, particularly in the gold sector.
Under the initiative, Government will facilitate the setting up of gold centres for youths to provide one-stop processing facilities for artisanal miners, including gold milling and metallurgical services.
Furthermore, authorities will assist youths to get mining claims.
“We have been allocated this funding by the Ministry of Finance (and Economic Development) and it is going to be distributed soon to beneficiaries. Cabinet also approved allocation of 7 300 hectares of land on which mining title will be reserved for youths to undertake mining activities. Youths will be grouped and they will operate using the same principles of how gold centres work,” he said.
He said youths will also receive special training to improve their capacity to produce.
“There will be some specialist services where members of the gold centre will be trained to ensure that they are conducting the mining operations in a sound way. We believe that if they are trained, they will have the necessary skills to run their operations,” he said.
Minister Chitando said to further accelerate growth of the mining sector, his Ministry has solid plans for value addition and beneficiation of minerals.
“There is an area which the Government has identified in which youths and other special groups can participate, especially for diamonds and gemstones. You may be aware that 10 percent of gemstones which we produce should allocated to locals to undertake value addition and as we set up the youths’ centres, we will also come up with a mechanism to capacitate the youths to undertake value addition,” said Minister Chitando.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Polite Kambamura said youths are crucial to attainment of the US$12 billion target.
“We are happy that so far we have achieved 6 billion from the set target of 8 billion for the year 2022. We believe that capacitating youths will give further impetus in our drive to achieve the US$12 billion milestone.”
Young Miners Foundation chief executive officer Payne Farai Kupfuwa said:
“Government’s policy to support youths in mining shows that they have confidence in us. As youths, we are already contributing significantly to the mining sector. For example, most of the gold that has been delivered to the RBZ this year has come from artisanal miners, who are predominantly youths. This support that we are going to receive from Government will enable us to do more and contribute significantly to the US$12 billion target.”
