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    HomeMasvingo StarClash over mine exploration

    Clash over mine exploration

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    By Miriam Dube

    GUTU – A Lithium exploration venture in Felixburg and on Grasslands Farms in Ward 41 of Gutu West Constituency has been suspended indefinitely after farmers in the area, district stakeholders and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) raised a red flag.

    Exploration for Lithium in the gold-rich Felixburg and Zoma areas, by Felixburg Lithium Pvt Ltd a subsidiary of Toronto Mines, was halted mid-October after an outcry from plot holders, who said they were not consulted over the sudden invasion and digging up of their plots that has resulted in huge gapping trenches which are a risk to them and their livestock.

    EMA accuses the company of starting operations in the area without an approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and due diligence in adhering to required procedures, while the rest of the district stakeholders raised concern over failure by the company to consult and follow procedures with the traditional leadership in the district.

    Although the area is renowned for gold mining spanning decades, lithium mining had not yet received attention with exploration of the mineral concentrated in the Chiwara and Nemashakwe areas of Gutu South which lie on the border with Bikita Minerals area.

    Affected farmers, who raised alarm in August this year when the exploration teams and their drilling and excavating equipment suddenly descended on their plots without notice, said they took their concerns to EMA, the constituency and district leadership.

    The area is also the district’s prime agricultural land lying in Region Two, with deep rich red soils and vast tracts of grazing plains for livestock.

    EMA, which was accused by some of the farmers of conniving with the exploration company for causing extensive environmental degradation in their plots without backfilling or prior consultation, was on the other hand, trying to have the company stop its operations immediately but to no avail.

    A team made up of Zanu PF leadership, the Constituency Development Co-ordinator and some Government departments including EMA visited the area at the beginning of September this year. The company had started operations on August 30.

    Present during the site visit were some of the affected farmers, the ward Councillor for the Ward, Bauren Bote, and  his Women’s quota counterpart, Irene Chapwanya,  who all denied being consulted despite assertions by project consultant for the company, Motsi Kwangwari, that they had been engaged and were aware of the project’s scope and that they actually signed the agreement.

    Councillor Chapwanya said the company had not been open and transparent in its activities, adding that its claim that it had consulted the farmers when in actual fact, they engaged workers at the plots because the owners were away at work.

    The visit revealed that huge trenches about two metres wide and three metres deep had been opened up on more than 90 hectares of land spanning over more than 20 individual plots in Felixburg and on Grasslands Farm.

    According to the farmers, the company had recruited about 20 men as casual workers on the venture with the owner of the company still unclear.

    The farmers said that although investment and mining development was welcome to the area, it should be done following due procedures and in agreement with the owners of the land.

    Two geologists and a site manager, Kusire, who were present during the time of the visit failed to answer questions, when asked, referring them to Motsi Kwangwari, the project consultant.

    On being reached over the phone, Motsi in turn said the directors were better placed to answer as he was just a consultant. The team then directed EMA to ensure that all procedures and paperwork were in place before the venture resumes, at the same time ensuring the trenches were backfilled immediately as they posed a danger to humans and livestock.

    The district EMA officer Tambudzai Bangure, said the company which has an established camp site, started explorations on August 30, without submission of their projects documents outlining Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to their district offices as per requirement.

    She said the exploration licence document was only submitted to them in September following an outcry from the farmers and their EMA’s insistence. It was apparently clear that the procedure of consulting stakeholders before commencement of project had not been diligently done and that exploration had gone beyond the 90 hectares within Felixburg as indicated in their project document. Instead, they had encroached on Grasslands Farm, which has three subsections.

    She said with the exploration also flouting environmental management requirements by leaving open gapping trenches, EMA fined the company $1 000 and $5 000 fines respectively at the same time ordering operations to stop.

    Ignoring the order to suspend operations until all the requirements were in place, Bangure said, the company paid off the fines but went ahead with the drilling and trenching through its contracted company, Tandamanzi, which has two drilling rigs, a grader and other equipment on site.

    Bangure said documentation shows that three farmers on Felixburg Farm and six on Grasslands were consulted by the company and signed up to the project, while in Grasslands BA and BB, 23 plot holders, who are affected, were not consulted over.

    Realising that the EMA order was not being respected, Bangure opened a docket with Zimbabwe Republic Police Chartsworth on September 27 which on September 30 referred the case to the Police Flora and Fauna Unit, which deals with such issues.

    Prosecution over the case has not started.  As pressure mounted from the farmers whose future on their plots is now uncertain, the district stakeholders and EMA together with the Minister of Mines and Mining Development,  Winston Chitando, who is also Member of Parliament for Gutu Central, Senator for Gutu, Lovemore Matuke,  who is also Minister of State in Office of the President and Cabinet and Member of Parliament for the area, John Paradza, who is Deputy Minister of Environment engaged over the issue, the company suspended operations on 14 October parking all the equipment.

    By October 21 all the trenches had been backfilled. A visit to the area revealed no activity with all the equipment grounded.

    In a phone call interview with one of the two Directors of the company, Tirivashe Gumbi, told Rural Communications Service (RCS) last Thursday that they had temporarily suspended operations as they awaited approval of their EIA document from EMA head office.

    He said their approval was for the Grasslands Farm encroachment which goes over the 90 hectares they had indicated in their original document for Felixburg Farm.

    Insisting that they had an EIA document for Felixburg in place before commencing operations in August and that consultations had been made with farmers and councillors in the area who signed their approval, Gumbi said they were scheduled to have a stakeholder consultation meeting to rectify the oversight encroaching on Grasslands Farm.

    The meeting, however, was postponed on grounds that the issue was serious and merited attendance by all critical stakeholders who were attending the Zanu PF Conference in Bulawayo. A new date will be announced.

    According to the Company Profile document in possession of RCS, the Company registration number 1373/222, has three lithium claims in Felixburg area of Gutu on which exploration was beginning. It was formed in January 2024 under parent company Toronto Mines specifically for Lithium exploration and mining in the three claims which were bought from Simbatina Mining Syndicate.

    The late Chief Chiwara, was critical of the exploration and mining ventures for lithium, tantalite, emerald in his area which he said had caused extensive land degradation as explorers came unannounced, dug up trenches and left without rehabilitating their land, thus posing a big risk to humans and livestock as the trenches remained open.

    Chiwara area lies along the rich mineral belt that runs from Bikita Minerals and is according to Gutu district mineral profile, contains about 21 minerals, some in smaller quantities.

    Locals point out that the mining ventures in Chiwara and Felixburg – Zoma area, have not brought any revenue to the Gutu Rural District Council or development to the area.  Explorations and mining are the preserve of the Ministry of Mines whose Mining Act in some cases overrides the Agriculture Act. – Rural Communications Service

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