Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe government plans to send gold mobilization teams into all the eight producing provinces to boost reserves to strengthen and stabilise the country’s currency, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said this during a gold mobilization deployment workshop in Harare, ahead of the deployment of 13 teams into Manicaland, Masvingo, Midlands, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last month launched the local currency, called the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), which is backed by gold and other precious minerals.
The value of the ZiG is tied to the value of gold reserves that the apex bank holds.
“Gold mobilization has proven to be a successful initiative, spearheading growth in the mining sector and contributing significantly to the national economy. With evidently positive results, gold mobilization remains a cornerstone government project propelling the mining sector and the Zimbabwean economy forward,” said Chitando.
“Mineral leakages deprive the government of much-needed revenue from taxes and royalties.”
Chitando said during the first four months of this year, large-scale miners reported a 26 percent increase in gold production, delivering 4.3 tons of the precious mineral to Fidelity Gold Refinery, against a target of 3.4 tons for last year.
He said the increase was a result of expansion projects and the use of technology (bioleaching) to extract gold by the large-scale miners.
Bioleaching is a simple and effective technology for metal extraction from low-grade ores and mineral concentrates.
“For 2024 from January to April, the gold deliveries to FGR sit at 8.4 tons against a target of 40 tons by the end of the year,” Chitando said.
He however said deliveries from small-scale miners to FGR had decreased by 23 percent from 5.2 tons in 2023 to 4 tons this year.
Chitando called for investigations into the decline of deliveries from small-scale miners, whose deliveries are ranging between 42 percent and 53 percent compared to previous years.
Since 2020, small-scale miners have been contributing more than 60 percent of gold to FGR, surpassing that of large-scale producers.
Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation chief executive officer Wellington Takavarasha said there is need for a police blitz at hammer mills that have mushroomed around the 80 hubs where gold processing is being undertaken.
“Mazowe Jumbo Mine there is plus or minus 140 bases with each base having about three hammer mills where the gold processing is done. This is where the small-scale miners get a quick recovery of gold as low as 15kg to 20kg. Someone can go to a milling place and get gold instantly,” he said.
New Ziana