Zimbabwe to repossess unutilised mines

THE Government is conducting an audit of the mining industry with a view to repossessing all mining claims that are being held for speculative purposes by some big companies and individuals, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Cde Obert Mpofu, has said.
In an interview, Cde Mpofu said his ministry had since discovered that some big mines had literally surrendered their claims to panners and were assisting in the smuggling of the minerals out of the country.
“I know of some big mines that are in the habit of allowing panners to do the mining in their claims,” he said.
“We are however saying that should end. Those who hold claims should use them or risk losing them to the Government and people who are serious.
“It is true that the Government may be losing money to these unscrupulous mines and we are going to carry out an audit that will determine and reflect the true picture of who is doing what, where and how. Those who are allowing panners to mine in their claims are not only causing environmental degradation but loss of revenue to the state.” Investigations last week revealed that some big mining companies in the Midlands province, including some listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, were holding on to mining claims for speculative purposes while leaving illegal gold miners to mine and sell the gold on the black market with the Government getting nothing in the process.

The mines (names supplied) are allegedly citing Government policies in the mining industry which they claim are not conducive for them to continue mining, thereby ignoring the Government’s “use it or lose it” policy on all underutilised mining claims.
A visit to the Midlands last week revealed that more than 300 illegal gold panners were mining gold freely in the Camperdown mines in Shurugwi.
Irked by the influx of the illegal panners, police in Shurugwi wrote to the chief mining commissioner informing him of the situation.
“The mine (name supplied) ceased operations in October 2008 and this has resulted in areas such as Camperdown being infested by illegal gold panners numbering around 200 at any given time,” reads part of the letter written by the police to the chief mining commissioner.
Concerns were also raised that the more than 30 kilogrammes of gold that the panners were getting per month from the claims was being sold on the black market with the Government getting nothing.
According to sources, senior officials at some of the mines had come up with resolutions to resume operations only after receiving outstanding payments from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
But Minister Mpofu said such companies must know that they were not the only ones affected by the non-payment of dues by the central bank.
He said Government policy was there to enable genuine companies to do the mining, adding that measures would be put in place to control gold leakages.