ARTISANAL and small-scale gold miners have been urged to treat their operations as businesses as the Government rolls out equipment financing to draw them into the formal sector.
This follows PlanetGOLD Zimbabwe’s launch of a guide publication on formalisation at its second annual stakeholders’ conference yesterday, held under the theme of a collaborative approach to unlocking responsible gold mining, as small-scale miners contribute well over 50 per cent of the country’s gold production and exports.
Permanent Secretary for Mines and Mining Development, Mr Thomas Ushe Utete, represented by the ministry’s acting deputy director of metallurgy, Ms Shantel Mutsvairo, said the project supports the Government’s sustainable mining goals under the National Development Strategy and Vision 2030.
“The project is anchored on four pillars, which are formalisation of ASGM, which is the foundation of everything else, access to finance and markets, knowledge sharing, and adoption of mercury-free gold extraction technologies,” said Mr Utete.
He said mercury does not stay where it is used, as it travels through communities into water and the food chain, which is why Zimbabwe joined the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
“Mercury does not stay where it is used. It travels from communities into water and the food chain,” he said.
Zimbabwe ratified the Convention in 2021 and has a National Action Plan aligned with Article 7, which calls on countries to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate mercury use in gold extraction.
Mr Utete said the project has also moved to bring miners together and raise awareness.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Mr Simon Masanga, also represented by the ministry deputy director Mr Abraham Matiza, said the plan relies on formalisation, better information for miners and mercury-free technology rather than enforcement alone.
“Environmental compliance must be understood not simply as an obligation but as an investment in safer communities.
“Our National Action Plan recognises that addressing this requires more than awareness and enforcement alone,” he said.
Mr Masanga added that protecting the environment cannot fall on one institution.
“Protecting the environment cannot be the responsibility of one institution alone,” he said.
PlanetGOLD Zimbabwe project manager Ms Nyaradzo Mutonhori said the new publication promotes formalisation that goes beyond licences and regulations.
She said formalisation must include technical support and progressive compliance with environmental management rules, including reduced mercury use.
“Our approach is that formalisation should be holistic,” she said.
The project aims to cut mercury use in the sector by 4.85 tonnes and support 7,500 miners, and it will also set up mercury-free gold processing demonstration sites in eight mining districts.
Mining Industry Loan Fund acting fund manager Mr Rangarirai Mhazo said the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development-administered facility offers equipment on loan, including compressors, generators and slurry pumps, to registered miners.
He said the model uses support to drive formalisation, since only registered and compliant miners qualify.
“If an unregistered miner gets to know that there is support being offered by Government, they are motivated to register so that they can get the support,” he said.
Mr Mhazo said uptake has been low because the fund was inactive, but it has been revived with Treasury funding.
Approval processes that were slow and unfriendly to business have been reviewed, and he expects applications to rise next year.
Women miners, however, said finance remains a barrier.
Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small-Scale Women Miners Association programmes coordinator Ms Priscilla Masuku said many women want to formalise but lack money for registration, inspections and environmental plans, while banks demand formal documentation and collateral.
She called for simplified licensing, affordable financing, technical training and a dedicated revolving fund for women miners.
“Formalisation must offer real benefits: secure mining rights, access to finance, safe working conditions, improved productivity and better markets,” she said.
Engineer Kundai Chidamba, Managing Director of T&A Drilling and Blasting, welcomed the move by the government as timely.
”This is a significant and timely development for Zimbabwe’s mining sector. Artisanal and small-scale miners are important contributors to national gold production, and the call for them to operate as businesses rather than merely as gold extraction activities is both commercially sound and strategically important,” he said
Magaya Mining area specialist for business development, Mr Hopewell Magaya, said the company is working to help artisanal miners grow sustainably, which cannot happen while mercury remains part of the conversation.
“We cannot grow sustainably with mercury still being part of the conversation,” he said.
He said Magaya Mining is a processing partner and will work with small-scale miners so that they focus on mining while the company processes their material.-herald
