Miner, rancher cross swords over land

ARVOGEN Jefmak Resources Pvt Ltd has pleaded for government’s intervention in its dispute with Shangani Holistic Private Limited over proposed mining operations on the latter’s Shangani Ranch as its environmental licence expires this Friday.

Formerly Debshan Ranch, Shangani Ranch is a 65 000-hectare cattle and game ranch in Zimbabwe whose owner is a subsidiary of the South African mixed-interest conglomerate Oppenheimer Generations.

Oppenheimer represents the global interests of South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer and his son, Jonathan.

In August 2023, local firm Arvogen wrote a letter to the government that Shangani was stifling its efforts to explore its eight blocks of gold claims covering 80 hectares within Shangani Ranch, which it planned to operate as Mbali East Mine.

Shangani rejected Arvogen’s gold exploration efforts by challenging the miner’s Environmental Management Agency (Ema) certificate granted on April 12, 2023, valid until April 11, 2025.

Advertisements
The challenge was based on security, environmental and health concerns that Shangani noted were ignored in the issuance of the certificate, specifically an environmental impact assessment certificate.

In that regard, in October 2023, Shangani wrote to the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Ema’s parent ministry, appealing the certificate that Arvogen objected to the following month, an objection that remains unanswered until today.

“We are in total limbo because despite the letters we wrote, first to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, in other words, explaining to them we are not getting anywhere in terms of our project. We did not even have the courtesy of an acknowledgment or anything of our letter,” Arvogen operations director Jeffery Kamusoko told NewsDay Business in an interview.

“The same applies to the Ministry of Environment, which was in response to the appeal that they [Shangani] lodged with the Environment ministry, any response, despite the fact that we were responding to the allegations put forward by Shangani.”

He said they had since escalated the matter to the resident minister in October last year to escalate the matter to the highest office, which has not yielded desired results.

“We made an estimate, believe it or not, of US$500 million for the minerals underground from our gold mining claims through the consultancy work done,” Kamusoko said.

“We had procured equipment from South Africa for mining, which was almost over US$500 000! It had to go back, as there was nothing we could do. Not to mention, we had an elaborate plan that we had put across to our accounting department, resulting in deployment in the local area.

“We also had projections on how much we were going to earn. To crown it all, we had done a spectral assessment with a consultancy to ascertain the value of the underground minerals.”

He added that these expenses, plus licensing fees and other regulatory costs, saw the firm spend a substantial amount on the project.

It has emerged that Arvogen offered Shangani a chance to buy them out, which the latter rejected.

Shangani resident director Max Makuvise told NewsDay Business that their initial concerns over mining operations in the area were valid.

“Before the environmental impact assessment certificate (EIA) was granted, consultations were done by EMA in terms of the law. The key stakeholders objected to the granting of the EIA certificate in favour of Arvogen over Mbali East Mine,” he said.

“These were: (a) Zimbabwe Republic Police, Fort Rixon, who raised security concerns. (b) Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority raised environmental concerns, particularly in areas designated for wildlife conservation. (c) The Ministry of Health and Child Care, which raised health concerns as well as the councillor for the area, Mr. S. Mpofu.”

He said Shangani shared the same concerns, pointing out that cattle ranching, wildlife safari operations and ongoing conservation research being conducted on the ranch were not compatible with mining.

“Despite these objections and concerns, the EIA certificate was granted. In terms of the law, Shangani Holistic filed an appeal against the issuance of that certificate on June 21, 2023, and served Arvogen with a copy of the same,” Makuvise said.

“We now await the outcome of that appeal. We trust that the above clarifies the matter, as Shangani Holistic has always acted above board throughout.”-newsda