Resource artisanal miners: Togarepi
THE government has been urged to recognise, formalise and provide resources to artisanal miners so that they contribute to the economy.
TogaBless Mining Investment director Blessing Togarepi says government should decriminalise gold panning and lend support to artisanal miners so that they legally conduct their activities.
His assertions were supported by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) in its latest report called Towards a formalised Artisanal and Smallscale Mining (ASM) sector in Zimbabwe: What to consider and why? which stated that there was need to formalise artisanal miners in order to deal with criminality and mining accidents in the sector.
“The formalisation of the operations of the miners will promote rehabilitation of the environment and adoption of safety and health standards provided for in environmental laws. This would entail the capacity building of miners on basic mining knowledge, safety, and health for sustainable and responsible mining operations; putting in place structures that are operational and assist miners — accessibility to information among others,” the Zela report said.
In an interview with NewsDay, Togarepi said there was need for the government to assist artisanal miners to produce more gold.
According to Fidelity Printers and Refiners and the Chamber of Mines, small-scale miners contribute almost 60% of the gold output in the country.
“They also need support from government to enable them to work legally so that they can channel all the gold they produce to the official market.
“Government can uplift smallscale miners by formalising them, and by training and giving them equipment and capital to produce even more gold,” he said.
Togarepi said if artisanal mining was decriminalised, government could achieve the targeted US$12 billion mining revenue by 2023.
“It is not only big mining firms that can support this vision, but even small-scale miners must not be left out because they can assist in attaining the vision,” he said.
Small-scale and artisanal miners are banking on the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill for them to be recognised and their work formalised.
The current legislation, which was enacted in 1964, criminalises gold panning.
Meanwhile, Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Association is worried about an upsurge in fatal accidents involving gold panners.
It said it would soon roll out programmes to educate artisanal miners on safety issues as they continue to lose lives in mine shaft accidents.