Small-Scale Mining Operations in Zimbabwe
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July 1993 Small-Scale Mining Operations in Zimbabwe by Oliver Maponga lnstitute of Mining Research University of Zimbabwe INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE Ottawa • Cairo • Dakar• Johannesburg • Montevideo • Nairobi • New Delhi • Singapore Material contained in this report is produced as submitted and has net been subjected to peer review or editing by IDRC Public Information Program staff. Unless otherwise stated, copyright for material in this report is held by the authors. Mention of a proprietary name does net constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information. ISBN 0-88936-698-5 0 Printed on recycled paper CONTENTS List of Tables............................................................................................................................ (iv) Summary ................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Intoduction The Mining Sector in Zimbabwe ........................................................................... 2 Terms of Reference ................................................................................................ 4 2 The SmallScale Mining Sector Introduction ........................................................................ ,...................................... 5 Characterisation of Small Scale Mining ............................................................... 5 Classification by Labour........................................................................................... 6 Classification by Output ........................................................................................... 9 Socio-Economic Significance of Small Scale Mining .......................................... 11 3 Government Suppon to Small Scale Mining Government Policy ................................................................................................... 12 The Ministry of Mines .............................................................................................. 13 Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe .................................................................................... 17 Other Departments .................................................................................................. 18 4 Non-Government Support to Small Scalc Mining Introduction ............................................................................................................... 19 Chamber of Mines ...................................................................................................... 19 Small Scale Miners of Zimbabwe ........................................................................... 19 Associatede Mine Workers Union ......................................................................... 20 Cooperative Union ................................................................................................... 21 5 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 23 (iv) List of Tables Table 1 : Zimbabwe's Basic Mining Data 10 Geosurvey Geological Survey Department Taule 2: Distribution ofRegistered Mines by Mining (Zimbabwe) District 11 GM General Manage>: Table 3 : Mine employment by district and labour 12 GML Govemment Metallurgical Laboratory category 13 IMR Institute of Mining Research Table 4 : Breakdown by the level of employment 14 ITDG Intermediate Technology Develop Table 5 : Labour Employed by labour category and ment Group the number of mines 15 MC Mining Commissioner Table 6 : Labour Employed by labour category and 16 MCR Mining Continuation Reserve the minerai 17 MEPP Mining Export Promotion Programme Table 7 : Classification of Chromite mines by Ore 18 MMCZ Minerais Marketing Corporation of produced Zimbabwe Table 8 : Classification of Ali mines by ore treated 19 MoM Ministry of Mines (excluding chromite mines) 20 MSSMA Matabeleland Small Scale Miners Table 9: Small Scale Sector's contribution to Gold Association and Silver Production in 19R8 21 NEC National Executive Committee Table 10: Distribution ofEPOs by mining district 22 &&D Research and Development Table 11 : Major owners of EPOs in 1988 23RBZ Resetve Bank of Zimbabwe 24 RSA Republic of South Africa 25 RTZ Rio Tinto Zinc 26 SSMAZ Small Scale Miners Association of Zimbabwe Abbreviations and Acronyms Used 27 TNC Trans-National Corporation 28 uc Union Carbide 1 AAC Anglo American Corporation 29 UK United Kingdom 2 AMWUZ Associated Mine Workers Union of 30 ZCTU Zimbabwe Cong•~s ofTrade Union Zimbabwe 31 Zimalloys Zimbabwe Alloys Ltd 3 BGS British Geological Survey 32 Zimasco Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting 4 COME Chief Government Mining Engineer Company 5 CMJ Cham ber of Mines Journal 33 ZMDC Zimbabwe Mining Development 6 EPO Exclusive Prospecti:.g Order Corporation 7 Forex Foreign Exchange 8 GDP Gross Domestic Product 9 GCFC Gross Fixed Capital Formation 1 Summary The Zimbabwean mining sector, although dominated Minerais Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, by the large mining companies obtains its sucœss from Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the the numerous small mines which are a common feature Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. in ail mining districts. The small scale miners are mainly involved in gold mining including illegal panning for The Small Scale Miners Association, although a fairly gold along river beds. However, there is a considerable new organisation bas been in the fore-front in providing amount of mining on a small scale for other minerais training and expertise to mushrooming small scale such as beryl, chromite, vermiculite, agate and clay. miners being ~~ted in this endeavour by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (UK). The Chamber Small scale miners are supported by well established ofMines, through the District MiningAssociations, bas government and non-government administrative also helped the more established small scale miners structures which offer invaluable assistance to the solve most of their mining problems. otherwise inexperienced small scale miners. On the fore-front in helping small scale miners is the Ministry Although the Govemment bas helped small scale min of Mines through the departments of Chief Government ers to a great extent through ZMDC, MMCZ and other Mining E.ngineer, Go\iernment Metallurgical Laboratory, departments, there is need to expand these services and Geological Survey and the Roasting Plant. Other make them much more efficient in the dischargeof their parastatal organisations which offer assistance to small fonctions. scale miners include; the Institute of Mining Research, 2 1 Introduction The Mining Sector ln Zimbabwe rolling stock, pumps, headgear, ventilation ducting and electrical equipment are made in the country. Mining bas long been an important indUStty in Zimbabwe. The earliest iron smelting sites are dated to the second Another effect of sanctions was that during UDI the century AD and the first mention of gold from the east lNCs had difficulty in repatriating their profits which coastof Africa is made by Arab geographers in the tenth meant that surplus generated by the mining industry was century. In the sixteenth century the Portuguese traded often reinvested in the industry or other parts of the gold from the mines of the Munhumutapas in present economy. This also had the effect of increasing the day Zimbabwe. Almost ail gold and oopper mines opened overall control of the lNC's over the economy as a this century have been based on ancient mine sites. whole. The major transnational mining bouses today European subjugation of the country la te last century have significant holdings in other sectors of the eoonomy. was not undertaken by Britain, but by a mining company, For instance, the AAC bas interests in manufacturing, Cecil John Rhodes' British South Africa Company, in farming, services and finance. Lonrho a1so· bas holdings search of the fabled minerai riches of the Great in vehicle manufacture, forestry and textiles, while RTZ Munhumutapas, thought then to be on the scale of the bas a local engineering subsidiary manufacturing Witwatersrand gold reefs of South Africa. Deposits of agricultural equipment (finto Industries). The original this scale were not discovered but a wide range of capital generally came from abroad but later investment smaller minerai occurrences have been found over the was mainly raised locally. years. Today Zimbabwe mines a wide varietyof minerais ( over Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980. Before that forty). The total value of minerai production in 1989 was the country had been ruled by a minority settler regime 1,195 MZD (about 570 MUSD) excluding the value of which had unilaterally declared independence from ferro-chrome, pig iron, steel, cernent, ceramics and coke. Britain in 1965 leading to an immediate imposition of In the same year the principal minerais produced, by sanctions by the UN. This period ofsettler govemment value, were gold, nickel, asbestos, coal, copper, chro with the sanctions produced a mining industry that mite, iron ore, tin, limestoneand phosphate rock, in that developed in an essentially different way to that ofother order. colonies. Zimbabwe was not developed purely in the interests of the colonising country as a source for raw Minerai exports in 1987 totalled 1,032 MZD representing materialsand a market for manufactured goods, butwas 43.5% of total exports and averaged 42% for the period developed in the interests of a national bourgeoisie, 1980-87, roughly the