THE government, which in November last year committed itself to regularising lithium mining activities at Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa, made a dramatic turnaround by duping and abandoning villagers after grabbing their ore without paying for it, a Zimbabwe Independent investigation has revealed.
Late last year, at least 5 000 artisanal miners and
fortune-seekers, including foreigners, descended on the former emerald mine
after the discovery of lithium in the Midlands province.
Sandawana Mine is part of the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) portfolio through Kuvimba Mining House and is
famed for producing emeralds, tantalite and other precious stones.
ZMDC owns 65% of Kuvimba while several other investors
share 35% including a miner who has interests in gold, copper, nickel and other
minerals.
The government moved to control lithium mining activities
at Sandawana after it emerged that some foreigners, paying locals as much as
US$200 per tonne, descended on the mine and were exporting the base metal.
Authorities barred artisanal miners, mostly villagers from
Mberengwa and surrounding areas, and the lithium buyers, ultimately, giving
exclusive rights to the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) to supervise mining
activities while selling the ore to Kuvimba.
In November, Kuvimba and ZMF officials committed to
assisting the artisanal miners with equipment and other accessories while also
buying the lithium at improved prices as well as providing transport.
Mines deputy minister Polite Kambamura was deployed to meet
artisanal miners while assessing the situation on the ground.
Kambamura, ZMF president Henrietta Rushwaya and Kuvimba
operations manager Toindepi Muganyi addressed the villagers outlining the
development.
Kambamura revealed that the government had been forced to
intervene to bring sanity on the ground while ensuring accountability in the
mining activities.
“We noticed there is illegal mining going on. Illegal
buyers were buying minerals under the umbrella name of lithium yet the ore here
contains a lot of other minerals.
“It is a multi-element mineral and it’s not only lithium
found in these mountains. So buyers were coming in to buy lithium and smuggle
it out of the country. When they smuggle it out of the country, they will go
and further process it to extract other minerals unknown to the miners so we
had to bring sanity to this area,” he said in an interview with the Independent
in November last year.
He also said the government had agreed with Kuvimba
officials, who are the holders of titles to the mines, to let registered
artisanal miners continue their activities while selling the mineral to the
company.
In the long run, Kambamura said, Kuvimba would move in to
explore and exploit all the deposits while opening up and developing full
operations.
Kambamura also revealed that the agreement between Kuvimba
and the ZMF to register all artisanal miners in the mountains was to control
the mining activities.
However, within two months Kuvimba had reportedly reneged
on its promise with villagers saying the mine was paying them less than the
agreed price.
“We were selling lithium to buyers including Chinese who
were paying us as much as US$200 [per tonne] but when Kuvimba moved in they are
paying as little as US$50 per tonne,” the villagers told the Independent.
It also emerged that
30 tonnes of lithium fetched at least US$21 000 on the South African
market.
“We were expecting Kuvimba, as a government entity, to try
and match these prices but we were
fooled when the officials intervened.”
The worst nightmare for villagers and artisanal miners who
were mining the ore in Upper and Lower Varichem and Gwamakudo areas was waking
up on January 1 this year to find their ore gone.
“Kuvimba sent a huge fleet of tipper trucks onto the
mountains and loaded all the lithium ore that we had extracted and disappeared
into the night,” sources interviewed said.
The miners did not only lose their ore for nothing, but the
officials who grabbed the lithium also grabbed their equipment and dumped it at
a police station in Zvishavane.
“We lost compressors and their accessories. They even took
our shovels and wheelbarrows. At least they could have paid us the little they
owed us and returned our equipment. People are afraid to go to Zvishavane to
claim their equipment for fear of arrest and we know it is stored with the
police,” the villagers said.
While some daring villagers are collecting the ore using
sacks while hiding it in bushes, the major challenge is dealing with police
patrols that have been intensified since the area was cordoned off.
“There are some who are brave and they get the ore but some
of us find it difficult because you need to have huge amounts to pay bribes
along the way,” the villagers added.
According to investigations, police demand as much as
US$800 to allow a truck to leave the area while some traditional leaders have
been accused of facilitating the movement of lithium from Mberengwa for as much
as US$400 per tipper truck.
The villagers also bemoaned paying US$5 each for
registering with the ZMF as they felt the federation was not helping them as
promised by the leadership.
“We paid that money but a few people got the accreditation
cards. They promised us equipment and jobs including working as tributaries to
Kuvimba but we were chased away with nothing,” the villagers said.
While people interviewed claimed that at least 5 000
artisanal miners had registered with ZMF at Sandawana, the federation’s
provincial chairman Makumba Nyenje told the Independent that 1 200 miners were
registered in Mberengwa.
“It is not true that we are not assisting the miners but we
are in negotiations with authorities so that some are employed while others get
claims to mine lithium.
“It’s a long process but we are trying to have our members
come back to extract the ore so they can benefit from the country’s natural
resources,” Nyenje said.
He said there was an influx of artisanal miners when
lithium was discovered at Sandawana and not all of them were ZMF members.
“We are also in the process of identifying and properly
registering our genuine members so that they benefit from our programmes,”
Nyenje said.
There were unconfirmed reports that leaders at ZMF were
rewarded with lithium claims as a bribe to leave Sandawana.
Kuvimba chief executive officer Simba Chinyemba did not
respond to questions sent by the Independent. He had requested questions in
writing.
Contacted for comment, Kambamura confirmed that removing
the artisanal miners from Sandawana was a deliberate move to bring sanity to
the mine.
He, however, said he was not aware of villagers losing
their lithium ore without being paid for it by Kuvimba.
“There was a lot of chaos and disorder at Sandawana and
this could have led to accidents, a situation we are trying to ensure does not
happen.
“We want order and not the situation which prevailed where
individuals were digging everywhere. So we agreed that Kuvimba, who owns the
claims, would supervise mining activities at the mine,” Kambamura said.
“There were unknown buyers smuggling lithium and that led
to the ban in exports of the mineral as the government works towards curtailing
illegal activities,” he added.
Lithium is a rare mineral whose production is currently
taking place in only eight countries, with 85% of the global supply coming from
Australia, Chile and China.
Zimbabwe is the world’s fifth-largest lithium producer. Its
lithium output has risen steadily in recent years. The country produced 1 200
metric tonnes of the metal in 2021. Zimbabwe Independent
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