The exercise began yesterday and will end on March 8.
The country produced 35 tonnes of the yellow metal last
year and is targeting to produce at least 40 tonnes although Mines and Mining
Development Minister Winston Chitando said the sector could produce up to 50
tonnes.
The assessment teams were sent off by Minister Chitando
during the 2023 First Gold Mobilisation Exercise deployment workshop.
In his remarks, Minister Chitando called on the gold sector
to put all efforts in contributing its target of US$4 billion in the overall
target of a mining industry worth at least US$12 billion by the end of the
year.
“We really would want to put as much effort as we can in
achieving our set target and I believe if we put our hands together we can
achieve our target,” Minister Chitando said.
He commended the small-scale and artisanal miners for their
contribution of 23 tonnes to last year’s production of 35 tonnes and said they
had the potential to do more especially following the unveiling of a US$10
million loan facility by Government for them two weeks ago.
“We also want to ensure that we engage in responsible
mining by observing the country’s laws be they labour, immigration and
environmental laws among others,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Pfungwa Kunaka
said it was through efforts such as the gold mobilisation that it could ensure
compliance for the gold mining sector, ensure growth and reach set targets.
“The gold mobilisation blitz, remains an effective exercise
that the Government of Zimbabwe has identified as a driving force to ensure we
increase the deliveries of gold to Fidelity Gold Refinery hence the growth of
the mining sector and the Zimbabwean economy at large.
“The monitoring and surveillance exercise is intended to
raise the amount of gold delivered to Fidelity Gold Refinery and to ensure
accountability by stakeholders.
“We must ensure that we conduct the exercise diligently and
show innovativeness as we conduct inspections of the production plants as we go
through the various stages of production. We would also want records on all
hammer mills and mobile gold processing units be collected. That way we will
identify leakages and illegal operations. We hope this will open room for gold
to successfully find its way to FGR,” Mr Kunaka said.
FGR chief executive officer Mr Peter Magaramombe said his
organisation would strive to pay miners on delivery and matching international
prices.
“We will ensure competitive pricing which is benchmarked on
the international standards and that payment would be made in cash at the gold
mining centres,” he said.
Mr Magaramombe added that they would open more gold buying
centres especially at the six gold services centres that will be opened this
year.
Mr Willie Munhutu from the National Gold Mobilisation
Technical Taskforce said there was need to improve security at airports and
other entry and exit points to curb leakages.
“Lack of gold detectors at entry and exit points has
resulted in smuggling,” he said and also called on Government to keep records
of manufacturers of mining equipment and their customers to improve
transparency and accountability in the sector.
Chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation,
Mr Wellington Takavarasha said with increased Government support, small-scale
and artisanal miners had the potential to produce 80 tonnes of gold annually.
“Government should provide geological data to artisanal and
small-scale miners and ensure access to capital, grants and lines of credit,”
Mr Takavarasha said.
He applauded Government for the US$10 million facility and
called for more capacity building initiatives.
The surveillance exercise is set to be held quarterly to
improve gold deliveries to FGR. Herald
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