By Byron Mutingwende
Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa has said the amendment of the Mines and Minerals Act is now a necessity rather than a choice since it addresses the shortcomings of the current archaic Act.
Chidhakwa made the remarks at a sensitization workshop to parliamentarians held at Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare on Monday, March 14th, 2016 insisting that doing so would meet the aspirations, demands and expectations of Zimbabweans against a backdrop of global best practices.
The ministry, after aggressive nationwide public consultations, came up with the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill of 2015 with newly inserted clauses that were not previously in the Act. The new clauses speak on strategic minerals, mining cadastre, the structure of the Mining Affairs Board, relationship between farmers and miners and beneficiation among others.
Speaking at the same occasion, speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda said the raft of measures proposed in the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, Pan African Minerals University of Science and Technology Bill and the Minerals Exploration and Marketing Bill will revolutionise the mining industry.
“It is critical to note that we cannot talk of mining without addressing the question of land tenure as articulated in sections 72 and 294 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill must, therefore, respond to the dynamics of the land reform programme vis-as-vis the acquisition of mining rights,” Mudenda said.
He said Parliament was ready to facilitate legal reforms that promote a symbiotic relationship between farmers’ land tenure and miners’ concession rights through spelling out the legal framework that responds to the issue of mining and land tenure systems.
Mudenda said the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill must address pertinent issues regarding artisanal mining.
“Artisanal mining must be recognized as a pivotal cog of macro-economic development as driven by the mining sector. As you may be aware the 2016 January Monetary Policy Statement revealed that gold deliveries to fidelity Printers and Refineries increased from 13, 9 tonnes in 2014 to 18, 6 tonnes in 2015 earning the country US$692 million.
“The contribution of the small scale sector increased from 25% realized over the last five years to 40% in 2015. The 2016 National Budget Statement indicates that gold deliveries from small scale miners to Fidelity which were only 1, 7 tonnes in 2013 registered 5, 9 tonnes for the period January to October 2015. This progressive growth bears an indisputable testimony to the robust role played by small scale miners in the economic matrix of the country.”
As such, there was need to put in place a legal regime that recognizes the role played by small scale miners by having statutory provisions guaranteeing the establishment of a stout revolving fund for artisanal mining.
There were calls to make the Mining Affairs Board to be established under the Act to be a resilient entity capable of being proactive in its recommendations for the issuance of mining licences to the minister of mines and mining development.
It was seen to be important to promote ecologically sensitive mining enterprises so that pollution and ecological degradation will be minimized and addressed through environmental impact assessments and solid management plans.
