The Sunday News
Nqobizitha Dhlamini
SMALL-scale miners have lauded Government for the US$100 million allocated to the sector saying it would go a long way in preparation for possible climatic disturbances like rains that hinder production.
Zimbabwe Miners Association (ZMA) vice president Mr Morgan Moyo said the money that was allocated to the small scale miners by Government would go a long way in addressing the problems they faced and help to prepare for the unforeseen hindrances that may occur.
“We are happy that the Government took heed of the cries of the small scale miners and gave us this money so we can help develop our sector. This money will help miners take care of their day to day challenges that have in the past hindered them from full production,” said Mr Moyo.
Mr Moyo said last year the rainfall disturbed production for a number of months as mining pits were flooded making it almost impossible to progress.
“We were greatly affected last year as the mining pits were filled with water and most of the miners did not have proper machines to pump out the water and resume production.
Production was halted for four months as we tried to rectify the situation and this meant that some people’s source of income was suspended for all those months. Despite assistance from our parent ministry, setbacks were still experienced,” he said.
Mr Moyo said the sector was going to use the funds for purchasing relevant equipment and machinery in preparation for possible climate disasters that might occur.
“With the money that was allocated to us by the Government, machinery like pumps and generators is set to be purchased so we are not stopped by the rain in future and also for the general development of the sector. We are looking forward to a rise in production with the new machinery as the workload will be reduced significantly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Moyo said a lot of the miners were showing great interest in taking on courses to be offered by the Zimbabwe School of Mines.
“We already have miners that have approached us with the intention of registering at the institution for next year and we are quite excited by the development. It is very important for small scale miners to get some form of education as it will help us produce better results as well as skills on how to operate certain machinery that is used in the mining sector,” he said.
The Zimbabwe School of Mines recently announced their intention to include the small scale miners in their curriculum, a development that is set to improve the sector significantly.
An official from the Zimbabwe School of Mines who heads the small mining division, Mr Fidres Sibanda said they were more than willing to start the programme as long as the miners were of a considerable number that could constitute a class.
“We are happy that the miners are showing great interest in the programme as we have a lot in store for them. We intend to go around the country educating them and hence their enthusiasm will give us the green light we need in commencing the programmes,” he said.
ZSM is one of the leading training and service institutions in the SADC Mining Industry.
