Women miners make strides in Zimbabwe

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter

WOMEN in the mining industry are making significant strides, shattering the glass ceiling and making valuable contributions to the aspirations of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and Vision 2030. 

The mining sector is a crucial economic pillar in Zimbabwe, accounting for an estimated 70 percent of the country’s export earnings and representing 16 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Once marginalised in this traditionally male-dominated field, women now comprise approximately 11 to 15 percent of the estimated 50  000 small-scale miners in Zimbabwe, highlighting their growing presence and influence in the industry.

In an interview, Insiza Women in Mining Trust founder, Mrs Kundai Chikonzo-Midzi said they were capacitating women miners to aid their growth in the sector.

She said they were rolling out training programmes to capacitate women miners with skills and knowledge to promote safety, increase production and formalise their operations.

“The country is trying to bridge the gap between female and male miners, so we are learning and we see an improvement everyday as more women are joining the mining sector. As Insiza Women in Mining Trust, we are also mobilising women miners to train and capacitate them, so that they acquire the requisite skills,” she said.

Mrs Chikonzo-Midzi said the women were working in one of the tributary mines under Bulawayo head-quartered gold mining company, Duration Gold Limited.

Another women miner, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) member who is also the Zvishavane Glory Women in Mining Association chairlady, Mrs Chiedza Tsikai said empowering women miners was key to sustain their operations and growth.

“The number of women joining the mining sector is continuously growing especially as artisanal and small-scale miners. These women have little or no proper knowledge about the right standards of mining.

“Women need to be trained about proper mining standards while health and safety training programmes are key to improve the scope of their work, mitigate risks, spur their growth and increase their returns in general,” she said.

As a way of empowering more women miners, she said they have set up the Great Dyke Investments in Mining Association to help find investors and sponsors.

Mrs Tsikai said as women miners, they were faced with financial challenges, which result in them hiring compressors, excavators, water pumps and generators, among other machinery and equipment.

“We end up realising very little profits as most of the money is gobbled up by hiring plant and equipment. This is why we have formed an association that will go a long way to get investors and sponsors to assist these women miners,” she said.

She said they were also members of Women in Mining (WiM) Africa, an organisation that advocates for the rights and interests of artisanal women miners and to remove children from mining sites across Africa as well as gaining insights on how other women miners are operating across Africa.

A mining engineer at Waterwich Mine in Bubi District, Engineer Faith Manyurureni said as a recent graduate they were utilising latest technologies in their mining operations.

Mining Engineer Faith Manyurureni

“I have been with the mine for over a year. I graduated from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in 2021. At the mine, we have started doing exploration using diamond drilling, a way to provide accurate openings  into structures considered to be more rigid. 

The technology has continued to evolve over the years, with advancements in the diamond bit technology  and the use of computerised drilling systems has made diamond drilling more efficient and accurate than ever before,” she said. 

As a female operating in a male-dominated sector, she said advanced technologies were closing the gap and creating an equal opportunity for all regardless of gender.