The Sunday News
Ngonidzashe Chiutsi Business Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Artisanal Small Scale Mining Council (ZASMC) is set to hold a one day conference during the Mine Entra exhibition in Bulawayo to discuss challenges facing small scale miners and how other stakeholders can help them improve productivity. The 19th edition of the expo will run from July 23 to 25 at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo under the theme, “Innovation, Beneficiation and Growth”.
In an interview with Sunday Business last week, ZASMC president, Mr Wellington Takavarasha, said the conference, where Mines and Mining Development Minister Cde Walter Chidhakwa is set to give a keynote address, would discuss issues affecting small scale and artisanal miners.
“Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM) is primarily a subsistence activity with challenges ranging from lack of access to information and training in safe and environmentally friendly mining methods to disorganisation and illegality to serious occupational and community health issues,” said Mr Takavarasha.
He said issues to be discussed at the conference include the ban on the use of mercury by miners.
Last year Government representatives from more than 140 countries, including Zimbabwe, met in Switzerland and agreed to sign a mercury treaty later this year as part of a global fight against pollution.
Mr Takavarasha said they had invited experts from the World Bank, Environmental Management Agency and other relevant stakeholders to discuss various topics.
Addressing journalists in Bulawayo last week ZITF Company chairman, Mr Bekithemba Nkomo, said they had courted various small- scale miners to take part in the exhibition.
“We have also invited some small-scale miners including Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small Scale Council for Sustainable Mining and Women in Mining and other groups that have supported the Mine Entra before and we are looking forward to their participation,” said Mr Nkomo.
