Artisanal and small-scale mining sector's gold del...

Artisanal and small-scale mining sector's gold deliveries drop by 18%

Zim Now Writer

Access to capital, poor mechanisation as well as lack geological reports to identify and assess available resources by the artisanal and small-scale mining sector been the major factors that contributed to the drop in gold submissions by the sector.

This comes as government has announced that ASM gold supplies dropped to 16.5 tonnes from 20.1 tonnes, representing an 18% drop.
Addressing the Fourth Gold Mobilisation Sent-off on Monday, Mines and Mining Development Minister, Zhemu Soda said government was working on ways to motivate the challenges.

“Ladies and gentlemen, looking at the current production in 2023, gold producers have delivered a total of 26.2 tonnes of gold to Fidelity Gold Refineries for the period January to October 2023 against a set target of 40 tonnes.

“Out of the 26.2 tonnes, small scale miners contributed about 63%. The gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refineries by small-scale miners have decreased by 18% from 20.1 tonnes to 16.5 tonnes. The decreased gold production from small-scale miners, who are the major contributors of gold delivered to Fidelity Gold Refineries, is a result of poor mechanisation in the ASM sector and lack of geological reports to assess the resources within mining locations. Access to capital is a major challenge to most ASGM.

This is because most small-scale miners, to improve mechanisation, enhance mining technologies and foster sustainable practices to increase gold production in the sector.

However, one of the reasons why there has been a drop is that government had reverted to the 75/25% USD RTGS payment system, which is not popular with gold producers.

“As a way to mitigate these challenges, the Government of Zimbabwe has set aside US$5 million towards capacitation of small scale miners and another US$5 million was channelled into the establishment of five gold service centres.

Bubi in Matabeleland North Province in one area that has a gold service entre which offers specialised training, access to modern mining equipment as well as assistance with geological assessment and exploration.