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Chamber of Mines lobbies for optimum conditions

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The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe has revealed that they are engaging authorities to ensure that mines get requisite capital to increase production.

Speaking to Great Dyke News 24, the Chamber of Mines Chief Executive Officer Isaac Kwesu said they have been engaging authorities to ensure that the operating environment becomes more friendly than before so that output will increase.

“As you know recovery is not just an external affair. You also need to manage the policy and other external factors that affect production and growth. We need to cover the lost ground by engaging the authorities to ensure that mines get requisite capital specifically working capital to get back and increase production.

“At the same time we have been engaging to ensure that the operating environment become more friendly than before so that we increase output more than proportionately to recover lost ground. So we’ve been working flat out to ensure that we recover lost ground, so a lot is happening,” he said.

He added, “As you’re aware covid-19 disrupted economic activities at a large economic scale. The mining industry was not spared of this negative impact of Covid-19.

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“ The Chamber together with other mining houses engaged the government to ensure that we continue operating at reduced capacity due to the social distancing in mining,” said Mr Kwesu.

“You know underground mining is almost difficult to operate with social distance without reducing the manpower and the output.

“Most mines continued operating during the covid-19 as l alluded. We reduced the negative impacts though the result and output was lower than the norm,” he added.”

After initial 21 day lockdown period the mining sector was exempted from the restriction as an essential service given its contribution to national economic development and generation of foreign currency. This was however subject to adoption of safety and health measures at the workplace.

However, the mining exemptions did not insulate the mining sector from the domino effects of COVID-19 and the global and national lockdowns. Mining is a supply chain-based sector that relies on connected pieces, from production to market.

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