Organisers of the upcoming Minex exhibition and conference to be held in Mberengwa on the 31 of October say the event is set to address issues affecting gold deliveries in Zimbabwe.
This comes at a time when the mining sector registered a 15% decline in mineral production in the first quarter of 2019 due to a depressed operating environment.
In an interview with Great Dyke News 24, Minex Managing Consultant Emily Hwengwere said the event is meant to bring together stakeholders within the mining value chain to discuss the challenges being faced by small scale miners and map a way forward.
“As Minex it is our pleasure once again to be coming to Mberengwa this time, we are saying to small scale miners please come as usual.
“We do understand that small scale miners have been facing a lot of challenges,one of them which is quite clear is the decline of gold deliveries and we are bringing all stakeholders together to discuss and get the small scale miners to present to Fidelity as to what the challenges are what they are facing and how they would want the issues addressed.
“Fidelity itself will also explain itself and convince the small scale miners to continue delivering gold for the development of our nation,” she said.
Hwengwere added that they have invited Fidelity Printers’ Head of Gold Section to be the Guest of Honour.
“We have invited the Head of Gold section at Fidelity to be our guest of honor and we are hoping that he will grace the event and be able to answer all the questions that small scale miners have.
“In addition, we will still talk to small scale miners and get them to understand the need for health and safety as they carry out their work.
” We know and we have heard a lot of issues of violence around small scale mining and we want again to highlight those issues and support small scale miners so that we can have reduced incidents of those kind of cases.
“We are looking forward as usual to improving the knowledge of small scale miners about how they can mine appropriately, getting input from NSSA and EMA as usual,” she said.
Minex is a physical and virtual information platform designed to ensure that the mining value chain is brought together for sustainable economic growth.
It also connects small scale miners with leading stakeholders in the mining sector that include suppliers, buyers, financial institutions, policy makers and the community.
