The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has urged residents within the Great Dyke to identify and report unused and underutilised mining claims so that they can be given to potential investors.
According to the Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development Polite Kambamura, Ministry of Mines is set to enforce the use it or lose it principle.
“In an effort to release land to other potential investors and also to make sure that mining entities do not hold on to mining titles for a long time for speculative purposes, the Ministry of Mines will be enforcing the use it or lose use it principle very soon.
“In this principle, holders of mining claims will be required to come and explain why they are not utilising their resource and they will be given minimum time frames to explain and failure to do so, they will be asked to surrender that resource to the government so that it will be given to potential investors,” he said.
He added that, “In this regard, we call upon the province to identify such titles which are not being used and bring them to our ministry.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is on record saying it will soon evoke section 400 of the Mines and Minerals Act which compels owners of closed mines to either give valid reasons why they are not mining or to surrender their mining rights to Government.
The Great Dyke is a linear geological feature that trends nearly north-south through the centre of Zimbabwe passing just to the west of the capital, Harare. It consists of a band of short, narrow ridges and hills spanning for approximately 550 kilometers.
The hills become taller as the range goes north, and reach up to 460 metres above the Mvurwi Range. The range is host to vast ore deposits, including gold, silver, chromium, platinum, nickel, and asbestos.
