Government has set aside resources amounting to US$10 million for the establishment of 10 gold centres, one for each province in support of the small-scale miners, Great Dyke News 24 reports.
In his 2023 budget strategy document, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube said the gold centres will offer transport, technical services, milling services and a ready market for gold produced.
“Efforts will be made to enhance capacity of relevant institutions to conduct investigations, inspections and audits, the implementation of occupational health and safety strategy and enforcement of guidelines that reduce occupational injuries, fatalities and dangerous occurrences.
“Such interventions will ensure clearance of backlog on mining title applications, with the accelerated backlog clearance exercise, whose objective is to become current on all mining title applications.
“Going forward, a minerals commodity exchange will also be set up that will ensure access to markets and better prices for the miners and the economy,” he said.
He added that realizing the full potential of the mining sector will require policies that remove constraints that undermine investment in exploration, expansion of existing mines, curbing of mineral leakages, backlog clearance, environmental management as well as encourage mineral beneficiation and value addition.
“Most of the mineral output, however, is exported as ores or semi-processed minerals, depriving the country of the much-needed export earnings.
“Expansion of mining production provides an opportunity for the sector to create economies of scale required to undertake mineral beneficiation and value addition, create vibrant backward and forward linkages with the rest of the economy, whilst also contributing towards socio-economic development of the country.
“More effort will also be channelled towards plugging of mineral leakages.
“This will be through the monitoring of mines, air strips, aerodromes, airports and national boundaries, gold mobilisation, formalisation of small-scale mines, and conducting awareness campaigns.
“Also critical is the need for Government to take pragmatic steps to remove loopholes that have ensured the economy doesn’t benefit from mineral resources such as platinum and lithium by strong state ownership and participation in the exploitation of natural resources, including contributions to the Zimbabwe Sovereign Wealth Fund,” he said.
