ILLEGAL gold digging turned fatal for a 29-year-old man when a pit he was working in collapsed and trapped him on Sunday morning in Borrowdale, Harare.

He suffocated to death after being covered by the earth and boulders. Efforts by other panners and diggers at St Jerera Farm to rescue him came too late.

Police confirmed the incident yesterday but would not release the man's name save to say he had come from Dzivaresekwa that fateful morning in search of the precious metal.

He, together with a friend, had ventured down an abandoned pit about 6 metres deep.

The pit suddenly collapsed, trapping the man while his friend escaped as he had just climbed out.

He rushed to other gold diggers in the vicinity and together they frantically tried to rescue the man using hands and shovels but their efforts were in vain.

Site

Officials from the mining commission and the police were at the site yesterday where they are understood to have interrogated one man who holds a mining concession on the farm.

Details of their investigations were not immediately available but sources said the mining officials strongly condemned the illegal activities on the farm.

Measures to contain the rampant practice that has turned swathes of land into death traps for humans and animals while seriously degrading the environment were being mooted.

The Herald established that there are more than 600 pits dug right round the farm and surrounding areas.

The gold rush has seen people from far away places descend on the mineral rich area for days with some leaving after stumbling on huge nuggets.

Illegal gold mining has become a source of income for the hundreds of panners that daily visit the commercial farming area on the periphery of the capital.

Police spokesperson for the Harare province, Inspector Cecilia Churu warned gold diggers against working on abandoned or unprotected sites as they risked such incidents.

Activities

Although figures were not immediately available, it is believed that scores of illegal gold panners and diggers have either been killed or injured through the illegal activities in recent months.

The Government has, meanwhile, made moves to legalise activities of about 20 000 illegal gold miners through integrating them into the mainstream economy.

A $500 million Gold Mining and Development Trust that would help in the formalisation of the panners was introduced in November last year.

However, the Government has stepped up surveillance on illegal mining activities in about five mining districts in an effort to plug foreign currency leaks.

The districts are Harare, Kadoma, Gweru, Bulawayo and Masvingo.

Illegal gold miners are unable to sell the pre-cious metal to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and therefore turn to traders that offer them low prices.

The money, however, does not go through official channels as the bulk of it is externalised.