Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 February 2007
Harare — THE introduction of tough mining regulations by the Environmental Management Agency will bring sanity to the mining sector.
For years now, some people have been engaging in illegal mining activities and -- since they were not registered -- they could not be made accountable for their production even though they wrought untold damage to the environment.
Most of them leaked minerals to the illegal parallel market from where they were smuggled to neighbouring countries, prejudicing the nation of foreign currency. The new regulations requiring all mines that were closed under Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/ Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile to attain Environmental Impact Assessment certificates before paying $1 million review fees will help curb environmental degradation and plug the leakage of minerals. They will also separate the men from the boys.
Last year's clampdown on illegal mining activities showed that most of the operators, 300 of them, were unregistered and were operating illegally.
The prevalence of illegal operators accounts for the ruinous leakage that afflicted the mining sector detracting from its contribution to the economy.
The new regulations have several positive spin-offs.
Firstly, they will weed out chancers and illegal miners since only serious operators will be willing to, and be able to meet the stringent conditions.
Secondly, all miners will be duly registered, enabling the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe to keep tabs on production and ensure that all output is sold legally.
Thirdly, by stating identified negative impacts of operations on the environment, the miners would be able to reduce potential degradation and pollution and be in a position to reclaim the land after use.
Over the years, lax regulations and failure to monitor mining activities, saw heavy metals used in mineral purification freely flowing into water sources, polluting rivers and killing aquatic life in the process.
The pollutants pushed up the costs of purifying water, particularly when they flowed into dams that feed cities and towns with potable water.
Illegal mining activities that were not followed by land reclamation almost reduced many mining areas to badland topography, while illegal alluvial mining led to siltation of rivers.
All these activities had a negative impact on other sectors particularly agriculture since irrigation was also affected by clogging of pipes and reduced flows downstream.
At the same time, we are concerned by the apparent emergence of organised crime cartels that have intimidated others into a culture of silence.
The police, who were commended during the 19th State of the Nation Address, are reportedly aware of some of the names and have strangely done nothing about them.
We would like to urge them to maintain the momentum and stamp out the emergent cartels so that sanity can prevail.
Mining has the potential to complement agriculture as one of the biggest contributors to national income and that can only happen if the sector is brought to normalcy.
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