The Government has rescheduled the launch of the mining cadestre system to early next year, starting with Manicaland Province, which has been used as a pilot region for the project.
Initially, the project was targeted to be launched this year, but the deadline has been missed due to incomplete data verification as well as limited Information Technology Communication (ICT) equipment.
A mining cadastre is a computer-based and up-to-date land information system containing a record of interests in land such as land owners' rights, restrictions and responsibilities.
It is hoped that the system will enhance transparency and accountability in mining title management and facilitate the elimination of overlapping mining claims, strengthening property rights and security of tenure.
Moreso, the computerised mining register, which will be the central database for storage of information on applications and licences, would have all records of interest in the land such as licence holders' rights, restrictions and the Government activities.
In an interview, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Mr Pfungwa Kunaka said the Government was still committed to execution of the project.
"For now the focus still remains on Manicaland Province. The project, as you might appreciate, is a very big project in terms of the work that it is supposed to be and technically we should be compliant to the ICT frameworks.
"One issue which we see taking us a lot of time is to do with data verification.
"We have the data that we captured over some years, but we want to make sure that the data speaks to what is on the ground -- when you go on the computer what you see and what you see on the ground should be aligned.
"So there are few verification issues which we are dealing with right now. We have two teams of officers who have been on the ground for the past two months trying to look at the verification of the data and we see that verification exercise taking us a bit longer than what we had anticipated.
"But we believe when we collect the data the way we want it collected, it will open us for the opportunity to launch the cadestre system early next year starting with Manicaland because it's the pilot province," he said.
Through the mining cadastre system the Government also hopes to reduce the processing time for issuance of mining titles and other mining services in line with the best practices across the globe.
So far, mining licence separations are marked on the ground by metal stakes, concrete beacons or some other fixed points surveyed using conventional methods like theodolite or archaic methods involving tape and chains
In 2022, the Government said it had sunk in excess of US$5,5 million in the development of the cadastre system.
"We had earmarked the launch of the mining cadestre system this year but we have not been able to reach the milestone that we set ourselves.
"But we believe that the teams that are now on the ground, that should open us the ground to be able to launch early next year -- and to support that there are issues to do with procurement which we are still trying to address.
"For you to launch you need all the equipment to be in place -- where the machine for verification is required, it has to be available so there is some procurement that we are going through to make sure we have the equipment that fills the gaps that were previously there.
"The last set of equipment we bought when we were starting to develop the system was not adequate to meet the actual practical application of the system within our offices.
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"We still feel the launch ought to be phased and staggered by province and the focus that we have is Manicaland should be launched as a pilot province," said Mr Kunaka.
So far, the mining sector is in turmoil, characterised by bureaucratic red tape and corruption, among other factors, causing loss of business confidence, resulting in capital flight.
According to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, the mining industry -- one of Zimbabwe's major economic mainstays had the highest projected investment value accounting for 50 percent of the aggregate investment value of US$1,171 billion in the third quarter of the year, followed by the energy sector with 22 percent and the manufacturing sector which accounted for 16 percent.
The mining industry presently contributes 70 percent to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), 80 percent to exports -- 19 percent to Government revenues, 3 percent to direct formal employment, and 13,5 percent to national income.
