THE colonial history of Zimbabwe dates back to 1890 when the British, following Cecil John Rhodes and his British South Africa Company (BSAC), ventured into the country in search of gold.
Rhodes fraudulently obtained mineral rights through a number of treaties signed with local chiefs and kings.
The year 1890 marked the beginning of the long and arduous colonial journey for Zimbabwe spanning a century, from 1890 to 1980.
Zimbabwe had been known for its vast mineral deposits.
Britain was motivated to invade the country to loot minerals.
Before the arrival of whites, locals were already engaged in mining activities.
When whites arrived in 1890, apart from gold, copper and other minerals, the Shona people were great miners of iron.
They made iron hoes, adzes, axes, spears, arrow heads, iron keys for the mbira instrument and tools.
The processing of ore was done in clay furnaces charged with ore and charcoal.
Locals were engaged in gold production, making use of mativi as gold refineries.
Studies indicate that quality of gold produced during pre-colonial era was high and more refined than that produced today.
Despite the looting of resources by whites, Zimbabwe remains endowed with vast minerals resources.
According to the Zimbabwe Geological Survey: Mineral Resources Series by D.S. Bartholomew, Zimbabwe is noted for its variety of economic minerals and is a world producer of gold, chrome, lithium, asbestos, caesium, emerald, corundum, platinum and diamond.
“Apart from the foregoing, Zimbabwe produces or has reserves of over 60 discovered minerals most of which are critical raw materials for Western industries,” he writes.
Zimbabwe Heritage Trust Chief Executive Officer Cde Pritchard Zhou said the country has vast mineral resources.
“Zimbabwe is the richest country in the world in terms of mineral resources per capita,” he said.
“This means if Zimbabwe was to sell its minerals in one day and divide the proceeds with its population, every Zimbabwean would get more than other countries.
“Other countries such as South Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo have more mineral resources but they have larger populations.”
The vast minerals in the country are as a result of the Achaean core and Great Dyke.
Studies by Bartholomew indicate the greatest part of Zimbabwe’s mineral production comes from the ancient Achaean core of the country where most of the mineral deposits are concentrated in what are called greenstone belts.
These are remnants of old volcano sedimentary basins.
Greenstone belts carry gold deposits often containing copper, tungsten, antimony or arsenic.
The Achaean core is famous for carrying nickel deposits and by-products of copper and cobalt.
It carries asbestos deposits, corundum and barites.
The Great Dyke, known for its platinum and high grade chromite ore, is a fracture through the centre of the country which was intruded at the end of the Achaean age.
There are also pegmatites which are very coarse dykes or irregular bodies of granite composition that crystallised slowly from volatile rich melts and in the process creating another rich source of many minerals.
The Achaean Bikita pegmatite is one of the largest lithium deposits.
Apart from lithium, it also yields beryl, caesium, tin, tantalum, niobium and feldspar.
Rocks of the Proterozoic Age host main copper deposits, precious metals, graphite and tungsten.
The Karoo Age rocks of this age are much younger than all the above and contain large coal and uranium deposits.
Below are some of the major minerals in Zimbabwe according to a research by Bartholomew:
Gold
The Archaelean terrain of Zimbabwe, in terms of gold per yield per square kilometre, is the most productive of its kind in the world.
This perhaps explains why gold, despite its high value, is such a common mineral in Zimbabwe, mined by the most primitive methods.
Before 1890, locals had produced an estimated 700 tonnes of gold from the 7th Century.
That figure represented about a third of the world’s gold production.
It is a fact therefore, the Shona people were the biggest producers of gold in ancient times.
Archaeology has estimated there were over 4 000 gold mines in Zimbabwe when the whiteman invaded.
Diamonds
At least 81 percent of the world’s diamonds are found in Africa and in a few years when it becomes the largest producer, Zimbabwe will be producing 51 percent of Africa’s diamonds.
Diamond is used as a gemstone or for cutting, grinding and drilling.
The first diamond-bearing gravels were discovered in Somabula in 1903.
Up to today, the exact source of the Somabula diamonds has remained elusive.
With the discovery of diamonds at Marange, Zimbabwe could easily have the largest diamond resource in the world.
Platinum
Zimbabwe has the second largest reserves of platinum after South Africa.
Platinum is a group of 10 minerals namely: platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, nickel, copper, ruthenium, iridium, cobalt and silver.
Platinum is mined at Makwiro and Ngezi in Mashonaland West as well as Unki and Hwedza.
The major mining companies are ZimPlats, Anglo-American and Mimosa.
Platinum is used in the jewellery industry and is also used in the production of catalytic converters for vehicles and dentistry equipment.
Asbestos
Until recently, Zimbabwe was the third largest producer of asbestos after Russia and Canada.
Zimbabwe contains the bulk of known world reserves of high quality, low iron-spinning grade fibre required for electrical insulation and textiles.
The type of asbestos that Zimbabwe has is called chrysolite, which is the least hazardous asbestos mineral.
Shabani and King Mines have the largest reserves but they are not the only asbestos mines.
Lithium
Bikita has one of the largest reserves of lithium and Bikita is the only mine that produces all the five lithium minerals namely petalite, lepidolite, spodumene, eucryptite and amblygonite.
The other lithium reserves are found in Mudzi, Buhera, Chegutu, Hwange, Harare, Goromonzi, Insiza, Rushinga, Mutoko and Mutare among other places.
Caesium
Zimbabwe has the second largest reserves of caesium in the world after Canada.
Caesium and its compounds are finding use in a growing number of applications — for research in thermionic power conversion, magnetohydrodynamic generation of electricity.
Caesium chemicals are also used in the manufacture of photomultiplier tubes and infra-red lamps.
Caesium is produced from a mineral called pollucite of which, in Zimbabwe, Bikita is the biggest producer.
The other caesium mines are Benson in Mudzi and New Barakaat in Goromonzi.
Zimbabwe has the largest known reserves of high chromium ores in the world, most of which are found in the Great Dyke.
By 1984, Zimbabwe was already the fifth largest producer of chrome.
Corundum
Corundum is the second largest naturally occurring mineral after diamond.
There are two commercial varieties – crystal corundum and boulder corundum.
Before the development of artificial abrasives, corundum was used extensively for grinding wheels and coated abrasives.
It is still used for lens grinding and polishing, metal burnishing and finishing.
It is also used in the making of high alumina refractory bricks.
Other minerals
The following are also some of the minerals known to be hidden in Zimbabwe’s soils: Agate, aluminium, amazonite, amethyst, antimony, arsenic, asbestos, aventurine, barytes, beryl, bismuth, caesium, calcite, chromium, citrine, clay, coal, cobalt, copper, cordierite, corundum, diamond, diatomite, emerald, feldspar, fireclay, flintclay, fluorite, garnet, graphite, gypsum, iron, jade, kaolin, kyanite, lead, limestone, lithium, magnesite, manganese, mercury, mica, molybdenum, mutorolite, nickel, ochre, palladium, phosphate, platinum, pyrite, salt, sapphire, selenium, silica, sillimanite, silver, talc, tantalum, tin, topaz, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, vermiculite and zinc.
The country has precious and semi-precious gems as follows: Acquamarine, chrysoberyl, euclase, tourmaline, colourless gem quartz and sphene.
Zimbabwe also has ornamental rocks as follows: Black granite, marble, soapstone, verdite, unakite, jaspilite, calcrete, glitterstone and emerald slate.
With all these vast mineral resources, what Zimbabw requires is a clear policy that places emphasis on beneficiation to get value for the finite resources.