ARTISANAL and small-scale miners have applauded Government’s move to decentralise the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development offices saying this will bring service delivery close to the people.
Government this week decentralised the five mining districts to eight mining provinces in accordance with the country’s administrative provinces.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will have offices in Bindura, Marondera, Mutare, Chinhoyi, Masvingo, Gwanda , Lupane and Gweru.
These mining provinces are to be headed by provincial mining directors who will be supported by provincial deputy directors for geology, metallurgy, mining engineering and mining promotion and development.
This came in the wake of growing complaints from communities that are mostly referred to headquarters with limited chance of action from above.
Previously, mining districts were only in Harare, Kadoma, Gweru, Bulawayo and Masvingo and people had to travel for long distances to access services.
In an interview, Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners’ Council (ZASSMC) president, Wellington Takavarasha said the decentralisation would enhance the Ministry’s service delivery, monitoring and surveillance of mining activities country wide.
“This comes in the wake of the proliferation of artisanal miners all over the country,” said Takavarasha
“We welcome the move to decentralise the ministry, and we hope this will speed up the formalisation process of artisanal miners.”
The country has approximately 40 000 registered small-scale miners, but at least 1, 5 million people are involved in the trade.
Takavarasha said one way of placing artisanal mining in the mainstream economy was by formalising and regularising their operations.
If operations of small-scale miners are formalised the country will realise at least 12 tonnes of gold from small-scale operations per month and 89 tonnes per year.
Delays in formalising the sector has seen small-scale miners reportedly smuggling gold worth nearly US$500 million out of the country every month.
Investigations carried out in the sector show that 12 tonnes of the mineral are being exported illegally every month.
This means the country is losing US$480 million per month on account of the clandestine activities involving artisanal miners, specialised middlemen and foreign nationals.
Statistics released by the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation show small-scale production plummeted from a peak of 17 tonnes in 2004 to 959,5 kilogrammes last year, indicating massive illegal exports.
Speaking at a press conference on restructuring, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Fred Moyo said the restructuring exercise is set to align the ministry’s operations with changes in the country public management system so as to increase efficiency and improve revenue inflows to treasury.
“It is the intention of the ministry to keep staffing the provinces with the relevant technical officers, to improve service to the mining sector and the nation,” said Deputy Minister Moyo.
The restructuring exercise involves the introduction of new departments to promote value addition.
According to Minister Moyo, the restructuring exercise is an on-going work and recruitment for technical personnel is currently underway while the handover takeover process is almost complete.
Acting provincial mining directors are taking over all the various departmental leaderships at the provincial centres.
Two additional directorates have been created and these are; the department of mining research and value addition and the department of information communication technology.
Other major changes include the abolition of the department of mining law administration and introduction of two principal directors.
Since independence there has been a proliferation of mining activities all over the country, a situation that has necessitated the decentralisation of services.