eBusiness Weekly
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) is forging ahead with its thrust to expand and professionalise the small scale mining sector to optimise economic benefit.
Small scale mining is a key component of Zimbabwe’s mining landscape as it accounts for the largest chunk of the country’s gold production.
It is also contributes the largest output in chrome production.
However, despite these strides and untapped potential, the sector has been pegged back by a myriad of challenges stemming from its inability to lure capital due to a lack of formal approach to business.
The new leadership at the federation under the stewardship of Ms Henrietta Rushwaya, which effectively assumed office in November 2019 after a bruising legal battle, has set itself an immediate task to professionalise operations.
In an interview with The Herald Finance and Business, the ZMF president Ms Rushwaya said they had started a process to formulate strategic committees to guide its operations.
The committees, she said, will be drawn from professionals in the areas of finance, technical mining, health, marketing and public relations as well as legal experts.
“It can’t continue to be business as usual where people are digging here and there in the name of mining,” said Ms Rushwaya. “We are lucky that the new dispensation is prioritising economic upliftment, so from a small scale mining standpoint we are seeking to maximise our membership’s benefits from the trade and the economy will also benefit from this. “So to achieve this we need to lure serious capital and this can only be done through a professional approach to business and this is why we are forming professional sub committees,” she said. The approach by ZMF is in sync with Government strategy to regularise small scale mining for optimisation and accountability.
The move comes on the back of the federation having forged closer synergies with big mining houses through the Chamber of Mines for the benefit of both parties and the economy at large.
It has also improved its interactions with Government and state minerals marketing agencies like the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and Fidelity Printers and Refineries.
