By Business Reporter – Tuesday 19 February 2019
HARARE (Mining Index) – RIOZIM Limited says it vital for government and the mining industry to work together in promoting safe, legal and authorised mining activities to avoid tragedies in the mining sector.
RioZim group corporate affairs executive Wilson Gwatiringa said this in a statement on the tragic events at Kadoma-Battlefields that resulted from unauthorised mining activities by artisanal miners.
“It has always been the Company’s view that not only is unauthorised mining a violation of property rights but most importantly, it is extremely dangerous and if not controlled, regrettable tragedies such as the current one will persist.”
It is important for the country to have a formalised mineral exploitation system that will boost recovery rate and curb criminal activities that happen among artisanal miners.
Most artisanal mining operations in Zimbabwe are death traps as they are mainly used for subsistence with little or no effort being invested into safety precautions.
“Safety remains RioZim Limited’s primary concern in all of its mining operations and whilst it has taken all steps to prohibit and discourage unauthorised mining on all of its mining locations, it continues to work with the Ministry of Mines and Zimbabwe Republic Police to educate artisanal miners on the dangers of unauthorised mining activities and to promote and educate them on safe and legal mining methods,” said Gwatiringa.
Eight miners were rescued alive on Saturday, 24 perished while four others are still reported missing in the Battlefields disaster that took place last week in Kadoma-Battlefields.
“In the interim, RioZim Limited continues to actively provide the affected families and the government authorities with rescue personnel, assistance and equipment necessary to bring closure to this regrettable and unfortunate series of events,” said Gwatiringa.
RioZim, Zimplats, Civil Protection Unit and the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) joined in rescue and investigation efforts at the Kadoma-Battlefields tragedy. ENDS//
