By Mining Reporter – Wednesday 21 August 2019
HARARE (Mining Index) – THE mining sector, particularly the gold sector has great potential to drive Zimbabwe’s economic recovery provided all risks are managed to attract investors and minimizing negative practices and characteristics.
Various misconducts have affected Zimbabwe’s extractive sector leading to mistrust and suspicion between companies, investors, government, civil society and communities.
Lack of a sustainable formalisation strategy, clear mining sector model and informal characteristics associated with Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) in Zimbabwe have created bottlenecks hindering attracting sustainable and responsible investment for the sector.
This was revealed by Institute for Sustainability Africa (INŚAF) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rodney Ndamba in an invitation to the Annual Mining Business Symposium scheduled to take place tomorrow in Harare.
The symposium, organized by Insaf will be themed ‘The Mining Sector Anchoring Economy Recovery and Development in Zimbabwe,’ hinged upon the national vision of becoming a middle income economy by 2030 through projecting the gold mining sector as an anchor to the economic recovery and sustainable development in Zimbabwe.
Ndamba believes if managed well, discoveries in the extractive sector can drive economic growth and lift millions out of poverty.
“However there is mistrust due to lack of cross information sharing and inadequate understanding of the sector operating from each other’s perspectives,” he said.
Ndamba said the symposium will provide space to reflect on strategic positioning, development opportunities, operational and regulatory risk management, gold mining value chain management and enhancing investment opportunities for the mining sector for sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe.
The symposium is expected to reflect on current policy developments, its significance to economic recovery while discussing risk factors associated with the mining sector in Zimbabwe and alternative remediation measures.
The conference will also explore investment opportunities and development considerations for the sector, mineral marketing, prevention of leakages, share case studies of experiences of ASMs in the Gold Mining Sector Value Chain in Zimbabwe and outline developmental opportunities for the mining sector through sustainable formalisation of ASMs.
Key stakeholders from the extractive sector including high-level representatives from government, businesses and international organizations, as well as experts from civil society, academia and the press are expected to attend.
Insaf is an independent multi-disciplinary think tank and research institute founded in Zimbabwe in 2010 with a vision to advance sustainability initiatives for Africa.
Zimbabwe is endowed with over 60 minerals, a natural resource which could be extracted for sustainable economic development.
Broadly, the sector has been an upstream and downstream economic anchor, with mining contributing approximately 13 percent of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and about 40 percent to total exports.
If managed strategically, this could accelerate economic growth, sustainable development and poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe.
The extractive sector has been a creator of employment among rural youths, with great potential to competitively attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) particularly in the gold sector.
In 2018, gold production was dominated by ASM miners contributing over 60 percent in output against primary producers. ENDS//
