Zimbabwe’s extractives industry holds the highest import bill, Junior Chamber of Miners Zimbabwe (JCMZ) president Brian Samuriwo revealed during a general meeting held last week in Gweru.
JMCZ is a chamber of medium scale miners with a shared vision to grow and mine professional, working in collaboration with Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM) on issues regarding safety, health, environment and technical training support.
“Mining sector holds the highest import bill which sits at USD$3billion and we aim to reduce it by 20 percent in the short term. I urge local industries to rally behind JCMZ and utilize the available opportunities,”
“We are ready to support the local industries and work closely together with them, in order to reduce our import bill as a sector,” said Samuriwo.
According to the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimStat), imports for December 2023 stood at US$819million.
Zimbabwe’s imports were dominated by fuel, machinery, equipment and vehicles.
80 percent of total export earnings were from minerals.
Samuriwo said mining consumables, mining equipment, mining machinery, fair labour practices and welfare of employees will be key focus areas.
One of JMCZ’s objectives is to reduce the cost of doing business in the mining sector by setting up local mechanisms through JCMZ committees.
“We have established competent committees chaired by seasoned people and experts in the mining sector so there is no room for failure,”
“We shall soldier as a team and achieve the mining vision as enshrined in the National Development Strategy One (NDS1),”
“We are here to demonstrate our strength that we are holding the pillars of the mining sector of Zimbabwe, hence our views, vision and mission must be heard and seen through good will,” he said.
JMCZ committees include the Gold Development committee, Base and Non Base-Metals committee, Business Development committee, Technical and Projects Committee, Economic and Investments Committee, Labour and Welfare Committee not forgetting the Minerals Research and Engineering Committee.
Samuriwo called for miners to be professional and ethical in their business approach.
“We must move to be professional, more organized miners and understand the cost of doing our business. That’s why we have the committee of Safety Health, Environment and Training headed by the Zimbabwe School of Mines. We shall carry out technical mining visits and assist each other,”
“The country is built by its citizens hence the mining sector is built by miners,” he said,
He called for the need to establish a bank that specifically supports the funding of mining activities in Zimbabwe.
“We need a Bank for Miners. We need finance. We need to oil up our operations. Junior Chamber must be liquid. We must crowd-fund ourselves. We must finance ourselves and have a roadmap to this,”
“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Fidelity Gold Refinery (FPR) and the banking sector are going to come and witness the good tidings exhibited by the JCMZ. We are the enablers of the middle-income economy in Zimbabwe,”
“We generate finance through mining, we employ from within our communities through mining and the value chain stretches down and upstream. Those limping must be assisted to walk. We must create a sound financial model for the mining sector. We must develop standards towards sustainable mining operations,” said Samuriwo.
