Order restored at Ball Mine after five years of conflict, as new investors bring local artisanal miners on board

ORDER has been restored at Ball Mine in Mutawatawa where a new investor RR Mining has brought on board local artisanal miners who had been deemed illegal and shut out of the gold mine by its previous owners, Anhua Chenxi Mining.

Registration of all small-scale miners has been agreed, with traditional leaders under Chief Chipfungwe being custodians of the register that will also be shared with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) for the artisanal miners’ security and safety.

The 430-hectare tribute is now held by the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF), an organisation which governs operations of small-scale gold miners.

Some 400 artisanal miners have been registered so far, with the process ongoing as RR Mining targets 1,000 employees.

“We have had a series of meetings so far, one with the previous owners, with traditional leaders and a number with the community on how best to restart operations,” said ZMF chief executive officer (CEO) Wellington Takavarasha.

“We have agreed with artisanal miners who had been chased off the mine that they can work on our tribute if they agree to registration and to only sell their ore to RR Mining.

“Criminals flush themselves out where a proper system is in place. This registration process ensures we know who is working where and also protect ourselves from harbouring wanted criminals.

“The community indicated that they would first want us to drill a borehole at Mungari Primary School and we have already done so.”

The first batch of mining equipment is expected on March 15 while trials will be between 20 and 26 March.

Full capacity operations are expected in late June or early July.

Takavarasha revealed that RR Mining has already made arrangements with government owned Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR), to set up a point of sale at the mine.

“What we want is peace and development in this area,” said Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe legislator Tichaona Karumazondo.

“As you can see, this is a very arid region, the crops we planted have withered under the scorching sun, so if an investor comes in with such a plan to empower our people, we welcome it.

“This is a case study which we are conducting and intend to carry out across the country.

“We have talked to government about similar reserved areas and see value in having everything on one site; mining, milling and selling, as it reduces leakages.”

Production at Ball Mine was 3kg of gold per day (almost US$500,000) but the state had not been receiving anything.