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By Hillary Munedzi
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will unveil a US$10 million investment fund for youths in the mining sector amid calls to prioritize young people in prospecting and mine registration so as to increase their participation.
The US$10 million mining fund is aimed at ramping up production in tandem with the Second Republic’s ambition to achieve a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.
With the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector continuing to show its significance, gold deliveries to the country’s sole buyer and exporter, Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR), increased by 3.71761 percent to 1621.9712kgs in March this year.
The sector contributes an average of over 60 percent of gold deliveries to FGR and has been a significant player in ensuring that the country’s target to achieve a US$12 billion mining industry is well on course and injecting US$10 million to youths in mining will ensure more gold deliveries to FGR.
“As young miners, we thank his Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Minister Winston Chitando for availing the US$10 million that will target youths in mining. This will go a long way in achieving the US$12 billion mining economy by 2023 and this will further anchor Government intention to generate US$4 billion from gold deliveries by next year,” said Nyasha Magadhi, Managing director of WeMine.
With the country facing high inflation and high unemployment, it seems the time is nigh to prioritize the empowerment of youths in the mining industry as Zimbabwe remains on course to achieve its target of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
“We are calling for all the youths in the country to join the mining industry. Currently, there are few youths in the industry because the business is capital intensive and it is dominated by old people. Youths must come and do partnerships and form syndicates in order to invest the little they have into the mining business rather than investing in businesses that are not profitable like forex trading,” said Mr. Magadhi.
In 2020, Africa’s population under 35 years of age represents almost a billion people (540.8 million 0–14-year old’s and 454.5 million 15–34-year old’s), amounting to 22,7 percent of the world’s total youth population, the second largest after Asia (58,0per cent) and with this background, the future of Africa is in the youths and investing in youths seems credible and the fund must focus on mine licenses
“In our database, we have over 2000 youths in the mining industry and some of the funds must be focused on mine registration and licenses since some of the youths cannot handle the logistical and financial aspects of acquiring the right documentation to start mining and this has deterred most youths from venturing into mining. We urge the government to prioritize this aspect of the business and we would want their business to grow from small-scale to medium-scale mining,” he said.
Beneficiation and value addition of minerals before exporting is one of the key components of accelerating economic growth and development since the mining value chain is not being exploited to the maximum. There is a need for high-level technical and manufacturing expertise and comprehensive research and development in Africa.
WeMine Zimbabwe has an ambition to revitalize the mining sector in Zimbabwe and their key focus areas include mine pegging, beacon installation EIA and EMA consultancy, exploration, geophysics, diamond drilling training, contract mining, mining operations services, timbering, high gear levers, buying of gold dumps and construction of mills and tanks.