THE Ministry of Mines and Mining Development says it is in a dilemma over how to deal with some Chinese nationals who are carrying out mining activities without licences and destroying the environment.
REPORT BY MUSA DUBE
Deputy mines minister, Gift Chimanikire said some Chinese nationals were illegally carrying out mining activities. He said the Chinese claimed they had been given the green light to do so by the people “from the top”.
“There are some untoward things going on at the mines run by the Chinese nationals, who are operating without proper documents. If you ask them where their licence is, they say ‘No, I don’t have, [it’s] in Harare.’ If you go to Harare you will see only a letter from a local council which says you can start operating,” said Chimanikire.
“I also came across another Chinese mining company and asked to see their licence, and the company official said ‘No, I was instructed from the top that I should start mining without a licence.”
Chimanikire added that the Chinese were causing a lot of environmental damage by pegging themselves pieces of land without government approval. He said when he tried to seek further clarification; they quickly claimed that they did not understand English.
“If I ask them why they put up a mine in a river where people drink water downstream, they will say they don’t understand English. These are things that we don’t want because they want to exploit our minerals while causing a lot of environmental damage,” said the deputy minister.
Meanwhile, Chimanikire said the government was considering repossessing special grants that were awarded to new coal-mining companies in Hwange.
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He said only four out of the 24 companies that were granted the concessions were operational.
Government awarded 20 companies licences to explore and extract both coal and coal-bed methane in the Hwange-Gwayi area. Some of the companies are reportedly holding on to their claims for speculative purposes.
HWANGE SPECIAL GRANTS TO BE REPOSSESSED
Chimanikire said his ministry would descend on Hwange soon to verify why companies awarded licences to explore and mine for coal and coal bed methane years ago were still to engage in any activity.
“Out of the 24 special grants that we gave to companies in Hwange, only four are operational. We are going there and considering repossessing those special grants that we gave to some people in Hwange,” said Chimanikire.
He said it was surprising that some of the companies claimed they were still looking for the money three years after being granted the concessions.
“We hear them in the media saying we are still looking for US$100 million to start operating, so why did they take that special grant when they did not have the money?”
