Young miners welcome multi-mineral mining policy

Zimbabwe’s young mining stakeholders have welcomed the Government’s new policy requiring future mining investments to account for multiple minerals contained in ore bodies, saying the approach could strengthen local mineral recovery, processing and value addition.

The policy was announced by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga at the Zimbabwe-China Business Forum in Hangzhou, China, where he said the Government would no longer approve isolated single-mineral mining operations.

“We are no longer permitting isolated, single mining operations,” Chiwenga said.

“We, therefore, encourage investors to bring in machinery capable of identifying and separating all embedded minerals.”

Under the new policy direction, future mining investments are expected to incorporate technology capable of identifying, separating and processing the different mineral components contained in deposits.

The move is intended to ensure Zimbabwe captures more value from its mineral resources rather than focusing on one target mineral while other potentially valuable minerals contained in the same ore body remain unprocessed.

Nyasha Magadhi, President of Young Miners for Economic Development (YMED), welcomed the Government’s position, saying greater emphasis on beneficiation could create more opportunities for young Zimbabweans across the mining value chain.

Magadhi has previously advocated for greater youth participation in mineral beneficiation and value addition, including the development of processing capacity that would allow young miners to move beyond raw mineral extraction.

YMED has also previously said it assisted more than 1,500 youths to register mining operations and participate in the sector.

Hazel Tsungai Karoro, Secretary General of the Association of Junior Mining Professionals of Zimbabwe (AJMPZ), said the policy was significant because young mining professionals are involved across the entire mineral value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing and value addition.

Karoro said Zimbabwe’s ability to recover and process multiple minerals from its deposits would require the expertise of young geologists, engineers, metallurgists, surveyors and other mining professionals.

She has previously argued that young professionals should have a greater role in shaping mining policy and the future development of Zimbabwe’s mineral industry.

Dru Kacherera, Vice Chairman and spokesperson for Miners for Economic Development (Miners4ED), also welcomed the policy, which aligns with the organisation’s emphasis on formalisation, responsible mining and value addition.

The policy represents a shift away from an approach centred primarily on extracting a single target mineral towards integrated operations capable of recovering a wider range of minerals from the same deposit.

Chiwenga said Zimbabwe has an exceptional concentration of strategic minerals, including lithium, nickel, graphite, manganese and cobalt, which are key inputs into the electric vehicle battery value chain.

He also pointed to the country’s deposits of copper, chrome, platinum group metals and rare earths, which have applications across industrial and emerging technologies.

For young mining professionals and entrepreneurs, the policy could increase demand for technical skills and investment in mineral processing, while encouraging mining projects to consider beneficiation and value addition from the design stage.

The Government has positioned increased mineral beneficiation and value addition as part of its broader strategy to retain more value from Zimbabwe’s mineral resources and support industrialisation towards Vision 2030.