Published: 13 November 2013

The Government will soon embark on an audit of mining claims that have been issued to establish the reasons for many of them remaining unexploited, a cabinet Minister has said.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa said out of the over 10 000 claims that have been issued, around 1 000 were being used.

"We are going to carry out an exercise province by province and then seek explanations from the holders of those claims on why they are not being used," he said.

"We have to try and enforce the 'use it or lose it principle."

Concern has been raised on speculative holding of claims by some individuals and mining companies.

Minister Chidhakwa said Government would soon approach big mining firms, which also hold a huge chunk of unexploited mining claims, to negotiate with them to allow small scale players and communities to work on the claims.

He said big companies could allow smaller players to conduct mining operations on their claims for a specified period.

"Big companies tend to go deeper (when extracting minerals) while small players work on the ground up to 50 meters below the ground, so we believe there is reason for them to co-exist," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister said Government would soon move in to address the plight of illegal gold panners.

Pressure is on the authorities, given the on-going indigenisation drive, to find ways of assisting the illegal gold panners legalise their operations to avoid constant brushes with law enforcement agencies.
New Ziana
- New Ziana

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