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The Government has gazetted regulations that formally operationalise Zimbabwe's state of disaster declaration over river ecosystems damaged by years of alluvial mining, creating a new framework that allows contractors to recover gold while undertaking environmental restoration projects.

The regulations, issued under the Civil Protection Act, establish the legal mechanisms for awarding, supervising and financing river rehabilitation contracts. They also introduce a special permit system that enables contractors to recover minerals encountered during restoration work without obtaining conventional mining licences.

Under the new framework, contractors engaged in river rehabilitation will be eligible for gold recovery permits, allowing them to extract gold discovered in degraded river systems. Permit holders will be required to pay royalties to the State, disclose all recovered minerals within seven days and submit monthly reports to provincial mining authorities.

Oversight of the programme will be coordinated by an inter-ministerial committee co-chaired by the Ministers responsible for Environment and Agriculture. The committee will be responsible for approving contracts, monitoring implementation and resolving disputes. A working party led by the Deputy Chief Secretary will vet and shortlist prospective contractors.

The regulations also provide conditional immunity for companies that contributed to river degradation from 2012 onwards. Firms that substantially meet their rehabilitation obligations will be shielded from civil liability arising from environmental damage linked to their activities.

For contractors not responsible for the degradation and unable to recover commercially viable quantities of gold, the regulations provide for compensation of up to 50 percent of rehabilitation costs from the National Civil Protection Fund.

Strict operational conditions have been included to ensure environmental protection. Rehabilitation work will be prohibited during the rainy season between November and April, as well as during periods of high river flows. Contractors will be required to backfill pits, restore river channels, stabilise riverbanks and re-establish vegetation in disturbed areas.

Before any project can be certified as complete, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and provincial mining directors must confirm that rehabilitated sites no longer pose mining-related environmental risks.

The regulations apply to rivers identified by EMA as having suffered significant degradation from both legal and illegal alluvial mining activities. Metropolitan provinces including Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo are excluded from the programme.

While the disaster declaration was announced earlier, the gazetting of the regulations marks the official commencement of Government's river rehabilitation initiative. The move paves the way for the awarding of contracts under a State-supervised gold recovery model that is expected to attract close scrutiny over issues of transparency, accountability and the balance between environmental restoration and mineral extraction.
- newsday