|
RAPAPORT... Police in Zimbabwe have arrested 16,290 illegal miners, mostly gold panners, in a countrywide operation dubbed Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile, which began approximately one month ago.
Zimbabwe’s government The Herald newspaper reported that police burned many of the homes used by the panners near the mining fields before recovering some 6.6 pounds of gold, 470 metric tons of gold ore, 4,876 diamonds and 20 emeralds.
The country's illegal miners face a fine or jail sentence.
In recent weeks swarms of illegal miners have entered mining areas and rivers to pan for gold and other minerals. In an effort to stem the unlawful but thriving trade, Zimbabwe’s government brought in troops to seal off the Marange district in eastern Zimbabwe. The industrial and gem quality diamonds were exposed following an earth tremor and extremely dry weather in the area. Many of the smuggled Marange diamonds end up in neighboring South Africa.
Zimbabwe's law dictates that minerals are only sold through the state controlled Minerals Marketing Corporation, usually at lower prices than can be achieved off the black market. In November, police accused some senior state and ruling party officials of hiring impoverished local villagers to pan for gold and diamonds. Formal mining has been stymied by shortages of equipment and spare parts.
Zimbabwe has been suffering from a deepening economic crisis, marked by unemployment of 80 percent, the world’s highest inflation rate, food and fuel shortages and increasing poverty levels. The disintegration of Zimbabwe’s commercial agricultural sector has driven many of Zimbabwe’s residents into illegal mining and smuggling where they can achieve higher prices by selling minerals to middlemen or smuggling to neighboring countries at higher prices.
In September, the independent Chamber of Mines reported production from authorized gold mines fell to 13 tons of gold during the first nine months of the year from about 26 tons a year one decade ago. Zimbabwe also mines tin, chrome, copper, iron and coal. It has southern Africa's largest deposits of quality coal in the western Hwange district.
"A few greedy fat cats have monopolised the industry and engaged every other person in the villages, farms and elsewhere to recklessly pan for gold and other precious minerals," Augustine Chihuri, the country's police commissioner told The Herald.
"We are also worried about the level of siltation in our dams and land degradation," Chihuri added.
|