Davison Kaiyo
HARARE – Government has revised the new mining fees, reversing its earlier position of charging the fees in USD, with an option of paying in ZWL at the prevailing auction market rate.
According to the new Statutory instrument 46 of 2021 published Tuesday, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has reverted back to the mining fees of that were in operation before Statutory Instrument 42 of 2021.
Commenting on the new fees structure, Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association’s (ZELA) Tafara Chiremba said this is a huge reprieve as the USD fees structure were prohibitive and had a negative impact on the operation of artisanal and small scale miners (ASM).
“There is a reprieve. However, there is still need for government to improve service provision for example speeding up the process of approving applications for mining rights among other things,
“In case the government wants to review the fees in the future, there is need for consultations,” said Chiremba.
The development will also come as a relief to small scale miners who had expressed their outcry to Minister of Mines Winston Chitambo after the Zimbabwe Miners Federation had sent an appeal for a reprieve until the issue of fees is resolved. le viagra sur une femme
According to SI 46, the ordinary prospecting licence will cost ZWL1 000,00 compared to USD100,00 (ZWL8388 as per current rate) which SI44 had proposed.
Registration as an approved prospector now revert to ZWL$20 000, the same would have cost US$4 000 had SI44 continued to hold, while an application for revocation of forfeiture now ZWL$5 000, up from USD1 000. Application for a mining lease is now back at ZWL 10 000 down from US$2 000.
According to the SI, a for a special mining lease is now pegged at ZWL50,000,00 while an application for protection against forfeiture is now ZWL500,00. The Minister also pegged an application for a special grant to mine at ZWL10,000,00.
Calls have been made to formalize the mining activities of the small artisanal miners so as to curb smuggling of minerals especially gold as well as combating illicit financial flows and this move is seen as a step backwards.
