Flooding has impeded the rescue of 40 informal gold miners trapped in a collapsed mine in Bindura, Zimbabwe. 48 hours have elapsed since the mine caved in on Wednesday following unregulated blasting by the informal miners driven by the desire for quick money in the economically crippled country.
Six miners saved from the collapsed Ran Gold Mine have said that there are still at least 40 more miners trapped underground. The situation has since left the area residents holding vigils for their relatives trapped in the mines.
There is still hope
The head of Zimbabwe Miners Federations, Wellington Takavarsha, indicated that he still hoped that the trapped miners were still alive.
“This is an underground mine, so I think the miners could have sought safety in any one of the tunnels,” he said.
Takavarsha admitted that the mine was flooded and the ground wet, rendering the rescue mission impossible and dangerous.
Small scale mining
Faced with reduced foreign currencies, high unemployment, inflation nearing 500 percent, weakening currency, and stagnant salaries, Zimbabwe’s economy is lowest.
These, including the present food insecurity, have pushed Zimbabweans to the rock-bottom. The World Food Programme (WFP), in December last year, announced that half of the Zimbabwean population, 7.7 million people, were food insecure, and also warned that the country was in its worst hunger crisis in 10 years.
Zimbabwe’s devastating situation has made the locals opt for small-scale mining as a scape-goat to earning their daily livelihood. Most of the small-scale mining jobs are illegal, pausing a great threat to the miners’ lives.
Zimbabwean Miners Federation has registered close to 50,000 small-scale miners, with each employing 10 workers, making the venture benefit close to 1.5 million people.
Series of Mine Collapse
Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre of Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), has attributed the series of mine collapse to the small-scale mining now being a full-time job for Zimbabweans due to the climate change-induced droughts.
Maguwu added the politicians-linked-syndicates who assume controls of these mines do not adhere to mining safety measures.
Moreover, artisans lack the necessary mining or engineering skills to implement safety protocols while mining.
A Resource Endowed Country
In September last year, Zimbabwe had sold 2.8 tonnes of gold to Fidelity Printers and Refineries, the single buyer of the country’s gold. However, the country’s gold sales have gone down to 1.36 tonnes, a situation blamed on smuggling by small scale miners.
In addition to the country sitting on vast gold reserves (accounting for 60 percent of exports), the country also has minerals such as diamond and platinum, which also fetch a good market price.
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