HARARE – Moti Group and its local partners, Sakunda Holdings have struck a 20 year mining deal with Government of Zimbabwe aimed at formalising and strengthening the small-scale mining sector in the country.
The deal dubbed Zimbabwe Motivation Mining (ZMM) is a new development programme that the Moti Group has proposed to strengthen small scale miners, with Government coming in as partner in a private-public partnership arrangement.
According to Moti Group, ZMM has already agreed an initial offtake allocation of $50 million. The agreement is for a period of 20 years to ensure sustainable growth in the Zimbabwean Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over this period.
“As a public-private-partnership, the programme will be delivered with the full support of Government of Zimbabwe. The programme will incentivise miners to improve and grow their operation through training programs, financial and intellectual capital, and a trusted channel of sale to the international commodities market,” said Moti Group in a statement.
Utilising existing infrastructure and network of African Chrome Fields which is owned by the Moti Group, ZMM will initially work with small-scale chrome miners before expanding into gold and lithium beneficiation.
Sustainable support once potential participants have been identified by ZMM, the programme will create a report for each. Reports will evaluate and categorise miners’ needs, create an individual development plan, make provision for an annual assessment and then allocate resources.
Moti Group said information gathered on all potential participants will be shared with Government to help improve the understanding and oversight of the country’s small-scale operations.
“All miners included in the ZMM programme will have goals set through their individual development plan. Points will be awarded for successfully meeting targets, which make miners eligible for greater access to funding.
“Efficiency and Growth ZMM will utilise existing infrastructure and technology to help improve the efficiency and safety of small-scale mining operations. By communicating with miners through Whatsapp, collection times for products can be arranged and receipts provided in digital and paper formats.”
To improve safety, security and reach, ZMM will make use of satellite offices at which product can be deposited. ZMM will match the grade of each product with available market prices and will provide miners with 50 percent payment through the internal Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) platform and 50 percent through United States Dollar.
