Fast-track Mines Bill: Mudenda

Source: Fast-track Mines Bill: Mudenda – DailyNews Live

STAFF REPORTER      25 January 2018

HARARE – National Assembly Speaker Jacob Mudenda wants Mines and Minerals
Amendment Bill – which seeks to repeal the principal Act crafted in 1961 –
passed within
two months.

Mudenda told a Parliament workshop in Vumba: “Firstly, on the 8th (of)
January 2018 when I addressed the post-Budget seminar, I affirmed that the
…Bill … must be
enacted into law by 31st (of) March 2018. I am here (Vumba) to ensure that
this target date must be met without fail.

“Secondly, to unlock the envisaged true substantial value of our mineral
resources over and under the Great Dyke and elsewhere in our country,
there must be an anchor
of a robust legal framework which encompasses the interests of all mining
stakeholders.”

The Bill proposes a ban on all riverbed mining except when a mining
operation is in a joint venture agreement with the government.

This Bill, years in the making, was first gazetted on August 12, 2016.
Contentious issues were the “strategic minerals” listed in the proposed
amendment, and a mooted
Mining Affairs Board which will be chaired by the Mines permanent
secretary.