THE Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) has signed a $5 million joint venture deal with a South African company, Gold Genius, aimed at setting up 50 gold service centres across the country to benefit the country’s estimated 1,3 million small-scale miners.
Source: Miners’ Federation, Gold Genius seal $5m deal – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 28, 2016
BY SHARON SIBINDI
The development comes at a time government has also set up a pilot gold service centre at Peace Mine in Silobela, Kwekwe.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at Queens Mine, in Bubi district, on Thursday, ZMF first vice- president, Ishmael Kanguru, said all the 50 centres will be set up next year.
“This is to complement our government’s economic blueprint, ZimAsset. This project is going to change the face of Bubi. In 2017, the district will be the best gold producer in the country. The miners will be having everything on disposal. Gold Genius is established in South Africa and its core business is manufacturing of mining equipment for small-scale miners,” he said.
“We also struck a deal with them to come up and open the engineering company in Bulawayo for the benefit of small-scale miners,” Kaguru said.
ZMF spokesperson, Dosman Mangisi said Gold Genius will provide generators, compressors, water pumps, explosives and jack hammers.
“This service centre will be a pilot centre and it will be commissioned in January and the mines inspector will inspect it and the government is fully behind the project,” he said.
Gold Genius chairperson, Pierre Roux, said by June next year, they will have set up five more gold service centres in Shangani, Matopos, Kwekwe, Filabusi and in Fort Rixon.
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