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Zimbabwe Reinstates Ban on Alluvial and Riverbed Mining

© Photo X / @Shumbapazvese51Mining in Zimbabwe
Mining in Zimbabwe - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 21.08.2024
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Alluvial mining involves extracting minerals from riverbeds, streambeds, and floodplains, where they have been deposited by water movement. Riverbed mining specifically targets the sediment within river channels. Both methods can cause significant environmental damage, including habitat destruction and water pollution.
On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean government reimplemented its ban on alluvial and riverbed mining to combat environmental damage, media reported.
Although the ban was initially declared in 2020, the practice has persisted in recent years.

"The Cabinet noted that ever since its commencement in 2011 across the country's rural provinces, large-scale and mechanical alluvial mining or riverbed mining has resulted in water pollution, siltation, degradation of river channels, and disruption of riverine ecosystems," Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services Minister Jenfan Muswere was quoted as saying.

Medics and police search the scene Friday Aug. 13, 2010 where four illegal miners were found dead in an abandoned mine near Springs, South Africa, on Monday.  - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 29.05.2024
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At the same post-cabinet media briefing, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka, who also leads the interministerial committee on mining and the environment, announced that law enforcement agencies will strictly enforce the ban.

"Although we have the legal underpinning to ensure that mining can take place in a legalized environment, including alluvial mining, there is a class of illegal miners that go onto a river and begin to mine whether as artisanal or mechanical miners," Masuka was cited by media. "We want to ban alluvial mining and in banning it means we have to resource the ministries, the departments, and agencies that are mandated with ensuring enforcement of laws."

He further stated that offenders will face severe penalties, including the confiscation of mining equipment.
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