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Deputy Minister Freddy Moyo

Business Reporter
THE government is working on establishing a computerised mining cadastre aimed at enhancing effective management of the country’s mining title system and ensure no claims are held for speculative purposes.

Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Fred Moyo said while the government has a comprehensive database of all mining claims in hard copy, the system was difficult to manage hence the need for a computerised version.

He said the ministry has decentralised to all provinces in the country, excluding Harare and Bulawayo, since late last year to enable each mining province to take an inventory of all mining claims under its jurisdiction, both productive and idle.

“The ministry will ensure that all claims aren’t held for speculative reasons but will also ensure that claims that relate to LOM plans aren’t wrongly termed idle.

“As a long term measure, the ministry is working on establishing a computerised mining cadastre that’s meant to effectively manage the country’s mining title system,” Moyo told Parliament last week.

“The cadastre system will be an important tool to the ministry in the promotion of mining development and mineral accounting in the sector.

“The computerised mining cadastral system will improve the ministry’s efficiency and reliability such as in the processing of applications for mining title. It’ll also make it easier for the ministry to take inventory of all the mining claims to monitor progress on each mining claim.”

The Deputy Minister was responding to a question by Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna on progress made in the development of an inventory of idle mining claims as envisaged in the government blueprint, Zim-Asset.

Moyo said his ministry has conducted a study of other countries to find the best possible system for the country and reported that a consultant has been identified to assist the ministry in establishing the computerised cadastre system.

The National Assembly sought clarity on timelines for the new project and policy guidelines on exploiting claims on reserved areas to which Moyo responded: “There’s a difference between claims simply being idle and being computerised so that we know them better. We can track what’s happening on them versus minerals that are in protected areas”.

“The bringing in of the new system doesn’t in itself mean that protected areas or exclusive areas are going to be necessarily mined. Those are areas that are reserved for security reasons, archaeological reasons or for any other reason that the country sees fit”.

The Deputy Minister said the issue of idle mining claims was not going to be easily resolved until the country obtained a better database. “That’s what we’re trying to resolve with the cadastre system,” he said.

On the recent restructuring in the ministry, which saw abolishment of mining commissioners, Moyo said the new order was meant to increase management efficiency of the sector.

“This is why the restructuring brought in new bodies who’ve got backgrounds in geology, metallurgy or mining.

“The functions are now broader than the previous people who were mainly covering mining law whom we called mining commissioners,” he said.

“Part of the restructuring was to bring in efficiency and to bring services nearer to the people and to make sure that we do things better. So, if there are challenges that members of society are meeting with, please let us know so that we deal with it.”