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Business Reporter
SOLE gold buyer Fidelity Printers and Refiners Private Limited has partnered with the Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM) in Bulawayo to embark on a training programme to capacitate gold producers with skills and fundamentals of safe mining.

Fidelity Printers public relations officer, Ms Chelesani Moyo, said in a statement that they had engaged ZSM to empower gold producers across the country so as to boost output and encourage safe mining practices.

She said more than 50 gold producers in each province were expected to participate in a seven-day course which would be fully funded by the gold buyer.

“Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) has come into a partnership with the Zimbabwe School of Mines in a joint venture to capacitate gold producers on the fundamentals of mining. The seven-day course, which has been fully funded by FPR, will be launched in Bulawayo from the 24th-30th of October 2018,” said Ms Moyo.

“The training, which we intend to roll out in other provinces; that is Midlands, Mashonaland and Manicaland, is targeting 50 participants in each province.”

She said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s subsidiary was acting in line with its mandate to safe guard the future of gold mining in the country through a skills transfer that will ensure proper and environmentally safe mining procedures are followed.

“The motive behind this joint venture is part of FPR’s efforts to safe guard the future of gold mining in Zimbabwe by offering skills transfer that will in the long run enable the country to attain the targeted 100 tonnes of gold. Attendees will be presented with certificates on completion of the training,” said Ms Moyo.

The mining conferences will be held across the country, at towns and cities most convenient to miners, she said.

“We are also undertaking gold mining conferences across the country, with the first one having been held in Gwanda. To date we have held the conferences in Bulawayo and Kadoma and this week on the 25th of October, 2018 we will be having another one in Gweru,” said Ms Moyo.

Some of the course on offer will cover fundamentals of mining geology, introduction to mining methods, introduction to mining law, basic mine finance and planning and basic safety health and environment. The gold mining sector breached the 28 tonnes record deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners by end of September and is now short of two tonnes to meet this year’s initial 30-tonne target.

Official statistics from the country’s sole gold buyer indicate that small-scale miners maintained their lead in terms of gold output in the third quarter of the year, delivering a cumulative total of 19,2 tonnes in the nine-month period to September 30, 2018.