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President Mnangagwa officially opened the Mining, Engineering and Transport (Mine Entra) exhibition in Bulawayo yesterday.

The annual fair returned this year after two years due to the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The specialised exposition for the mining, engineering and transport sectors started on Wednesday and ends today.  Below, we publish in full, the President’s speech;

It is my singular honour and privilege to address you at this 25th Edition of the Mining, Engineering and Transport Conference and Official Opening Ceremony.

It is commendable that you have once again managed to convene, after an absence of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As Government, we value such events for being a source of insights into progress being made by your respective sectors as well as guide our policy formulation and implementation.

My expectation, therefore, is that delegates will emerge from this Conference motivated and focused to do much more for the sustainable economic transformation and prosperity of our great country.

I want to warmly welcome exhibitors from within the region and abroad, who are show-casing at this event.

Your participation attests to the confidence that investors have in the business environment prevailing in our country, under the Second Republic. 

I commend the organisers of this Conference for facilitating several focused dialogue sessions and innovative platforms that cater for specific segments within the mining industry, as part of this event.

These must be fully utilised by Government, the private sector and small to medium scale miners, including women and the youth, among other stakeholders, to evaluate the progress made in the sector. 

Further, outcomes of the discussions should provide a robust, responsive and time framed way forward for collective momentum, going into the future.

I also commend the exhibitors for the broad array of insightful and quality displays which I saw during my tour of the various stands. Distinguished Delegates; The theme of this Conference “Explore, Extract, Expand–Towards Sustainable Mining Value Chains” resonates with my Government’s policy targeting the upward growth of the mining sector to realise a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.

It is indeed encouraging that as of last year, and despite the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mining sector performance amounted to US$5.2 billion from US$2.9 billion in 2017. Well done to the sector stakeholders for a commendable performance.

Since the advent of the Second Republic, I have had the privilege to commission various signature mining projects in the areas of exploration, extraction and expansion.

These include the expansion of Zimplats and Unki Mines; the re-opening of Eureka Gold Mine; Shamva Gold Mine; Rio-Zim Cam and Motor Biox Gold Plant Expansion Project; Radnor Mine; and most recently, the Sinomine Bikita Minerals Lithium project, among others. Many more will be coming on stream between the next twelve to twenty – four months. 

To date, concrete initiatives are in place to legislate and issue the related incentives to further grow the industry.

Equally, my Administration remains emphatic in calls for the development of capabilities that propel value addition and beneficiation, riding on ICT driven processes.

The US$12 billion target is, therefore, within reach and set to see the realisation of a diversified, integrated, modern and industrialised economy synonymous with a prosperous society. 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; The importance of natural resources and in particular minerals towards driving sustainable socio-economic development cannot be over emphasised.

To this end, I challenge captains of the mining industry to take advantage of this Conference by leveraging on the new partnerships and synergies to propel the transformation of Zimbabwe’s economy. 

On its part, my Government will continue to implement create a conducive doing business environment to attract both local and global capital as well as grow already established entities.

I, therefore, invite more investors to take advantage of the numerous opportunities in areas of exploration, mineral extraction, mineral processing, value addition and beneficiation.

Plans are in place for the accelerated value addition and beneficiation of minerals such as gold, the platinum group of metals, diamonds, chrome and ferrochrome, steel, lithium, nickel, granite, coal and hydro-carbons, among others.

More so that value addition and beneficiation are the important yardsticks to benchmark the sector’s production levels, productivity and profitability.

The associated down and up-stream productive and supply chain linkages must be given due attention to enable the country to generate more jobs and empowerment opportunities, especially for the youth as well as foreign currency through the export of high value finished goods.

Going forward, I call upon the sector to rally its players to adopt contemporary and appropriate mining technologies across the mineral value chain.

This must result in the efficient extraction and guarantee realisation of the maximum value from our God given endowments. 

Over and above this, I expect to see the organisation and syndication of the artisanal, small to medium scale miners and the integration of local procurement in the mining sector.

Additionally, riding on increased capacity utilisation of the various mining houses, there is no excuse for the continued importation of mining consumables and related accessories such as mill balls and conveyor belts, among others.

I challenge the Suppliers Committee to work closely with Government and suppliers to ensure the local production of quality and competitively priced products, in line with Buy Zimbabwe; Made in Zimbabwe; Build Zimbabwe initiative. 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; The success of the mining sector must be contextualised not only by the tons, carats and ounces mined, but also through the improvements in the quality of our people’s lives, within mining communities.

In light of this, the Mining Industry should give due regard to the Environmental, Social and Governance issues. Over and above the routine Corporate Social Responsibility programmes, our people must see tangible life transforming programmes and infrastructure from the presence of mining entities in their communities.

I further challenge players in the mining sector to dialogue with local communities towards forging win-win synergies and partnerships for optimum benefits within the mining industry. At the local level, the elimination of the negative environmental footprints of mining operations remains imperative. 

I commend those mining companies which have introduced programmes that seek to accelerate the attainment of the aspirations of the National Development Strategy and Sustainable Development Agenda into their organisational strategies.

These include projects that cut across health, education, capacity building for women and the youth as well as infrastructure development, water and sanitation projects.

To further consolidate achievements made to date and leap forward the development of the sector, I encourage the mining industry to work more closely with institutions of higher learning, over and above the Zimbabwe School of Mines, to drive innovations, inventions, as well as research and development.

I am optimistic that the constructive engagements and debates at this Edition of Mine Entra Conference will galvanise the mining sector to embrace strategies that ensure greater collaborations, sustainability, competitiveness and transformation so that the sector emerges more united, stronger and prosperous.

With these remarks, it is now my singular honour and privilege to declare the 25th Edition of the Mining, Engineering and Transport Conference officially open. 

I wish you all fruitful deliberations and a successful Conference. God bless you all. God bless Zimbabwe. I thank you.