Masvingo Mining Boss Woos Youth To Sector

Masvingo provincial mining director Marshal Muzira has called on youth miners to tap into the province’s vast mining investment opportunities.

Speaking at the Young Miners Foundation (YMF) @ 16: Great Stone Summit at Chakas Lodges and Resort in Nyika, Masvingo, on Saturday, Muzira said the province has highly unique mineral occurrences of significant economic importance.

“Masvingo Province is 56 566 square kilometres (km²) in size, that is 14.5 per cent of the country and made up of seven districts, namely Zaka, Masvingo, Bikita, Chivi, Mwenezi, Chiredzi and Gutu,” he said.

“The province boasts of highly unique mineral occurrences of significant economic importance such as lithium, tantalite, emerald, fold, diamond, coal, asbestos, alexandrite and semi-precious minerals (amethyst, corundum and garnets)..

“It also hosts various industrial minerals such as limestone, clays, silica and granites of various qualities for the construction industry.”

According to Muzira, Bikita’s pegmatite fields could yield more lithium and tantalite deposits, and Chiredzi in the south holds potential for large coal deposits.

“The Province is host to eight known kimberlite clusters of Mbizi Cluster, Devuli, Mkwasine, Chingwizi, Triangle Cluster, Mwenezi Cluster, Bubye Cluster and Sese Cluster,” he said.

“There are investment opportunities along the value chain. The country is still under-explored, and there is huge potential for discoveries, particularly using modern exploration techniques.”

He said opportunities in mining range from opening new mines to reviving closed ones and entering joint ventures with under-capacity operations.

Muzira added that the country’s abundant chromite, iron, lithium, gold and coal create vast investment opportunities in steel manufacturing and downstream engineering.

“Hydrocarbons (coal and CBM) offer huge investment opportunities in power generation, the petrochemicals industry and fertiliser manufacturing,” he said.

Zimbabwe boasts a highly diversified mineral base of more than 40 extractable minerals, including platinum group metals (PGMs), gold, lithium and chrome, among others.

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