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Herald Correspondent
Hundreds of illegal artisanal miners have invaded disused mine shafts at the decommissioned Mhangura Copper Mine in search of gold. This follows the discovery of gold in the shafts about three months ago, resulting in the scramble to get the yellow metal.

The artisanal miners are risking life and limb in the dangerous shafts where they descend using ropes, amid reports that they are paying their way through security guards to gain access. Most of the panners are residents of the former mining town. Some of the miners interviewed said the shafts were now death traps as some of the supporting beams had been weakened by rust, raising the threat of them collapsing.

“Before we come here, we first pay or enter agreements with mine security officers so that we can be allowed to enter the shafts and work for the whole day,” said one artisanal miners only identified as Marshal. “However, some officers require an equal share of whatever we manage to get underground.”

Some of the officers interviewed denied the allegations, saying the panners were forcing their way into the shafts.

“It’s always a cat and mouse game here as we try to fend off the miners, who have recently discovered that there is gold in the mine shafts,” said a security guard who preferred anonymity for professional reasons.

There is also the threat of ever rising water levels in the shaft, which prompted the mine closure, coupled with unprofitable ore samples. Mhangura Copper Mine stopped operations about 20 years ago, pushing most people out of employment in the town whose core economic activity was copper mining. It could not be established how much the illegal miners pay to gain entry into the mine shafts. Others said they got a raw deal when Mhangura Copper Mine closed, vowing to continue their illegal mining activities.

“Our fathers laboured in this mine for decades, but they did not get anything at the end, so we are claiming what is rightfully ours,” said one of the illegal miners.

A former worker said he did not get a piece of land that was promised to him by his former employers as part of his package, but still needed to look after his family.

“They promised me a piece of land as part of my package,” said the former mine worker. “That did not happen and yet I have to fend for my five children, and entering the mine to get gold is the only way I can manage.”

Efforts to get comment on the former mine workers’ allegation from the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation public relations manager Charity Tambandini were futile, as her mobile was unreachable. Police were called in sometime in 2008 after Mhangura residents invaded the mine shafts looking for gold.