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Nyore Madzianike Manicaland Bureau
FIDELITY Printers and Refiners (Pvt) Limited is rolling out a countrywide outreach programme to encourage artisanal miners to deposit their gold with them for refining in order to beat the country’s annual target of 27 tonnes.

The gold refining company, which started its outreach programme in Mashonaland Central, was in Odzi, Manicaland, last week where it had an interface with artisanal miners in the area.

Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Pvt) Ltd public relations officer Ms Chelesani Moyo said her company now had registered agents to whom artisanal miners could sell their gold.

“As Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Pvt) Ltd, we are rolling out an outreach programme where we are meeting artisanal miners,” she said. “Our objective is to meet them and hear their concerns.

“We are also telling them that the small amounts they have are good enough to sell to Fidelity Printers and Refiners. The interface we have today is for us to hear their concerns as well. We also want to remind them that we now have registered agents where they can deposit their gold.”

Ms Moyo said they were giving incentives of instant cash, plus a 5 percent bonus on gold bought using bond notes.

Fidelity Printers and Refiners is working with officers from the Minerals and Border Control Unit, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

“Our target is to meet the 27 tonnes purchase target before year-end,” said Ms Moyo. “We are working with different stakeholders in our endeavour to achieve national development.”

In August, artisanal miners contributed 1,46 tonnes of gold, while in September they contributed 1,49 tonnes.

Primary producers contributed 1,08 tonnes of the precious mineral in August and 1,02 tonnes in September.

Meanwhile, Mutasa District Trust has started officially pegging mining claims for its members in Odzi who were panning for gold along the nearby river.

Spokesperson of the trust Mr Gift Kagweda said some beneficiaries had since been allocated their claims and had already begun work.

“The trust has started officially allocating people claims so that they can work from there,” he said. “This is part of the indigenisation programme, as most of the mining land was in the hands of a few foreigners.”

Mr Kagweda said the area was previously owned by Metallon Gold before it was officially handed over to the trust.

“We discovered that this area had vast blocks of underutilised land, which could help the indigenous people,” he said. “We endured a torrid time in trying to convince the former owners of the land to give us a piece to work on.

“They only agreed to hand over the land to us on March 21 this year. We then made efforts to legalise the process until we eventually won the battle.”