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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
Government has intensified plans to put in place measures to plug leakages of gold and other minerals as it seeks to surpass output targets, an official has said.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Mr Munesu Munodawafa said Government was working on availing foreign currency to the mining sector which can serve as a catalyst to attract small scale miners to avail their gold produce to the official market.

In an interview on the sidelines of Small Scale Miners of Zimbabwe (Gweru) elections, Mr Munodawafa said Government had gone full throttle in the quest to boost gold production and delivery.

He said there has been an improvement in gold deliveries from small scale miners which resulted in Government collecting just over 30 tonnes of gold thus far, translating to 53 percent improvement from last year’s deliveries for the same period.

“People tend to talk of the few challenges they know like foreign currency, but the challenges are more than that,” he said. “For example, the issue of proximity can be a major issue.”

Mr Munodawafa said there was a need for a holistic approach to the issue of gold leakages.

“There is need to take a holistic approach as Government on this issue. We have issues like proximity that is of importance that we feel should be tackled as a matter of urgency,” he said.