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Mash West Correspondent
Hundreds of Mhangura residents have turned to selling copper slimes after the product found a market.

The residents have besieged former Mhangura Copper Mine works area were copper slimes were dumped to have a better share of the deposits where a tonne fetches about $280.

According to the residents, one needs at least 10x50kg sacks to have a tonne.

Sixty-year-old Ambuya Pellargia Chipara, who has also joined the race, said she had collected three tonnes of the deposits. She, however, complained that buyers were ripping them off as some were hardly getting the $280 per tonne.

“We were recently paid only $100 and my colleagues are also complaining that they were not given the exact amount promised for the product,” she said.

A buyer who refused to be named said that $280 was the highest amount paid for the deposit. “We assess the quality of the slimes. Some slimes have 10 percent of copper deposits whereas others have almost 80 percent. So we calculate the percent of the copper deposits present in the slimes against the $280 mark. If one brings slimes containing 100 percent of copper deposits, he or she is definitely guaranteed of getting $280 per tonne,” he said.

A Mhangura resident, Clever Jamu said some copper slimes from the restricted works area fetch more than $800 per tonne.

“People who have access to the restricted works area where concentrated copper slimes, are have pocketed more than $600 per tonne as the deposits are said to contain pure copper concentrates,” he said.

“These people work hand in hand with the security personal guarding the works area and normally trucks are seen leaving the area loading bags stashed with the slimes.”

The closure of Mhangura Copper Mine more than two decades ago has seen many residents in the former mining town battling to survive. Some of the former employees also failed to benefit from the land reform programme.