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Conrad Mupesa

Mash West Bureau

A 37-YEAR-OLD artisanal miner from Mhangura died when a shaft he was working in with his brother collapsed on Saturday afternoon. 

Provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Margaret Chitove confirmed the accident which occurred at Silver Hills Mine some 20km east of the former copper mining settlement of Mhangura. 

She said Godfrey Shumba of Damba Village, Mhangura, was extracting gold ore from a disused shaft with his brother Amos Shumba (21) before a huge boulder fell on him before a huge amount of earth engulfed him. 

His brother tried to rescue him but failed as tonnes of earth buried Godfrey alive. Amos managed to escape and looked for help. 

Godfrey’s body was retrieved on Sunday by villagers, fellow artisanal miners and workers from a local mine, AfroLiga, which provided machinery. 

The body was taken to Makonde Christian Hospital for a post-mortem. 

Inspector Chitove urged artisanal miners to desist from using disused mine shafts as they were death traps.

Last October, five artisanal miners were trapped at Task Mining Syndicate in Chegutu. 

Only one body was retrieved while four others are yet to be located. 

Families of the missing miners are now resigned to the fact that they will never see their loved ones alive. 

In 2018, an unconfirmed number but believed to be over 60 illegal miners that gained entry into Eldorado Mine near Chinhoyi, died when a mine shaft also collapsed and rescue efforts were unsuccessful.