Martin Muleya

CHIPINGE TIMES REPORTER

MUTARE – There is a lot of gold leakages in the Penhalonga area of Mutare, a spokesperson for Penhalonga Youth Development Trust (PYDT) has said.

PYDT director, Clinton Masanga said this at a Press Conference organised by the Centre for Research Development (CRD) and expressed concern at the massive prejudices to the State and the unchecked environmental degradation. 

He said that there were more than 522 illegal gold hammer mills and 10 cynadation sites in the steep slopes and river valleys of Penhalonga processing an estimated 7kg of gold on a daily basis.

The Press Conference was organised to air concerns by Penhalonga residents.

Masanga alleged that the leakages were coming from Redwing Mine in Penhalonga where 2 000 bags of gold ore were finding their way out of the mine daily only to be processed at different hammer mills and cynadation tanks scattered all over the place in the area.

Redwing is owned by Metallon Gold Corporation and is under judicial management since 2018.

Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Winston Chitando were futile as he could not be reached by the time of going to Press. 

PYDT is a civic organisation whose mandate is to represent the interests of youth in Penhalonga while CRD’s mandate is protecting the environment and monitoring human activities affecting the environment. 

Masanga said that it was not the first time that his organisation had raised concerns against the leakages and the rampant illegal gold processing activities in Penhalonga. In 2021, the same concerns were raised and a joint operation that included the Ministry of Mines was carried out to stamp out the activities.

“We were perplexed a month later when mining operations resumed without undertaking due diligence to address concerns that had been raised in various meetings.

“The resumption saw mushrooming of hammer mills and cyanidation sites rising to 522 and 10 cyanidation sites. These operations are illegal and those with documents are non-compliant with their Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).

“It is alarming to note that all these processing sites are not mining gold at their claims. They receive stolen gold ore from Redwing Mine day and night.

“Sources at Redwing alleged that mine officers were operating illegal hammer mills outside Redwing Mine hence the laxity of security at the mine. An expert calculation of an average of 2000 bags of ore being transported from Redwing Mine said the output is an average 7kg of gold,” said Masanga.  

Penhalonga Residents and Ratepayers Trust chairperson Webster Makoni bemoaned rampant prostitution, and early child marriages

in the area. He said that because of the informal and illegal nature of the mining activities, the miners were just extracting minerals without any benefits accruing to the community.