By Wellington Takavarasha in Philippines
Zimbabwe was one of the 206 delegates that took part at the 5th PlanetGOLD annual conference here in Talisay Batangas, Philippines.
This is despite the fact that Zimbabwe is not yet a party of the planetGOLD, but had the privilege to be among 23 countries that made up the elite forum.
Some of the countries that joined the prestigious forum here include Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Colombia,Cote d’Ivoire, Equador, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Monglia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Uganda, Zambia and the hosts the Philippines.
Leading the Zimbabwe delegation was the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Chief Mining Engineer Munesu Munodawafa the Chief Government Mining Engineer. Others who represented the country were Alpha Chikurira from Environmental Management Authority -Environment, Tatenda Mapooze from ZELA and yours truly, Wellington Takavarasha representing Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF).
The planetGOLD program is a global initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) led by the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP) and implemented by Conservational International, United Nations Development Organization(UNIDO).
Its main objective is to help the artisanal and small-scale gold miners to replace mercury with safer and cleaner techniques.
The annual conference in the Philippines served as a platform for country presentations on access to finance by the asgm sector, the road to formalization and regularisation of the sector, technical solutions being preferred as solutions to reduce mercury use, and the awareness and educational campaigns on that mercury is a toxic metal.
Zimbabwe’s presentation gave an outlook on access to finance by the artisanal and small-scale miners and the impacts thereto.
So far there are only 9 members of the planetGOLD who are Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, the Philippines and Peru.
Zimbabwe’s invitation was meant to take a leaf from the already members and be considered by the Minamatha Secretariat to benefit 5 million in funding from GEF meant for the accomplishment of planetGOLD objectives that is reducing mercury and improving efficiency with better profitable practices.
Zimbabwe ratified the Minamatha Convention on mercury and became the 133rd Party member on 19 August 2021 thus strictly adhering to key operational articles 3 &7 under the Minamatha Convention on Mercury.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife are working with ZMF to coordinate the Minamatha Initial Assessment (MIA) and drafting of the National Action Plan (NAP) as required by the Minamatha Secretariat.
Government is serious considering safe mining practices that are not hazardous to people and animals.
Thank you.
Wellington Takavarasha is the Zimbabwe Minera Federation Chief Executive Officer and write in his personal capacity exclusively for ZiMining.
