Mining law in zimbabwe

Moyo spends the better part of her day tramping to and fro, carrying sacks on her back packed with river sand that she sifts through in hope of finding flecks of gold. Working with their limbs in muddy water up to the knees, the women see small-scale mining as a path to improve their livelihoods and bolster scanty family incomes. Despite the rudimentary methods still used in artisanal mining, women are now wielding picks and shovels alongside men as they scavenge for valuable minerals.

Mining law in zimbabwe

It has grown over the years spreading to other parts of the country significantly the Free State. In due course it became a significant contributor to the Mining law in zimbabwe of the gross domestic product of South Africa and rewarded handsomely those who invested in it.

The South African currency was for a long time based to a large extent on the value of this internationally sought precious metal. As this case demonstrates, simultaneous with that growth, the industry left in its trail tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of current and former underground mineworkers who suffered from debilitating and incurable silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis TB.

Many mineworkers also died from the diseases. There are other occupational lung diseases in the industry, but silicosis and to a lesser extent TB are the two that are of concern in this case. These Commissions found the inhalation of excessive silica dust to be the sole cause of silicosis.

The Commissions recommended that dust control and dust elimination measures be introduced. These developments sketch and lay down a wide carpet of information that became available and accessible to those involved in the gold mining industry.

Mining law in zimbabwe

The Application [5] The applicants seek to bring a class action on behalf of current and past underground mineworkers who contracted silicosis or TB, and on behalf of the dependants of mineworkers who died of silicosis or TB contracted while employed in the gold mines.

It is their proposal that the single class action proceed in two stages, stage one during which issues common to both classes shall be determined and stage two during which individual issues are to be determined. They refer to this as the bifurcated process.

Randgold abides by the decision of this court. The bulk of them belong to the silicosis class. The mining companies, who are all potential defendants, represent almost the entire gold mining industry in South Africa.

Mining law in zimbabwe

The scope and magnitude of the proposed silicosis and TB claims is unprecedented in South Africa. The action, if it proceeds, will entail and traverse novel and complex issues of fact and law.


Legal representatives and consolidation of application [9] The application is a consolidated one. Its magnitude and the range of legal representatives involved is unprecedented.

It can only be properly appreciated by having regard to its peculiar history. Initially five separate applications were brought. They were against three mining companies. All five applications were consolidated into one in August The relief sought in the five applications was harmonised and is reflected in the consolidated notice of motion.

In the light of this history, there is, quite understandably, more than one founding affidavit in the papers. In addition to the answering affidavits, the mining companies filed further affidavits.

The Work Of A Nation. The Center of Intelligence.

Some of them were in response to the replying affidavits of the mineworkers. The court thus had to deal with more than the traditional set of affidavits.

As a result, the court accepted and dealt with the cases of the parties as made out in all the affidavits. The mining companies had no difficulty with this. It is caused exclusively by the inhalation of crystalline silica dust.

Crystalline silica is a common mineral, also known as quartz, which is found in the gold mines. Silica dust is generated and raised into the air by many of the processes associated with mining, such as blasting, drilling and the handling and transport of rock and soil containing crystalline silica.

When the smallest particles of crystalline silica are raised into the air as part of dust in the mining process, and mineworkers are exposed to such dust, the mineworkers inhale the crystalline silica particles.

Once inhaled the dust particles are deposited in the alveolus region of the lung. Once deposited in the alveolus, the particles attack the lung cells and thus damage the lung tissue resulting in scarring or fibrosis of the lungs. The onset of its symptoms and disability can ensue several years after exposure.

A person may be diagnosed with silicosis for the first time long after such person has worked in the gold mines. This form typically takes more than fifteen 15 years for symptoms to appear.

Silicosis is described as a progressive disease because its symptoms worsen over time, even after exposure to crystalline silica dust has stopped. Ongoing medical monitoring and treatment of current and former employees of gold mines is thus required to manage and limit the harmful impact of the silicosis disease and its complications.African Mining Network.



Zimbabwe is named after Great Zimbabwe, the twelfth- to fifteenth-century stone-built capital of the Rozwi Shona dynasty. The World Bank has supported 41 mining sector reform (technical assistance) projects in 24 countries since The reforms have contributed to an increase in investment in the mining sector and related economic indicators such as exports, fiscal revenues and gross domestic product (GDP) in .

InfoMine provides comprehensive information on mining, the mining industry, mining technology and mineral exploration. InfoMine categories include mining news, mining jobs, mining equipment, mineral commodities, and professional development. National power utility Eskom has tabled phase one of a strategic review that will deliver a turnaround blueprint that will include a short-term improvement plan.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the peak body for resources professionals, are excited to bring the World Mining Congress to Brisbane, Australia, 20 - 22 July

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