MIDWEEK REPORTER
MUTARE-Fatalities in the gold rich Penhalonga area near Mutare City continue to be recorded despite warning by civic society organisations, police and government on the dangers of unsafe mining activities.
The rich gold pickings seem to be attracting people from all over the country and the well connected dealers are taking advantage of the chaos in the area by encouraging artisanal mining.
Panners are not even deterred by raids by the law enforcement agency as the well connected remove their equipment during the operations only to regroup as soon as the operation ends.
Mutare based Centre for Research and Development has been documenting the environmental degradation and deaths of artisanal miners who work for well connected gold dealers, but the authorities are not taking any tangible action despite some prominent known individuals being behind the unsafe panning of the precious metal.
Recently, Peter Karambukuwa (25) from Dotito in Mt Darwin was trapped in a mine shaft at Redwing Mine on October 18 in Tyler area while mining with friends.
Manicaland Province police acting spokesperson Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka told The Midweek Watch that Peter who was residing with his friend’s mother, Sarudzai Loss (48) died in a mine shaft 15m underground and his body was retrieved on October 20 by fellow gold panners.
Peter’s body was taken to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital for post mortem.
Chinyoka said people should avoid panning for gold in abandoned mine shafts or where the ground is not stable to avoid fatalities.
