SHARON NYAYA
MBERENGWA-Young Miners Federation has taken it upon itself to ensure that women are not left behind in the nation’s quest for US$12billion mining industry.
Prominent miner and patron of YMF, Anna Mupawaenda while addressing miners and guests at the Young Miners Field Day and YMF 13th anniversary commemorations at Clifton 15 Goldmine Vanguard Mberengwa last Friday said, “When we chant the mantra, Young miners leaving no one and no place behind towards a US$12billion mining economy’ for women we are saying ‘Placing young women miners at the centre stage’ as we are not leaving any woman in mining behind.”
“As part of Vision 2030 and in recognition of the potential of the mining sector, to transform the economy, on 23 October 2019 we unveiled a policy document outlining how the country planned to turn the mining sector into a USD$12billion industry by 2023.
“This is very commendable. There are key deliverables of the mining roadmap which are as follows: Enhanced exploration, Optimum benefits to the country and its people, increased exports and foreign currency generation, enhanced investment and capacity building, increased productivity and employment creation and greater value addition.
“A lot is happening in the mining sector but where do women fit in, in terms of equal and fair beneficiation? What does research say about women involvement? According to Norman Loaza & Tea Trumbic (March, 2023), countries cannot move forward if half of their citizens are held back. If you were to compete in a running race, would you tie, shorten, or burden one of the legs? No, of course not. You would surely lose the development race if you don’t allow the women, who constitute half or more the population, to have the same rights as men do.
“Women make up to 10 % of the 535,000 artisanal and small-scale miners in Zimbabwe which means, in the two legs of mining, both men and women are expected to turn the mining sector into a US$12billion industry,” remarked Mupawaenda.
YMF chief executive officer, Payne Farai Kupfuwa added that, “Ever since the establishment of Young Miners Foundation ( YMF) in 2010, we have witnessed with much awe the increase in young women participation in more formalized and professional small scale mining, due to our programming and interventions.
“We have doubled our efforts to encourage young women to also participate in the mining value chain. To that end, we have also established ‘The Young Women Miners Unit’ and appointed a director to oversee that particular constituency.
“This has led to the creation of small capitalised companies that support the industry through Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Approved Prospecting, Surveying and Metallurgical Consultants.
“YMF has also ensured that, professionals coming in from the Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM) and other tertiary institutions which offer mining related programs are also incorporated in our activities. We also had Young Miners Fundamentals in small scale mining management training which was sponsored by Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe(MMCZ) and Certified by the Zimbabwe School of Mines(ZSM) in every Province we ensured that Young Women Miners also, participate so that there are also, empowered with knowledge on how to formalise and professionalise their operations. We have a meaningful number of women who graduated from that particular training in all the mining provinces in the country.
“We have witnessed an increase in young women of course participating in small scale mining, some of them running big mining projects, some of them professionals, some running well established consultants company that are supporting the development and upscale of the small scale mining,” he said.
