- Small-scale miners account for over half of mining deaths, Chinyere says.
- Low capital, weak risk management and poor mine designs cited.
- Short claim tenure discourages long-term planning, he says.
- He calls for a bridge to formalise artisanal operators.
ARTISANAL and small-scale miners account for more than half of Zimbabwe’s mining deaths because of low capital, weak safety systems and poor mine designs, Freda Rebecca Gold Mine General Manager Alfred Chinyere said.
Chinyere, a professor and general manager at Mutapa Gold Resources’ Freda Rebecca mine, spoke at the second Mine Managers’ Bench webinar on September 30. The series is organised by the Association of Mine Managers Zimbabwe (AMMZ) and the Zimbabwe School of Mines.
He said large mines have governance structures, certification and compliance systems, while the artisanal sector lags behind. More than half of fatalities come from small-scale miners “because of issues to do with lack of governance, lack of proper structures to then manage accidents,” he said.
Chinyere was responding to figures presented earlier in the session by Chief Government Mining Engineer Michael Munodawafa, who said 116 accidents had been reported, killing 156 people.
The problems facing artisanal miners go beyond safety, Chinyere said. They also include licensing, environmental management and basic business viability.
Small-scale miners are held back by low capital, a lack of basic equipment, limited knowledge of safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) systems, weak risk management and poor mine designs, he said. Poor designs often lead to rockfalls and other geotechnical failures.
Short-term tenure on claims also discourages long-term planning, Chinyere said. “As a result, they continue operating at a level which is not competitive in terms of profitability and good safety performance,” he said.
He called on the Chamber of Mines, regulators, large-scale mines and artisanal miners to work together to build a path to formalisation.
“There is need to then have a bridge that will get the artisanal miners to move from where they are sitting, where we have all these constraints,” he said. “And that bridge should have registration, some bit of order, some bit of training, some bit of equipment, some bit of process improvements, some bit of accounting.”
Chinyere also proposed a review of Statutory Instrument 109 of 1990, arguing some safety requirements are hard for smaller operators to meet, and a safety and environment platform for large and small miners coordinated through the Chamber of Mines, Mining Zimbabwe reported.
Government figures show 64 people died in artisanal and small-scale mining accidents in the first quarter of 2026.
