The formation of an organisation to support the mining and investment opportunities among the youth in Zimbabwe has been announced during a press briefing in Harare today.
President of the Zimbabwe Allied Youth in Mining Organisation (ZAYIMO) E. Fundika, who announced the organisation to journalists said ZAYIMO will cover the whole nation and there are going to be coordinators in each province to ensure smooth registration and operations of the association.
“We are grateful to announce that a new baby has been born in the mining sector in the name of Zimbabwe Allied Youth in Mining Organisation (ZAYIMO), whose mandate is to organise young and energetic youths in the mining sector who wish to contribute in the Zimbabwean economy through mining be it gold, chrome, platinum, tungsten the list is endless,” Fundika said.
“This gesture will see the narrowing of gold leakage by the small-scale miners, by making sure all gold obtained or discovered by miners should be sold straight to fidelity to ensure transparency as well as the growing of our economy as stipulated by our President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) that by 2030 we should become an upper middle economic earner where mining should be one of the contributors.”
The president of the newly formed organisation said one of ZAYIMO’s key values is safety.
Mining is one of the sectors with the highest accidents according to the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) statistics
“We say safety and protection first always, this is a major course of concern in small-scale and artisanal mining as most of them encounter accidents and some die in the course of mining as most of them encounter accidents and some die in the course of mining, henceforth the association will make sure that safety is guaranteed for a registered miner on medical aid and funeral policies to make sure that, those in the sector benefit from the association,” Fundika said.
ZAYIMO vice president M. Mupindu said that the organisation is going to also teach young children against illegal gold panning, which is also unsafe.
ZAYIMO has already found investors for the youths from Belarus, China and South Africa.
“We recognise the need to mainstream gender issues as enshrined in the constitution and therefore call for all young women to defy traditional belief that mining is for men and participate in mining and they will be given first priority in accessing loans and getting on mining claims,” Fundika said.