The past two decades have been characterized by a rise in foreign and local, large- and small-scale mining land acquisitions in Zimbabwe, and the mining sector has become vital in the development of the country.
This is an extract from a paper on Environmental Development and Sustainability titled “Black granite mining and the implications for the development of sustainability in Zimbabwe: The case of Mutoko communities”, written by Sandra Bhatasara from the University of Zimbabwe.
The mining sector is one of the sectors which have contributed immensely in the economic growth of the country. The sector plays an essential role in foreign exchange generation, gross domestic product (GDP), government revenue, and capital formation. For example, in 2009, the sector earned US $700 million, and this increased to US $2.2 billion in 2011.
Apart from the direct economic benefits of the mining industry to Zimbabwe, the mining has also been influential in infrastructural development of the country. Over 40 minerals are mined in Zimbabwe, and production is dominated by gold, followed by asbestos, nickel, chromium, and coal. The dimension stone industry, especially the extraction of black granite, is expanding rapidly. Zimbabwe’s mining sector has thus embarked on a growth path as evidenced by positive growth rates across most minerals (with the exception of granite) (Chamber of Mines 2011). Small- and medium-size mining have been increasing over the past 4 years because of economic hardships and recurrent droughts. Currently, the mining sector consists of 40 major mining companies, and it is one of the major sectors of the economy that still has a large proportion of foreign ownership.
However, while commonly presented as development opportunities for national governments and local communities, mining has also been named ‘‘the evil sector’’ because projects repeatedly trigger livelihood shifts, dislocation from ancestral lands and insidious social, cultural, environmental, and economic changes. By its very nature, the mining industry, just like the oil and gas industries, leaves behind a ‘‘footprint’’—an environmental, social, and economic impact (World Bank and International Finance Corporation 2002). Mining activities are well known by their deleterious effects on the environment, above all due to the presence of high concentrations of heavy metals such as copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, or arsenic that are widely known by their adverse effects on the environment and human health. Bebbington and Bury (2009), observed that in lesser developed economies, growth from mining offers the potential to generate new resources for development, but also creates challenges to sustainability in the regions in which extraction occurs. At the same time, it is important to clarify that in spite of experiencing its share of environmental- and health-related problems that adversely impact human quality-of-life, small-scale mining plays a pivotal role in alleviating poverty in the developing world and contributes significantly to national revenues and foreign exchange earnings.
Sustainability questions arising from small-scale mining land deals and extractive processes, their implications on livelihoods resilience and processes and ontologies anchored in land and hills have yet to be fully comprehended. While foreign and local land acquisitions have fundamentally altered power structures and relationships, and livelihoods structures in host communities, analysts, and policy makers currently struggle to respond to these new developments and design appropriate sustainability paradigms or models.
As noted by some scholars such as Hilson (2002), though these important socio-economic contributions make small-scale mining an indispensable economic activity, there is an obvious need for improved sustainability in the industry, more specifically, for operations to resolve pressing problems, many of which have wide-ranging impacts. The nature and image of the mining business predispose some stakeholders to distrust mining corporations when it comes to promoting sustainability.
Azapagic (2004) is of the view that the mining and minerals industry faces some of the most difficult sustainability challenges of any industrial sector and to guarantee its continued ‘‘social license’’ to operate, the industry must respond to these challenges by engaging its many different stakeholders and addressing their sustainability concerns. With mining continuing to climb up the political priority list at a time of budget deficits and changing economic and social priorities, many governments are looking at reforms to their mining codes, grappling with sustainability issues and revisiting their approach to taxation and royalties. Analyzing the implications of granite mining on the development of sustainability is imperative theoretically and empirically.
This study is useful in developing a sustainability model in the mining sector and in understanding the shifting development imaginaries in rural Zimbabwe. The full study is available on ResearchGate.
Source: ResearchGate
