(Harare, ILO News) As part of her mission to Zimbabwe, the Assistant Director General and Regional Director of the ILO, Ms Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, visited an AfDB funded project site in Guruve district, some 200km away from Harare, where the ILO has supported the establishment of a custom mercury free gold milling plant.

Ms Samuel-Olonjuwon toured the gold milling plant accompanied by the outgoing ILO Country Office Director for Zimbabwe and Namibia, Ms Hopolang Phororo, the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonaland Central Province, the Hon. Monicah Mavhunga (MP), officials from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, representatives from various Government Departments, leadership of Guruve Women in Mining Syndicate who co-own the Tasimudzwa Women Milling (Pvt) Ltd and the ILO project team led by Jairos Chanetsa – the National Project Coordinator.

The gold milling plant is one of the four interventions implemented under the African Development Bank (AfDB) funded Youth and Women Empowerment Project (YWEP) from 2017-2022 in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe. The goal of the project is to generate better and more sustainable income and employment opportunities for women and young people by strengthening production, value-chain development, and value-addition. Targeting a few key rural economic sub-sectors, its focus is to facilitate the integration of these economic activities into local value chains as a pathway for employment creation, improve¬d incomes and living standards.

The ILO contracted consulting engineer, Mr Scott, from Northern Scott Mining led the tour of the plant, taking the delegation through the entire process of crushing and milling the gold ore, how gold is extracted, moulding of the bullion, recycling of water and storage of the tailings (sand dump).

‘’The entire process, which is mercury free, is in compliance with the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury, as per the international treaty intended to protect people and the environment from the harm caused by exposure to mercury,’’ Mr Scott explained.

After the tour of the plant, the delegation visited a nearby woman-owned gold mine where gold ore was being collected for processing, to experience first-hand the mining and working conditions of the women.

‘’All the artisanal mining activities in the surrounding area are into shaft mining which minimizes the destruction of the environment and vegetation,’’ explained Mr. Tendai Chiware, one of the employees at the mine, in charge of extracting the gold ore from the mine.
Mr Chiware further explained that while manual and rudimentary equipment were being used to extract the ore and move it to the surface; the miners hired the services of qualified explosives experts to break the hard rock.

Before the establishment of the gold milling plant, the women artisanal miners were transporting their ore to a milling plant some 400km away in Shamva.

‘’We had no access to equipment, nor the resources to improve operations that would meet the expected standards and the prevention of flooding during the rainy. It forced most of us to halt operations from October to March,’ commented a member of the women artisanal miners group.

In her response to the warm welcome by the women and the community, and as part of her message, Ms Samuel-Olonjuwon said:‘The ILO values the empowering of women which sets a foundation for their upliftment. You should treasure the establishment of the gold milling plant, the provision of technical training to improve and make safer your mining operations. Through the imparted business skills and financial literacy training, the intention is to transform these enterprises into profitable and viable ventures.’

‘I would like to praise you for venturing into a sector dominated by men,’ said Ms. Samuel Olonjuwon, to the women artisanal miners.
“Further, I now challenge you to expand the operations of the gold milling plant and set up a Carbon in Pulp (CIP) plant to derive maximum return from the ore and increase your incomes’, she continued.
Ms. Samuel Olonjuwon encouraged them to think more broadly and internationally as they expanded their operations and be a success story and serve as an example for other women in the sector.
Women at this centre are responsible for all operations, are behind the concept of the project and they operate and maintain the gold milling and equipment.

About the project:

The Gold Milling Plant: The custom mercury free gold milling plant which operates under the name Tasimudzwa (Shona word for “We have been lifted (from poverty)” Women Milling Plant is in Museka 10, Sipolilo, Ward 7, Guruve District, Zimbabwe. The plant covers an area of 2ha that is fenced within a 10ha plot that was allocated to the project. The gold milling plant consists of a 3t/hr gold ore milling and recovery equipment plant, a gold room, an office block, a guard room, a 200KVA 11/0.4 Substation and a 11KVA powerline that links the centre to the national grid and two boreholes with one connected to a solar powered pumping system and 2 x 10,000l water storage tanks. The gold milling company is operated as a for-profit private limited company and is co-owned by a cooperative of women artisanal miners: the Guruve Women in Mining Syndicate (60%), the Women’s Development Fund (30%) and the Guruve Rural District Council (10%).

African Development Bank Support: The YWEP is one of a set of projects that the ILO is implementing on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) with funding from the African Development Bank. These include: the Sustainable Enterprise Development for Women and Youth (SEDWAY), 2022-2026 and the Business Growth for Young Entrepreneurs (BG4YE) 2022 – 2025. The SEDWAY project will contribute to a) increase productive capacity of youth farmers in the horticulture value chain in Mutoko District where the project will facilitate technical training and set up greenhouses that will be linked to the already established Anchor Enterprise; b) establishment of a Fruit and Vegetable Processing Anchor Enterprise at Hauna; c) establish two safe market places for women and youth in Bulawayo and Masvingo; and d) set up a milk collection centre in Umguza. While the BG4YE project will support additional young and growth oriented male and female entrepreneurs and their workers to strengthen their capacities to pursue profitable economic opportunities in a) the value chains of the anchor enterprise, as well as b) and in off-farm sub-sectors, such as in light manufacturing of goods and agro-processing value addition to create employment opportunities for additional young men and women in selected locations. Discussions are currently ongoing with the AfDB on another project: Fashionomics Africa - Technical Assistance Program for Jewellery Manufacturing in Zimbabwe (FATAP GEM), that is focused on supporting the development of the gemstone and jewellery supply chain through improved productivity, skills, market access and inclusion of young people and women.