according to federation president Trynos Nkomo.
Nkomo, who was speaking at an environmental and sustainable mining workshop for small-scale miners held in Harare recently, said his federation was able to import the equipment with help from the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) and the government.
The ZMF is the umbrella representative body for small-scale miners in the country.
Nkomo said the federation was looking to boost production among small scale mining firms that produce at the moment produce between 50 grams and1kg of gold a month.
The ZMF boss said lack of equipment is a major stumbling block for the small-scale mining sector, adding that with the new compressors, small-scale miners will no longer rely on using picks and shovels for digging.
According to Nkomo, the ZMF is also planning to procure other equipment for small-scale miners such as small bow-mills and dump trucks. The federation is expecting to import 200 more compressors from China out of which 120 will be handed to small-scale women miners.
“We will provide these compressors and other equipment to capable small-scale miners, we will not do like what happened under the farming mechanisation programme where equipment given to some farmers is lying idle,” he said.
The ZMF has 20 000 registered members, according to Nkomo.
Post published in: Economy