How to Register a Mining Block in Zimbabwe

Jasper Maposa
Jan 27, 2018
3 min read

Hello there!

I have received quite a number of enquiries on how to acquire mining rights on pieces of land in Zimbabwe and have decided to write this post to shed some light on the issue. The typical phrase goes like this, “Hi Jasper, I want you to peg a gold ‘claim’ in Kwekwe for me, I heard some ‘Korokozas’ (illegal gold panners) are driving brand new Range Rovers within days of panning”. So, let us help each other to drive our own Range Rovers, the legal way, and …ummmm, am sorry, not within days of mining!

Right, let’s start!

First, things first, it is illegal to start prospecting for any mineral without having a Prospecting Licence. You know the guys at the ministry love to complicate very simple things. What they really mean is that you are not allowed to search and locate minerals hidden in or on the ground without buying a piece of paper from the Ministry of Mines, which is unfortunately known as, the Prospecting Licence. So, when we are taking a walk in the buntu and we stumble upon a place which has the power to buy us Range Rovers, let’s agree here and now that we just shut up our mouths (and eyes) and go straight to the mines office and buy the magic paper! Good. We must buy this piece of paper from the mines office in the province we saw our hidden treasure or wish to register our yet to be located ‘claim’. There are different types of Prospecting Licences, the common being Ordinary precious minerals (for gold, silver, …..), Ordinary base minerals (for chrome, tantalite, …..) and Special Prospecting Licence for base minerals. Apart from the differences in prices, these licences differ in the sizes of ‘claims’ we will be allowed to peg, which are 10ha for Ordinary precious, 25ha for Ordinary base and 150ha for special base minerals. Phew!...We now have our Prospecting Licence, now what? Rush to search, locate and peg our hidden treasures….? Wrong!!!

Possessing our magic paper will not give us legal right to search and locate our hidden treasures by ourselves. We now need to rope in an Approved Prospector, for a fee of course, who will do the prospecting and later the pegging for us so that we cover our backs legally. Most if not all the time, we already know where our treasure is, and all we need to do is to drag this guy to the place and let him do the legalities on our behalf. If we don’t have a place as yet, our guy is more than glad to help us, for extra kudos of course. This guy knows a lot of stuff about prospecting and pegging so I need not to explain further lest I do him/her a disservice. The worst case scenario our guy can tell us is that our treasure is located in an area that is not open for prospecting. This is due to various reasons, which I will leave our learned Prospector to explain if that eventuality ever arrives. So, how do we know that our guy is an Approved Prospector? Very simple, our guy must be a valid crap…… oh sorry, he/she must possess a valid CRAP (Certificate of Registration as an Approved Prospector). Within 31 days from the day our guy posted the Prospecting Notice, he/she must submit the Registration Notice together with all required paper work, plus the registration fee to the Provincial Mines Office. It’s normally a good idea to accompany the guy to the Ministry and do the payments ourselves,…..no offence!

After doing their due diligence, and they are satisfied, the Ministry will now give us our long awaited Registration Certificate. Hurray! The claim is finally ours legally and we are now entitled to brag in restaurants that we are ‘mine’ owners. Impressive!

As for the Range Rover, well, it’s a story for another day!

Points To Remember:

Acquire an appropriate Prospecting Licence(s) from the Ministry Of Mines – for a fee.
Engage an Approved Prospector to Prospect and Peg your mining block – for a fee.
Pay the Registration Fee to the Ministry on submission of Registration Notice, and other paper work by the Prospector.
Cooperate with the Ministry officials as they do their due diligence.
Keep checking for progress with the Ministry…..not after every hour!
Collect your Certificate of Registration as soon as it is issued – no fee required.
You now have mining rights over the registered block, congratulations!