HARARE – Kuvimba Mining House (KMH) has launched its annual sustainability campaign aimed at improving the environment in areas where its various mining projects are taking place.
The unveiling of the campaign took place at KMH’s subsidiary, Freda Rebecca Gold Mine (FRGM) in Bindura on Friday.
The subsidiary has already planted over 10,000 trees and lawn around its new Tailing Storage Facility (TSF) to rehabilitate the environment.
A TSF is a mining structure used to store waste materials after mineral extraction.
TSFs can cause significant damage to local communities if not managed properly.
TSFs can cause water and air pollution, soil erosion, dust pollution, landscape alteration, and potential disasters like dam failures, impacting ecosystems and human health.
KMH Group Chief Executive Officer Trevor Barnard said their mining entity is committed to preserving the environment and communities they operate from.
“We are strongly committed to preserving the environment and protecting communities in our operational areas. I am delighted to launch the ‘Restoring Nature, Securing Tomorrow’ initiative, where we build our operations and support our teams to foster environmental stewardship.
“We work in collaboration with local communities to realise intergenerational environmental sustainability,” said Barnard.
Mashonaland Central Chief Chipadze, EMA and over 100 students on attachment and graduate trainees at Freda Rebecca Gold were part of the delegates who participated in the environmental stewardship programme.
Speaking at the same event, Chief Chipadze welcomed the campaign urging other mining companies to follow suit.
“This tree planting exercise we are witnessing today is a great and I’m happy because we are planting our own indigenous trees which can survive in this environment.
“We wish and urge all mining companies to do the same to avoid environmental damages to the surrounding communities,” Chipadze said.
FRGM managing director Patrick Shayawabaya said now the exercise will be rolled out in all KMH subsidiaries.
“This will go to all our other operations, we cleared vegetation, we removed crop soil, we disturbed the natural environment, even though we can never completely restore this area to what it was before, that would have been an effort to restore the vegetation,” he said.
As part of this campaign, KMH operational mines have been actively involved in various community initiatives.
Sandawana Mines, the
company’s lithium mine in the Energy cluster, has built over 20 kilometres of roadworks and implemented dust suppression initiatives in the Mberengwa District.
Additionally, they have rolled out health promotion initiatives for the district and its 16 Chiefs.
Jena Mines has constructed over 5 kilometres of roadworks in the Lower Gweru area,
Zimbabwe Alloys has operates a backfilling programme for disused pits to protect local communities.
KMH is Zimbabwe’s leading gold producer and a mining conglomerate with a diverse portfolio of mines in gold, PGMs, energy, and bulk commodities.
The campaign is running under the theme “restoring nature and securing tomorrow”.
