MBERENGWA – Kuvimba Mining House (KMH)-owned lithium company, Sandawana Mines says it will not sign any tributary agreements with the Mberengwa community where it is operating but will pursue more beneficial and less chaotic initiatives for the area.

The decision is against requests by traditional leaders in Midlands province who were representing the local community.

KMH Chief Executive Officer, Simba Chinyemba told traditional leaders at a recent stakeholder engagement meeting in Zvishavane that the company has its own plans tailored to benefit the community.

“The chiefs had asked if they could be provided with claims from Sandawana…there are laws around it, there are practicalities around implementation…you cannot just start mining in a corner where another mine is already mining…we cannot give claims,” said Chinyemba.

The meeting was attended by 16 chiefs from the province and members of the joint operations committee.

Chinyemba said KMH will discuss the implementation of the share ownership plan with stakeholders.

“We want to implement it and by the end of December, we will have secured a plan that benefits the entire community,” he said.

The CEO also said it was important for traditional leaders to appreciate the need for community involvement in the wealth creation activities on their land.

“And our view is that that can be achieved through different ways,” Chinyemba said.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be achieved via the allocation of claims that then result in multiple activities happening on a mine site.

“That is not the best way to go about it. But the same value for the community could be derived via a much more organised approach, a much more organised way of mining on behalf of the community.

“The chiefs have agreed that we can engage them on this further, maybe in a few weeks to come,” he said.

Chinyemba said the mine has started road construction projects in the area.

Plans to relocate Sandawana Primary School to a better site are at an advanced stage.

Sandawana started mining lithium in January this year.

This was followed by chaotic events with villagers claiming that the mine had taken their ore.

However, mine General Manager, Godwin Gambiza said they have since paid villagers for all their ore.

There were also claims that some artisanal miners lost their mining equipment.

Gambiza said the equipment was confiscated by the police to “immobilise” over 5,000 illegal miners who were difficult to remove from the area.

He said the equipment has since been returned to its rightful owners.

“There was a lot of pushback from these artisanal miners because police were not making significant progress in terms of putting order there.

“They then had to change their approach and try to immobilise them.

“So, what they did (the police) was to take the mining implements that they were using to carry out their illegal activities. They took it to Zvishavane police station where it was safely kept.”

He said the rightful owners were then asked to visit the station with documentation to claim their equipment.