02 Jul Gold Mining in Zimbabwe
Gold mining in Zimbabwe goes back to the second millenia with traces of gold and stories of mining traced back to Mapungubwe in South africa and to Great Zimbabwe. It is an established fact that the early Zimbabweans traded gold with the Arabic slave traders and then with the early Portuguese settlers in Mozambique in the 1500’s.
There has always been formal mining, however in recent years there has been an upsurge in informal mining. the images in this gallery portray the resurgence in basic mining in the Goromonzi area. Miners dig shafts and follow the rich seams of gold. They descend down narrow shafts using rickety ladders constructed from local tree materials. their lighting provided by head lights using modern braai lights. The work is dangerous but only the rich seams of ore are mined and then crushed using trditional stamp mills. All processing is left to the miners who are them obliged to sell the gold to official channels.
This mine has now ceased operations as the ore has been exhausted.