Tafadzwa Nyikadzino

Zimbabwe’s largest gold producer, Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), has adopted a high-tech mine to market traceability software to promote transparency and accountability on its mining operations.

The development places it among Africa’s top 5 producers, including Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire, with traceable and transparent gold productions. It is also the First Zimbabwean company to adopt the system, which is now in use at its flagship Fredda Rebecca Gold Mine.

The software, which was developed by Comstak Africa, will soon be rolled out on other mining operations under the company’s vast and diverse portfolio. The software enables gold that is produced by the company to be tracked from its extraction up to the market where it is sold.

Addressing journalists yesterday, KMH group acting CEO Mr Trevor Barnard said the company adopted the system in compliance with international regulatory requirements. He said the development will boost client confidence in the gold that the organisation produces.

“It’s very important that our gold production is traceable from mine to market. And that is really to ensure that people have confidence in our legitimacy and understand that the gold that we do produce is actually gold that we’ve mined, gold that we’ve processed, and gold that we then sell to the market,” Barnard said.

Comstak Africa Head of Operations Garikai Mutandwa said the adoption of the traceability software enables mineral producers to comply with international standards that aim to eliminate terrorism financing and money laundering.

“Since 2008, conflict minerals have been an issue. There have been many laws passed by the big players in developed countries in America and the E.U that were put in place in 2017 and adopted in 2021.

“Other than your safety and health and other audit compliance, the international regulations emphasize the need for traceability to counter terrorism financing and money laundering.

“In fact, they are just saying your mining should be traceable, transparent just to have better accountability,” he said.

KMH produces a monthly gold output of 300kgs under its gold cluster, which is made up of 3 mines, namely, Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, Shamva Gold Mine and Jena Mine.