"Women miners more vulnerable to machete attacks" 4 February 2020

Artisanal...women miners have been the hardest hit by the spate of violence in the sector...posing a threat to gold production output this year. The country has experienced increasing cases of violence in the small scale mining sector by the machete gangs, who have been on a rampage. [M]ines that belong to women and...known to be doing well in gold production, have been easy targets...

[T]he Zimbabwe Miners Federation...[say] the...violence will pose a threat to this year’s total gold production by artisanal miners, who now contribute the bulk of the yellow metal delivered to Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

[O]ne of the initiatives...is to engage security companies to safeguard [aristanal women miners'] operations...while appeals have also been made to the School of Mines to come up with programmes specifically tackling women in mining issues. [A]ttacks have...[also been on] gold buyers too, further thwarting the smooth flow of business across the value chain..."Women have had it tough. Official buyers from Fidelity are also at risk because these machete gangs target them as well...".