‘Kuvimba denies looting villagers’ ore, says committed to empowering communities’ 28 July 2023

KUVIMBA Mining House (KMH) has denied ever looting lithium ore from Mberengwa villagers surrounding its recently acquired Sandawana Mine saying they are committed to supporting the community they operate in. In 2019, KMH, an investment and holding company of mining entities working in special minerals, energy minerals, and base metals acquired the mine which had shut down in 2010 due to working capital challenges and depletion of emerald resources. In 2022 there were reports regarding a lithium rush in the area and allegations that the company forcibly took ore from villagers.

In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com during a recent media tour at the mine, Godwin Gambiza, Sandawana general manager dismissed the claims. “We paid for the lithium ore. I can even share with you a breakdown of the schedule that we have for the lithium ore that we acquired from them… for the effort that they spent on mining ore, we had to reward them for it. So we purchased it and we collected the ore,” he said. KMH is developing Sandawana Mine into a high-grade lithium deposit mine. The mining lease and claim holdings cover a 21 km-long strip along the Mweza Mountain Range The 3882 hectares are rich in vast mineral resources, including Tantalite, Mica, Emeralds, and Gold.

…“As Kuvimba, we are committed to empowering smaller groups including community groups and other groups like war veterans, youths among others. We will increase that 560 000 production per month including those smaller groups like the war veterans, the youths, as well as artisanal miners…so what we want to do, because that was illegal mining, we want to make sure that we regularise everything,” he said…Chinyemba said while the discussions are highly confidential, it is expected that based on the resource alone, the Sandawana Mine valuation ranges between US$2.5 billion to US$3 billion. He said the progress at Sandawana is particularly remarkable given that only 12 months ago the mine was considered to have a valuation less than US$5 million dollars in total.