QUESTION: PEOVIDE YOUR CLIENT TATENDA WITH LEGAL ADVICE ON

PROCEDURE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR ACQUIRING MININGCLAIMS IN

ZIMBABWE. (25)

Introduction

Acquisition of mining claims has been on the high recently due to Zimbabwe’s large mineral
deposit. According to an online publication of 2020 published by Mining Zimbabwe Magazine
(www.miningzimbabwe.com), Zimbabwe is endowed with over 60 Minerals including
Diamonds, Gold, Lithium, Platinum, Coal, Chrome, Copper among others. Be that as it may, the
most important stage before one can exploit these minerals is the regularisation of all paperwork.
No person, at law, is allowed to exploit these minerals without first having obtained mining rights
over that particular piece of land, be it through a certificate of registration, a mining lease or a
tribute agreement or special grant. Critically, it has to be made clear from the onset that in terms
of section 2 of the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 25:05), all land and all title over or under
land with all mineral, mineral oils or natural gases vest in the President and even farm land under
the ownership of some other person as long it has mineral deposits on it. The Mines and Minerals
Act will extensively be referred to as the ‘act’ in the discussion hereinafter.

Legal Procedure and Requirements

The first stage for a prospective holder of a mining title is making an application for a prospecting
licence to the mining commissioner at the mines in terms of section 20 of the Mines and
Minerals Act. A person who is a permanent resident of Zimbabwe and who is eighteen (18)
years or above in terms of section 24 of the act is eligible to make the said application. The
mining commissioner will require the person to tender his full names and postal address which
information shall be appearing on the licece. The applicant will pay the prescribed fee which is
periodically gazetted by the Minister of Mines and Mineral Development through regulations.
The recent publication in SI 185 of 2021 Mining (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021
(No.26) prescribed the fee at ZWL$6 375,00.00 for an ordinary prospecting licence. In terms of
the same section 23, a prospecting licence is valid for two (2) years.

A prospecting licence comes with certain rights and these in terms of section 27 include the right
to prospect and search for any minerals, mineral oils and natural gases on any land open to
prospecting. However, a holder of a prospecting licence at this stage is not allowed to remove ore
or dispose of any mineral deposits discovered except for purposes of assaying, drill or excavate at
the surface or underground of the land. In terms of section 29, the holder of a prospecting licence
also has the right to erect temporary structures on the land being prospected for purposes of
temporary accommodation.

After the issuance of the prospecting licence, the holder of a prospecting licence will then identify
the place appropriate for prospecting. However, not all land is appropriate for prospecting and
pegging and to counter that eventuality, the act listed of different types of land which is open for
prospecting. In terms of section 26 and this includes all state land and communal land and all
private land which is under government reservation. In terms of section 30, certain lands are not
open for prospecting and these include any private land (land within 450m of a homestead shall
not be open for prospecting, also any land under cultivation or any land with 90m of a permanent
cattle diptank or spray race etc, any mining location belonging to another, any land within the
surveyed limits of any town, city or village and also upon any licensed aerodrome.

The giving of a written notice of intention to prospect to the relevant authority immediately
follows after the identification of land open to prospecting. This is done in terms of section 29 as
read with section 38 of the act. Section lists different authorities to which this notice shall be
given for example if the land being prospecting is in communal land, the notice shall be given to
the rural district council established for that area. In terms of section 38(3), information relating
to the names and addresses of a person who will be in charge of the prospecting operations will
be included in the notice. Failure to give the notice as required in terms of section 38(2) attracts a
penalty of a fine or imprisonment which is one month or less in terms of section 38(8). In the
event of the land having been already pegged without the giving of a prior notice, that failure
does not invalidate or reverse that pegging in terms of section 38(7). This written notice is valid
for four (4) months and in terms of the aforementioned section and if pegging is not done within
this timeframe, the holder will have to give a fresh notice to be able to effect pegging which is
legal.

Moreover, after notifying the relevant authorities, if the holder of a prospecting licence wishes to
drill or excavate the land being prospected, he will have to post a notice inscribed ‘Prospecting
notice’ on the ground of that land. The effect of posting this notice is that the holder of a licence
will now enjoy the rights of drilling or excavating the land in the prospecting process. In terms of
section 40(2),’ All notices shall be distinctly and legibly written, printed or painted, and no paper
or other material which is liable to be washed off, and no writing liable to be rendered illegible
by rain or exposure shall, except for purely temporary purposes, be deemed a proper marking’.
This means that the notice has to posted on a place which is visible to everyone and the time
periods provided for by the law is from six o’clock in the morning up to six o’clock in the
afternoon and posting of notices between 6pm and 6am is not allowed by the law. It is important
to highlight that the processes of giving a notice to the relevant authorities and the one of posting
another notice on the ground may be done concurrently.

The next stage depends on whether the holder of a prospecting license who has posted a notice
has discovered some mineral deposit in the area which was under prospecting. In terms of section
42(1) if the holder of a prospecting licence discovers, within the area covered by the notice, any
deposit of ore of any precious stones or metals, that point of discovery will have to be marked
‘DP’. In cases of discovery of base metals or minerals, the same peg marked ‘DP’ will also be
placed at the point of discovery and indicate on a written ‘discovery notice’ which will be posted
at the place where the prospecting notice was posted and this has to be done between six o’clock
in the morning and six o’clock in the afternoon. Essentially, this stage is all about marking and
putting indications at the point where a mineral deposit has been found within the area which was
under prospecting.

The next stage involves the pegging of the area where the prospecting was done and the mineral
deposit was discovered. Pegging is done in terms of section 43 and a claim or a block of claims
not exceeding ten claims shall be pegged in regular form and it shall be in the form of a
parallelogram in cases of a regular form. This section has to be read with section 44 which
requires pegging to be done within thirty one (31) days of the posting of the prospecting notice
and discovery of mineral deposit on the land in question. Usually at this stage, services of an
approved prospector who has been registered as such in terms of section 15. The same approved
prospector may act on behalf of holder of a prospecting licence and help in the processes of
prospecting, discovery and pegging. Of importance to note is the fact that, in terms of section
43(7), the peg shall have a distinguished letter of the alphabet and the licence number contained
on the prospecting licence under which the pegging was done.

The next procedure that comes after pegging is the posting and displaying of a notice written
‘registration notice’ on the same block that has been pegged. This process is done in terms of
section 44 of the act. In terms of section 42, it will be deemed an abandonment of all rights that
come with a prospecting licence if the holder fails to peg off a block and post the required
‘registration notice’ within the above mentioned 31 days. The registration notice shall posted
adjacent to the point marked ‘DP’ which point was marked during the discovery stage and this
notice has to be posted during the day.

The final stage which bestows title to the person who has prospected, discovered and pegged the
area is the registration stage in terms of section 45. Under this stage, the person who has
prospected, discovered and pegged a block or blocks over a certain piece of land will obtain a
certificate of registration. This certificate gives the holder ownership rights over that certain block
subject to payment of levies and returns to the commissioner to avoid forfeiture. Section 45 (1)
requires the applicant to apply to the mining commissioner for a certificate of registration, within
31 days of posting the registration notice, and upon payment of a prescribed fee. Once a
certificate of registration has been issued, the holder is no different from a person who has title
deeds over immovable property. The holder assumes real rights over the pegged block or blocks
of land.

Conclusion

The advice proffered to Tatenda above provides a detailed summation of the various stages and
procedures involved in the acquisition of mining claims in Zimbabwe. The process is not an easy
and quick one which can be finished overnight as each notice to be posted has its mandated
duration. Various stages entail the whole process and it starts with the application for a
prospecting licence, then discovery of the mineral deposit on the same land, pegging of the blocks
and then obtaining a certificate of registration which essentially completes the acquisition of
mining rights process.