Photo by: Creamer Media
An emergency operation managed to rescue all 15 small-scale Zimbabwean gold miners who had been trapped for four days after a shaft collapsed, according to Mines Minister Soda Zhemu.
”They are all okay and very conscious,” Zhemu said in a telephone interview from Penhalonga, at the scene of the accident.
The incident occurred Jan. 5 at the Redwing gold mine, which is 275 kilometers (171 miles) east of the capital, Harare, and is owned by Metallon Corp Ltd.
The country produced 30.1 tons of gold in 2023, of which 60% came from small scale miners, according to Fidelity Gold Refinery, the country’s sole authorized buyer of the commodity.