Nine People Arrested For Illegal Gold Mining At NUST Campus

Zimbabwean police arrested nine individuals on 11 July for illegally mining gold at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) campus.

The police posted on Twitter that the arrests took place at the NUST campus and the Bulawayo City Council Khumalo pit. Along with these arrests, the police recovered 85 kg of gold ore, a generator, two picks, a hammer, two water pumps, two shovels, an axe, and a machete. Reads the tweet:

On 11/07/23, Police in Bulawayo arrested nine people in connection with conducting illegal mining activities at NUST campus and Bulawayo City Council Khumalo pit.

The arrest led to the recovery of 85 kilogrammes of gold ore, a generator, two picks, a hammer, two water pumps, two shovels, an axe and a machete.

The issue of invasion of properties by gold panners is not new in Zimbabwe. The NUST incident comes in the wake of a related incident that occurred in May, where a family from Kwekwe narrowly escaped death after part of their house collapsed into an underground mining tunnel beneath their home. The Rusike family had been unknowingly living on top of a huge mining tunnel for years until they detected some noises due to mining activities underground and vacated the house. Part of the house then collapsed into the tunnel after the family had moved out.

In March, at least seven learners at Globe and Phoenix Primary School in Kwekwe’s Central Business District, Midlands Province, were injured after a classroom block collapsed into a mine shaft. The school had previously decommissioned some of its classroom blocks due to illegal gold panners randomly digging within its premises.

Kwekwe, a city in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, has many artisanal and small-scale miners who engage in gold panning, leading to such incidents of illegal mining.

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