A mine manager was attacked and killed on Wednesday night at Sanary Mine, Mashonaland West Province, by workers at the mine who then fled with gold ore and explosives.
Police identified the dead man as Robert James Chilpott aged 68, who was managing the mine on behalf of the owner who is based in South Africa.
The entire night shift of the mine vanished with 20 tonnes of gold ore and a number of explosives and a manhunt has been launched, focussing on the missing shift.
Police suspect that the employees could have been in the habit of stealing gold or gold concentrates after processing the gold ore during the night. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said:
We have also established that the employees were mining gold ore, which they would later process into gold during the night and on the day in question, the now-deceased ambushed the workers at around 11 pm and discovered that they had processed the gold.
It is suspected that Chilpott questioned workers and an argument arose and he was then attacked and died on the spot.
Police officers were yesterday still at the mine trying to ascertain what had transpired.