The mining industry created about 30 000 jobs between 2021 and 2022, a cabinet minister has said.
Speaking in an interview with The Sunday Mail, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando also said in 2022, mineral exports reached US$5.4 billion. He said:
Zimbabwe’s mining sector plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of the country, particularly through employment creation.
The mining sector employed a total of 106 151 direct workers as of the end of 2022.
There has been a significant increase in the number of people employed in the sector from a baseline of 77 799 at the conception of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
NDS 1 was launched in 2021, which means 28 352 jobs were created in the past two years.
… In 2022, the mining industry attained US$5.4 billion in exports against a targeted projection of US$8 billion. In comparison with the base year, 2017, wherein the mining sector’s annual revenue amounted to US$2.7 billion, the mining sector has demonstrated a 100 percent increase in terms of mineral exports.
According to a report on the state of the mining industry and prospects for 2023 published by the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, which represents the country’s big mining companies, the sector expects to add 4 000 jobs this year.
Zimbabwe is targeting a US$12 billion mining economy by the end of this year.
In 2017, the mining sector contributed about 9 percent to the country’s gross domestic product and the figure rose to over 13 percent in 2022.