Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe Zvataida Rural District Council (Mining and Mineral Panning) By-laws, 2025

These by-laws put mining and mineral panning in the Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe Zvataida Rural District Council area under council oversight. Holders of prospecting, exploration and mining rights must lodge certified copies of their licences with the council together with the EIA report, environmental management plan or EIA certificate from EMA, and must carry out mine closure and rehabilitation measures. The by-laws establish an Environmental Rehabilitation Fund, allow the council to do rehabilitation works itself, and address corporate social responsibility and inspection of mining activities.

Council land development levies are set at US$1 000 a year for the first categories listed and US$500 for milling permits, with most remaining categories — alluvial and base mineral mining, non-producing claims and blocks, cyanidation companies and individuals, and the rehabilitation fund levy — charged on a cost recovery basis.

The penalties are among the heaviest of the 2025 mining by-laws: US$5 000 for failing to reclaim disused mines and for failing to rehabilitate after abandonment or closure; US$2 500 per inspection for failing to submit the EIA report, environmental management plan or certificate to the council, and US$2 500 for starting operations before lodging them; US$1 000 for panning any mineral without a licence or permit from both the council and the Ministry of Mines; and US$500 for failing to submit mining licences to the council. Penalties may alternatively be paid in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate.