Zimbabwe: A Gold Mining Boom Amid Rapid Agrarian Change

Abstract

This paper explores the changing dynamics of Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector. The paper starts by providing a brief historical overview of gold mining in Zimbabwe before exploring the dramatic increase in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) within the context of Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Program implemented in 2000. The paper argues that the difficult economic situation in Zimbabwe has led to the decline in industrial gold mining in favour of ASGM which has witnessed a dramatic growth in production during an ongoing economic crisis. The paper concludes by highlighting how the structural changes taking place in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector are influenced by both local and global factors which have seen gold production increasingly dominated by the ASGM sector under a new gold mining frontier. The paper is based on ethnographic data gathered in Mhondoro-Ngezi in central Zimbabwe.