Paper short abstract:

This paper will look at the social organisation of makorokozas in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe specifically looking at Penhalonga and Odzi areas . I will look at the relationship between the makorokozas and the formal large scale mines in the two areas.

Paper long abstract:

Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) of gold in Zimbabwe is undertaken either through the exploitation of reefs or alluvial placer deposits. Millions of makorokozas (illegal gold miners in local parlance) in Zimbabwe are exploiting ancient and abandoned primitive gold mines. Despite this huge footprint of ASM, no spatial and social understanding exists of its activities from the extraction, processing and brokerage of the gold. This paper will look at the social organisation of makorokozas in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe specifically looking at Penhalonga and Odzi areas which are hotspot zones of 'informal mining'. The most interesting aspect that I seek to bring out in this paper is the uneasy relationship between the extractive activities of the makorokozas and the formal large scale mines in these areas. The makorokozas are constantly labelled as 'illegal'. However, I will argue in this paper that there is nothing illegal about ASM activities. In fact, using archaeological evidence, I will show that ASM has a long history of organisation which dates back to to 11th century AD when the locals discovered and started mining this gold belt. As a result, most of the large scale capitalist mines the so called 'formal mines' were established on known ancient mines. Therefore, there is a long duree in ASM which needs to be understood as having been formal and systematically organised that in itself heralded the setting up of all the subsequent gold mines in the area.