Africa’s first all-female gem mine

Since colonial times, working in Zimbabwe's gem mines has been hard, dirty, and miserable. Not so at a mine in the north of the country. Only women mine here - sustainably, with decent pay and the prospect of a better education.

Picture: Iver Rosenkrantz/Zimbaqua

When Rumbidzai Gwinji visits the Zimbaqua mine for the first time, she knows right away: "I want to be part of this." She sees dozens of women digging in a pit for aquamarines. Others are tending the beds in the neighboring garden. Gwinji had traveled to rural northern Zimbabwe to train the mine workers. Safety and sustainability in mining are on the syllabus. "But I was the one who learned the most during those days in the mine," says Gwinji today: about cohesion and the value of independence as a woman and a mother. Without further ado, she applied for a permanent position as a coordinator at Zimbaqua. She got it. Since then, Gwinji has been part of the team at Africa's first all-women mine.

Two men founded the Zimbaqua gem mine. "We turned conventional mining on its head," says entrepreneur Patrick Tendaye Zindoga. Together with his Danish business partner Iver Rosenkrantz, he bought about 50 hectares of land in the Karoi region three years ago. On-site, they repeatedly sought dialogue with residents. "It was clear that the women there had no prospects," says Rosenkrantz. Some dug for gemstones on their own. Others worked in the fields, harvesting maize and tobacco. But most were unemployed and, if married, dependent on their husbands' wages. Zindoga and Rosenkrantz set out to change that.

Zimbaqua now employs 30 women. With a bachelor's degree in environmental health and safety, mine coordinator Gwinji is an exception. Most of the workers have no qualifications and no experience in mining. In Zimbabwe, education is a question of money from an early age. Even government schools charge fees. "Sometimes I couldn't pay my children's school fees," says Anatolia Mapfumo. Today she works as a manager at Zimbaqua. She used to pan for gold, but the returns were meager. Whenever there wasn't enough money, her three children had to stay at home. There is no compulsory education in Zimbabwe. This creates a vicious circle: no money, no education, no job, no money. Zindoga and Rosenkrantz want to break this cycle.

This is not just charity, but a sophisticated strategy. "We want to give back to the community," says Zindoga. But he also says: "It's a business model, we want to make a profit. He does not see this as a contradiction. On the contrary, he sees it as the only way to successfully drive the development of his home country. When Western companies come to Africa, things are often different. Then the focus is often solely on profit, and the local people take a back seat.

During the colonial era, mining was always a mainstay. European companies usually used cheap labor to extract the raw materials - and sold them abroad at high prices. What the local population was left with was often nothing more than starvation wages and destroyed land. "Zimbabwe is only now learning to manage its own resources," says Zindoga. After all, the West had a head start of hundreds of years, and colonial structures prevented development for a long time. Zimbabwe only became officially independent in 1980. Zindoga was a year old at the time. It was a promising time, with the economy growing strongly at first.

Today, Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in the world. Decades of Robert Mugabe's rule have left their mark. The infrastructure is dilapidated and export restrictions make it difficult to trade with the outside world. Even after Mugabe's overthrow in 2017, the hoped-for change failed to materialise. High unemployment, hyperinflation and food insecurity followed. The coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters such as Cyclone Idai have exacerbated the situation. According to the World Bank, almost half of the population will be living below the extreme poverty line by 2020. This means that one in two people in Zimbabwe today lives on around US$30 a month or less. Yet the country is rich in natural resources such as gold, platinum, lithium, diamonds, and other precious stones. But how can the people of Zimbabwe benefit?

Zindoga seeks dialogue with the people. On the one hand, within the country, with disadvantaged groups such as women and young people. On the other hand, outside the country. "If you close yourself off, you can't grow. Zimbabwe needs to open up and think globally, says Zindoga. This is another reason why he has teamed up with Rosenkrantz. The Danish-born Rosenkrantz has lived in Africa for more than 15 years, including working with miners in Kenya. "A young country like Zimbabwe needs mentors like him," says Zindoga.

He has the necessary experience - and contacts to potential customers abroad, such as the sustainable New York jewelry label Renna Jewels. He has also already launched his jewellery collections on the market. However, Rosenkrantz also knows how difficult the first few years in particular can be: "A mine can be a big hole that you have to keep putting money into."

Zimbaqua opened in 2019. When the coronavirus pandemic hit Zimbabwe the following year, operations came to a standstill for weeks. To make the most of the time, the team designed a jewelry collection. The "Karoi Collection" was launched a few weeks ago. "We are still in the early start-up phase," says Zindoga. Zimbaqua has not yet made any significant profits. The workers at the mine earn 140 US dollars a month. By way of comparison, the minimum wage for farm laborers is around 15 US dollars a month, depending on the exchange rate. The company also pays for medical care for the women and their families. This alone has changed their lives, says laborer Esther Chiroroma. Her husband is paralyzed from the waist down and has been getting worse every year. "Since I started working at Zimbaqua, he can finally be treated," says Chiroroma.

According to Zindoga, wages in the mining industry are set by the state "to ensure that workers are paid adequately". But the document also states that companies are free to pay more if they can. Zingoda says: "As soon as operations are running at 100 percent, we want to do more.

The commodities business remains ambivalent to this day. On the one hand, it can bring much-needed money to poor countries like Zimbabwe - on fair terms. On the other hand, any intervention in the environment leaves its mark. And it threatens another resource in the Karoi region: the fertile soil. "The environment is not a priority for many mining companies," says Gwinji. When she set up her own business as a sustainability and safety consultant after graduating, she only had one or two jobs a year at most.

Rosenkrantz and Zindoga are also looking to turn the tide. They have committed themselves to the United Nations' 17 sustainability goals. How will this work? In Zimbaqua, five women form an "environmental team". Before starting work, they collect seeds from the surrounding area and store them in a seed bank. When a pit is closed, the team plants the seeds so that new life can grow there. Zimbaqua does not use chemicals in any of its operations. "We always want to preserve nature and the environment," says Rosenkrantz. In the neighbouring garden, the team grows tomatoes and onions, and maize on a five-hectare field. The entire harvest goes to the workers and their families. Ultimately, this is what sustainability means to the founders of Zimbaqua: self-empowerment. "When we empower women," says Rosenkrantz, "it helps the whole community.

When you ask workers what they want for their children, one word comes up again and again: a good education. Now this wish is about to become a reality. Before the mine opened, Zindoga and Rosenkrantz promised to invest ten percent of profits in social projects. The women decide what to do with the money.

Although the profits are still small, there are big plans: a primary school is to be built in the next few months, as well as a children's clinic and a training center. This will teach the workers how to turn gemstones into jewelry. From the ground-breaking ceremony to the finishing touches, everything will be in the hands of the women of the Karoi region. The state-run Zimbabwe School of Mines wants to work with them, says Zindoga. This would allow the women workers to catch up with state-recognized training in mining. "This is a big deal here in rural Zimbabwe.”

The founders also want to promote agriculture. If all goes according to plan, the community will be largely self-sufficient in food within three to five years. Zindoga and Rosenkrantz want to buy another 15 hectares of land for this purpose. They are currently waiting for the green light from the regional authorities. New York and Oslo-based architects Snøhetta are already working on designs at their own expense. "We are getting closer to our dream," says Zindoga. Mine coordinator Gwinji also sees Zimbabwe as a land of opportunity: "We are constantly developing, with our own resources." Gwinji says she has big goals for the next few years: she wants to become an engineer. Working at Zimbaqua is an important stepping stone on her journey.