According to a report by Mining.com, citing Bloomberg, Zimbabwe has banned sand mining in riverbeds to protect the environment. The ban takes effect immediately and will affect many gold miners in the country.
　　On Tuesday local time, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture Anxious Masuka announced the decision following a cabinet meeting, adding that mandatory measures would be taken to enforce the ban.
　　In a cabinet briefing, Information Minister Jenfan Muswere stated that since 2011, this Southern African nation has allowed large-scale mechanized mining of sand deposits, leading to water pollution, siltation, and degradation of river channels. In 2020, authorities had issued a similar ban, but it was never actually enforced.
　　More than 60% of Zimbabwe’s gold is mined by small-scale miners, many of whom extract it from alluvial gold deposits in riverbeds.
　　Official data show that in the first seven months of this year, Zimbabwe's gold production increased from 16,855.4 kilograms in the same period last year to 17,279.4 kilograms.