eBusiness Weekly
1936 — Tin was discovered in the area, Kamativi, which means small valleys.The mine was formed in 1953 and up till 1968 about 65 percent of mill tonnage was drawn from surface open cast sections.
1994 — Kamativi Tine Mines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, stops operations after 58 years of operation. Closure of the mine was caused by the fall of the price of Tin in 1985. The mine produced tin and other by-products including tantalite niobium and lithium minerals.
2003 — It was reported that three MDC legislators were evicted from the Kamativi tin mine complex, allegedly to make way for ruling ZANU-PF supporters and youth militia trained under the national service programme.
2005 — Then Minister of Mines and Mining Development Ambassador Amos Midzi announced that plans to resuscitate Kamatiovi Mine “had reached an advanced stage.”
2007 — Zimbabwe Miners Federation president George Kawonza they were engaging the ZMDC for the possibility of establishing a strategic alliance to resuscitate the tin mine.
2009 — Then ZMDC chief executive Dominic Mubaiwa said the corporation was in negotiations with an unnamed South African investor.
2012 — Government shortlists 3 investors to revive Kamativi mine.
2013 — Government, through Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) started looking for a strategic partner for Kamativi when a South African investor showed keen interest to invest in the mine but while nothing came out of the talks.
2014 — Around this time tin prices had stabilised to around $23 000 per tonne.
February 2014 — Former Kamativi Tin Mine employees made a request for the rights to claim ownership of the minerals at the disused mine and its properties, according to communication between the workers and the ZMDC. The former workers wanted to be allowed to mine on a small-scale basis but this did not come into fruition.
April 2014 — Then Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa appointed a new ZMDC board, chaired by former Chamber of Mines chief executive, David Murangari and tasked the board with reviving Kamativi Tim Mine and other mothballed mines across the country.
2016 — China Beijing Pinchang, once a subsidiary of China Railways, had agreed to inject around $102 million for a 49 percent stake in a joint venture arrangement with ZMDC for the revival of the Kamativi Mine.
February 2017 – Zimbabwean and Chinese geologists carrying out a feasibility study for a revival of the mine reported to have discovered more lithium than tin, according to then Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa.
