OVERVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF MINING ON THE ... - IIED pubs

3.18.1.5 Water management systems
The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Mozambican Ministerio De Aguas.
3.18.1.6 Human impacts on water resources (excluding mining)
The following could be expected to have an impact on water resources:
• Minor disposal of solid and liquid wastes at Cahora Bassa and Tete;
• Non-point sources of domestic effluent in the urban and rural areas;
• Litter and garbage on the main road between Zimbabwe and Blantyre in Malawi.
3.18.2 Mining and mineral processing operations
This sub-catchment hosts several small alluvial gold operations in the area immediately downstream of the
Cahora Bassa Dam and the gorge, with many artisan miners managing to eke out a living. In addition,
numerous artisan miners also extract semiprecious stones (especially aquamarine) from pegmatites close to the
border with Zambia. The Moatize Coal Mine is the largest mine in the area (Table 3.17; Figure 3.4).
Table 3.17: Mining operations in the Cahora Bassa (Mozambique) sub-catchment.
Code
Number
Name of Mine
Commodity
(ies) Mined
cxxxvii
Status
Relative
Size
Probable
Impact
Z-11 Capoche Aquamarine Prospecting Small Very low
Z-102 Gambito Gold Abandoned Small Very low
M-1 Missale Gold - alluvial Operating Artisan (many) Low
M-2 Fingoè Coal Prospecting Small Very low
M-3 Furancungo Coal Operating Very small Very low
M-4 Tsangano Coal Operating Very small Very low
M-5 Zambezi diggings Gold - alluvial Operating Artisan (many) Low – Medium
M-6 Zambezi Coal Abandoned Small Very low
M-7 Mphende Coal Prospecting Small Very low
M-8 Songo – Coal Coal Operating Very small Low
M-9 Matangua Uranium, Thorium Operating Very small Medium
M-10 Moatize Coal Operating Medium Medium
M-22 Moatize – Iron A Iron Prospecting Small Very low