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

The only impact from mining to be expected is that which may arise from small-scale chrome mining along the
Great Dyke.
3.36 The Ruya sub-catchment
3.36.1 General description
3.36.1.1 Hydrology
This is Zone M2 of Area D (ZSG, 1984; Figure 3.2). The Ruya River is dammed at Frogmore near Mvurwi.
3.36.1.2 Geology
See Figure 3.6 (ZGS, 1999). North of Mount Darwin, Zambezi Mobile Belt gneisses underlie the subcatchment.
South of Mount Darwin is the Darwin Greenstone Belt and granitic terrain.
3.36.1.3 Pedology, agriculture and land use
Soils in the sub-catchment can be divided into two groups:
• Moderately shallow, coarse grained kaolinitic sands and sandy loams, derived from the granites and
gneisses; and
• Moderately deep to deep, granular clays, formed from the Greenstone Belt (DRSS, 1979).
South and northwest of Mount Darwin, the sub-catchment lies generally within Natural Region IIa: high and
reliable rainfall of up to 1000mm per annum and deep soils. Northwest of Mount Darwin is in Region III, high
rainfall and deep soils and Region IV: fairly low rainfall of 450mm to 650mm per annum (ZSG, 1997; Surveyor
General and AGRITEX, 1998).
Land use south and northwest of Mount Darwin is commercial farming, private and resettlement land (ZSG,
1998), with intensive livestock and cash crop production. Northeast of Mount Darwin are Communal Lands,
soils are somewhat poorer and rainfall slightly lower, limiting agriculture to drought resistant crops and livestock
supported by fodder crops.
The major settlements are Mount Darwin, Mutepatepa and Rushinga.
cxciv