Farm title or mining claim? What buyers of ground under farmland need to check

Many claims offered in Zimbabwe sit on land someone else farms. A recent column in Mining Zimbabwe by Namatirai Ruzvidzo, a Harare legal practitioner who specialises in mining and property law, works through what happens when a miner with a certificate arrives at a farmer's gate.¹ Her starting point is a real case on a Chegutu farm, where the farmer hired security and the claim holder threatened to return with police.

The minerals are separate from the surface

Under the Mines and Minerals Act [Chapter 21:05], mineral rights are handled separately from ownership of the surface. A farmer who owns or occupies land does not automatically own the minerals beneath it, and finding a deposit does not give the landowner a right to mine or sell it. Extraction needs state-issued title such as a registered claim, a mining lease or a special grant.¹

The column is just as clear in the other direction: a mining certificate is not a magic key. The miner's right, the state's control of minerals and the farmer's surface rights all have to be considered together. The answer turns on the land, the type and status of the mining right, the area affected and the procedure followed before entry.¹

A prospecting licence is not a mining title

Ruzvidzo stresses the difference between permission to look for minerals and a registered location that allows mining. She says documents should be checked for the holder's name, the registered location, the mineral, coordinates, date of issue, current status and conditions, and verified at the mining office. A photograph or a WhatsApp message is not proof.¹

She also notes that the gazetted Mines and Minerals Bill would replace the current Act with a modernised Mining Cadastre Register, which may change how overlapping land and mining rights are handled.¹ We covered the cadastre work in Cadastre digitisation moves on 60,000 licences.

Access, compensation and environment

The practical issue is usually access. The column recommends a written access or surface-use agreement covering the route, working area, hours, stockpiles, water, fencing, crops, livestock and who may enter, with a joint inspection and photographs as a baseline.¹

Compensation is available in appropriate circumstances, but it is not payment for unlimited damage, and an unreasonable demand by a farmer is not necessarily a permanent veto. A farmer's signature is also no substitute for environmental approval; mining may need environmental authorisation and a rehabilitation plan. If a dispute starts, neither side should use force: the route is the Provincial Mining Office and, if needed, the courts.¹

What this means if you are buying

If a claim on the register sits on farmland, treat access as part of what you are buying:

• Ask the seller who holds the surface rights and whether there is a written access or compensation agreement.
• Check the certificate, coordinates and status in person at the provincial mining office before money moves.
• Ask about environmental approval and any past disputes with the landholder.
• Allow for compensation and rehabilitation costs in your offer.

Sellers who can show a signed access agreement and clean, current title are offering something more valuable than a certificate alone. This is general information, not legal advice; take your own legal advice on a specific claim.