The drilling project starts in June and the firm has signed a drilling contract with British firm Cluff Energy and a drilling rig contract with Exalo.

Invictus also signed a petroleum exploration development and production agreement (PEDPA) with the government. The PEDPA is the guideline and also outlines the roles of each party throughout the project.

Studies were conducted in the Muzarabani area in the early 1990s by Mobil and the results look promising.

The exploration of oil and gas is new territory for Zimbabwe and could boost the country’s economy. Potential benefits also include electricity generation, production of liquid petroleum, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fertilizer production and petro-chemicals.

It is no secret that Zimbabwe is rich in minerals and that these minerals are mined on a daily basis. If mining generally has not done much in saving the Zimbabwean economy, how will this new project suddenly boost the economy to new heights? Foreign firms do not conduct research and drill for free. They also want to benefit from the action.

Zimbabwe could look to Botswana for inspiration on how to make the mining system work for the country. Botswana has over recent years, made moves to control as much of its diamond deposits as possible. These moves include but are not limited to:

• Opening a diamond sorting center in Botswana in 2006. The country invested in having locals being taught how to sort diamonds into one of 250 categories of rough diamonds that De Beers established based on the ‘4 Cs’: carat [size], clarity, color and cut
• Since 2011, the rough stones that were sorted were no longer sent to London. They remained in Gaborone where they were cut and sold.

A leaf could be taken from the changes Botswana made. Zimbabwe needs to rely less on external firms and invest more in equipping local firms. As it stands many people leave Zimbabwe to go abroad and specialize on various programmes. It can start off as simple as introducing better programmes to tertiary institutions. The changes do not have to be big but over time improvements can be made that help Zimbabwe to be more accountable and in control of its resources.

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