Human remains found in a mine in Chinhoyi

WORKERS at a mine in Chinhoyi stumbled upon human remains including three skulls, live rounds of ammunition and hand grenades on Saturday.

Mashonaland West police spokesperson Inspector Clemence Mabgweazara confirmed the incident, adding that investigations were still in progress.

"We have a case in which human remains which are believed to be from the liberation struggle were found at Eldorado Mine in Chinhoyi. We also found ammunition including hand grenades and at least 450 rounds of ammunition and rifles," he said.

The Zimbabwe National Army had to be called at Eldorado Gold Mine, near Hunyani Farm to detonate at least 8 TNT hand grenades and identify several rounds of ammunition.

The workers came across the human remains on December 24 at around noon when they were working underground and they made a report to the police and the ZNA Bomb Disposal Unit which managed to detonate at least 8 TNT hand grenades.

The workers were about 24 metres underground when they stumbled upon the remains. Also discovered in the shaft were 200 FN rifle loose rounds and 400 x 9mm live rounds of ammunition which had not yet been identified at the time of going to print.

A butt of a suspected AK47 rifle and two rusty empty magazines which are also suspected to be of an AK47 rifle were recovered on the scene while 8 TNT M962 hand grenades found on the scene were detonated by the Bomb Disposal Unit.

The remains were taken to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital while the ammunition was taken by the ZNA Bomb Disposal Unit for further investigations.

It is believed that the mine was opened by German nationals around 1896 and operations ceased in 1914.

Operations were resuscitated in 2005 through a joint venture by one local man and some Chinese nationals.