By Own Correspondent

A worker at Bikita Minerals Lithium Mine crashed to death yesterday by a front loader vehicle while working.

The incident has raised concern over the safety of employees at the Chinese owned mine due to recurring fatal work place accidents. This tragedy comes less than a week after a separate incident at the same mine where debris from blasting injured three children who were playing near the mine.

According to the incident report, the deceased Farai Murimoga who worked as a Sporte was run over by a front loader vehicle while he was on duty at around 10 pm .

The incident has brought sad views from the mine stakeholders who accuse the Chinese of taking little safety measures to protect its workers.

Bikita Institute of Land Development (BILD) a local human rights organization was quick to raise a red flag over safety concerns at the mine.

“BILD condemns in the strongest possible terms the tragic incidents that occurred on August 16 and 22, 2025, at Bikita Minerals, where a worker lost his life and three children were injured by debris from blasting operations. This preventable accidents represents yet another alarming breach of safety protocols and human dignity at Zimbabwe's largest lithium mining operation” said BILD in a statement.

Bild cites grave safety violations and a pattern of corporate negligence.

Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG) Director, Farai Maguwu expressed concerned over the recurring of safety accidents.

“It is not the first time. In past a worker was killed by a machine, others injured. Companies behave according to rules and standards set by the host government. In our case the government has relaxed safety standards and that is why statistics by the Chamber of Mines show an ever-rising number of mine accidents and fatalities. Someone is not doing their job” he said.

Stakeholders have called upon relevant authorities to investigate issues of safety and recurrent accidents at the mine amid accusations of gross human rights violations and limited efforts by the Chinese Sino mine owners to assist local communities.

Efforts to get a confirmation from the Mine Spokesperson Collin Nikisi were in vain as he was not reachable.