Matabeleland North has long been known for its hidden riches, but beneath the surface lies a dark network of corruption and deceit. Following three months of intensive undercover investigation, reviewing company records, and tracking covert activities, we can now expose the shocking extent of a gold smuggling syndicate led by Francesco Marconati, an Italian who portrays himself as a mafia figure. His operations have been bleeding Zimbabwe’s economy dry.
For years, Marconati’s underhanded dealings have allowed him to evade detection. However, his operation is anything but small. Our investigation reveals that Marconati’s monthly gold production consistently ranges between 65 and 66 kilograms, with a significant portion smuggled out of the country to South Africa. Remarkably, while he declares an average of just 25 to 26 kilograms per month to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Fidelity), the state’s gold-buying entity, Marconati is secretly smuggling out approximately 40 kilograms each month.
The gold smuggled out of Zimbabwe is not just a minor flow but a flood. At one point, Marconati was processing over 4,000 tonnes of ore with a rich grade of 2.3 grams per tonne, yielding around 23.33 kilograms of gold. Despite this substantial output, a paltry 2.3 kilograms were reported to Fidelity. The remaining 21 kilograms disappeared without a trace, slipping through Zimbabwe’s regulatory gaps—a stark indicator of the ineffectiveness of current measures to curb rampant smuggling.
Our investigation traced these activities across four major mining claims: Ding Dong, Claydon East, Little Mviga, and Gamecock. The scale of Marconati’s operations is astounding, with these four claims alone accounting for a significant portion of his undeclared gold. But this is just the beginning.
Francesco Marconati, alongside his son Alessandro Marconati and a 24-year-old woman named Kimberly Pikinini—a former strip dancer he met at the Philadelphia Italian Craft Beer House & Restaurant, previously owned by Italian Nicola Troles—are running a parallel operation known as custom milling. Francesco and Pikinini are romantically involved, and he has recently purchased two commuter minibuses for her. These minibuses transport workers from Bulawayo to the Bubi mines for a daily fee of US$3 per trip. The workers have expressed their dissatisfaction with this arrangement but to no avail.
Beyond these main mining sites, Marconati operates a custom milling plant that processes additional ore brought in by artisanal miners from over 500 claims in the Bubi district. The financial records for this milling operation are tightly controlled by a small group of trusted associates, including Naledi, who manages the custom milling, Mehluli Njamela, a mining surveyor, and Tsila Kwanike, another surveyor. Our investigation has uncovered that the gold obtained from these artisanal miners is never declared to Fidelity. Instead, it is channeled into the smuggling network, further increasing Marconati’s illicit profits at the expense of Zimbabwe’s national revenue.
In a daring act of undercover work, our agents have followed the team of gold buyers employed by Marconati to smuggle gold out of Zimbabwe. The complex web of smuggling routes, the identities of the smugglers, and their operational tactics have been meticulously recorded. We now have in our possession their names—a closely guarded secret until our investigation progresses to its next phase.
What we reveal today is only the beginning. The full scope of Marconati’s operations, the network of accomplices that supports them, and the exact routes used to smuggle Zimbabwe’s precious resources into neighboring countries will be unveiled in the next installment of our investigative series.
We were unable to secure a comment from the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando, who is currently on leave. Additionally, Wilfred Munesti, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines, is unavailable as he is in China.
As we continue to uncover the layers of this vast criminal enterprise, it becomes evident that the corruption within Zimbabwe’s mining sector runs deep. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will disclose the names, routes, and methods of Marconati’s smuggling agents. The bravery of those who came forward and the diligent work of our investigative team underscore the urgent need for transparency and reform in Zimbabwe’s mining industry.
