Sculpture Rock Mining In Zimbabwe

The majority of stones used in Zimbabwean sculpture are locally sourced and belong to the geological family of Serpentine. 

They are sedimentary, having originally been laid down on a sandy sea floor and metamorphic, since subsequent exposure to intense heat and pressure over hundreds of millions of years has transformed them into hard stone. 

Serpentines are rich in iron, so when the stone weathers it turns a rust colour.  

Zimbabwe houses The Great Dyke -a 2.5 billion year old horse-shoe ridge of 500km stretching through the North and East round to the centre of the country and is rich in minerals of every description.

Different areas of The Dyke produce a different variety of stone.  Over 200 colours of stone have been geologically catalogued, ranging in Mohs scale of mineral hardness from 1-5.5 on the scale of hard stones, with Granite being 6.

Serious sculptors prefer the hardest varieties such as Springstone.  Dense stones have extremely fine grains and uniform structure, making them ideal raw materials for sculpting.

Most of the stones artists use are mined from this Dyke, by hand.  Mines tend to be small-scale, open cast operations.  They are too small to cause any environmental damage and form a valuable alternative source of income to rural communities.

Art from Zimbabwe especially Shona stone sculptures are highly sought after around the world, many of the artists realising international acclaim enabling them to sell their pieces of art for extremely high prices.