"The proposed mining project poses a significant threat" to the park's Sinamatella Black Rhino Intensive Protection Zone, ZimParks said in a statement.

It said it "urges" the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to cancel the mining project "and never to entertain such applications in future."

ZimParks, tasked with ensuring the restoration of at least 30 percent of degraded land, inland water and ecosystems by 2030, said the proposed development "will increase the risk of extinction of the species and the prospects for population recovery."

This critical habitat for black rhinos, where populations have been growing, is listed in international conventions on endangered species.

Chinese firm Sunny Yi Feng has applied to prospect for coal in an area comprising more than 16,000 hectares less than eight kilometres (five miles) from the rhinos' protected zone, the government's official gazette dated February 14 said.

ZimParks said "the introduction of mining activities in this vital area would undermine ecological conditions essential for wildlife survival and reproduction."

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists black rhinos as "endangered" with just over 6,400 worldwide as of last September, down one percent on the previous year due to poaching.

Hwange National Park is also home to 65,000 elephants, Africa's second-largest concentration, and ZimParks said mining could interfere with the flow of groundwater, threatening vital water sources for local wildlife.

A previous case involving another Chinese company, Tongmao Coal Company, at the same park led the Zimbabwean government to say in 2020 it would ban mining in nature reserves.