Call on Govt to open up ground in chrome mining

The Government should finish amending the Mines and Minerals Act to allow for enforcement of the use it or lose it policy, a Committee of Parliament has said. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy said this in its recent report on the chrome mining sector.
The recommendation came after the committee established that out of the 4 359 registered blocks of chrome in the country almost 70 percent were in the hands of two companies, Zimasco and ZimAlloys.

The committee found out that the claims that the two companies held had high-grade ores with a chrome content of between 58 to 62 percent.
It urged the Government to open up ground in chrome mining to allow more players into the sector.

“The Committee observed that some of the claims were pegged as far back as 1904, a situation which has made it difficult for new entrants, especially the indigenous players, to actively participate in the sector.

“The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Mines should negotiate with these companies to release ground to enable indigenous players to acquire claims with high chrome ore content so that they can effectively participate in the sector.”

The committee also found out that ZimAlloys, the second largest holder of chrome claims, had not been operating in the past 10 years resulting in its failure to utilize its claims.

In the absence of financial investment, the committee said prospects of ZimAlloys recovering from its predicament were bleak.
The Government created an opportunity for ZimAlloys to raise capital through chrome exports between 2010 and 2011.

However, this did not yield much result and the committee established that the company requires over $22 million for re-capitalisation.
“The Committee noted with concern that ZimAlloys is holding on to an important resource which it is unable to convert to optimal use and yet on the other hand there are small-scale miners who are failing to acquire the high-grade ores to sustain and maximise their operations.

“At the same time there is huge demand on the world market for the mineral.”
There is also need to put in place a modern mining title system which would address claim ownership identities and wrangles.

This followed the discovery that some of the claims that were in the hands of the indigenous players were actually owned by Chinese companies.
“Of the seven Chinese miners that the Committee met, only one confidently admitted that it had acquired the claims through the proper channels.

MMCZ also confirmed to the Committee that one of its audits revealed that there were some locals who were being used as fronts by Chinese to acquire claims,” said the committee.

Zimbabwe and South Africa hold more than 80 percent of the world’s chrome ore reserves with mining in Zimbabwe mainly concentrated on the Great Dyke which is estimated to hold about 10 billion tonnes of reserves

For the period 2009 to 2011, the sector made exports worth $53,6 million from an average production of about 500 000 tonnes per year.
However in 2013, the sector is anticipated to experience restricted growth with an expected annual production level of only 282 000 tonnes against a maximum potential of 750 000 tonnes a year. – New Ziana.