adminreserves and the leverage on the abundant extractive resources to attract investment.
The group said the mineral survey was more critical than the land reform programme as most of of Zimbabwe’s wealth lay in mining.
Government is already working on an aeromagnetic survey of minerals, but this does not reveal the quantity or value – it simply identifies the location.
CZI said several countries had used the plan to attract foreign investment. Zimbabwe needed to follow their example without further delay.
It warned that if Government did not act immediately, business would itself sponsor a mineral survey of the country.
CZI president Mr Joseph Kanyekanye said last week Government should quickly commission an extensive research on the value and quantity of mineral reserves.
This would be presented to foreign investors willing to pump in huge sums of capital, which had eluded the country over the past 10 years.
“This plan has been done before,” said Mr Kanyekanye. “The issue of derivatives and leveraging minerals has been done by other countries. If they (Government) do not have talent, they should let us provide it.
“For me, this is more important than the land reform programme. The wealth of this country is not in agriculture, it is in the minerals.”
The CZI boss said they knew of people from Malaysia who were willing to undertake the survey for the country to leverage its vast mineral resources.
This was an urgent matter that needed to be carried out before Zimbabwe had fully integrated into the global economy.
He lamented the fact that firms listed in London and South Africa obtained mineral claims in Zimbabwe for what he described as “a pittance”.
They were allowed to prospect and use the results to attract investors, but did not bring all the capital raised in their operations to Zimbabwe.
“They are getting mineral rights after paying about US$600,” said Mr Kanyekanye. “They do a prospectus – a document which says I have done prospecting and there is US$40 billion worth of resources. And what do they do? They go outside the country and invite people to buy into their companies.”
But after bringing negligible amounts as capital the companies were given vast amounts of mineral resources, wealth far more than what they would have invested, he said.
Mr Kanyekanye said it made little sense for the country to “brag” about its vast mineral resources when its people were not benefiting from this wealth.
Government has identified mining as a strategic sector that would drive economic growth and development, particularly in the wake of the rally in global mineral prices.
The mining sector is projected to grow by 44 percent this year, driven largely by increased output from gold, platinum, diamond, nickel and coal.
But mining firms continue to be haunted by the acute shortage of affordable long-term funding. Local funding is largely short-term and prohibitively expensive.
Online Reporter