Online Reporter
Sunday News Correspondent
Zimbabwe must significantly increase investment in mineral exploration while creating a more competitive investment environment if it is to fully unlock its vast mineral wealth and sustain long-term growth in the mining sector, internationally acclaimed exploration expert Allan Dolan has said.
Addressing delegates at the inaugural Mining Exploration Symposium held on the sidelines of the Mine Entra in Bulawayo, Dolan said exploration was the foundation upon which every successful mining industry was built and should be regarded as a national strategic priority.
The symposium, officially opened by Vice-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, brought together senior Government officials, mining executives, investors, geologists and exploration specialists to deliberate on strengthening Zimbabwe’s exploration landscape as the country seeks to achieve its ambitious mining sector growth targets.
Dolan said while Zimbabwe remained richly endowed with a wide range of mineral resources, future prosperity would depend on the country’s ability to continually discover new deposits capable of replacing ageing and depleted mines.
He noted that globally, junior exploration companies now account for nearly 90 percent of all major mineral discoveries, making them indispensable drivers of future mining development.
“Junior exploration companies are, by an order of magnitude, the most successful funding structure for exploration,” he said.
Drawing from international experience, Dolan cited the discovery of Sierra Leone’s giant Tonkolili iron ore deposit as an example of how sustained exploration can unlock enormous economic value through billions of dollars in investment, employment creation, infrastructure development and long-term export earnings.
His personal experience discovering Sierra Leone’s giant Tonkolili iron ore mine in 2006, resulted in discovering a mine which now contributes roughly 25 percent of that country’s GDP; Dolan emphasised the transformative economic power of successful exploration.
The Tonkolili mine, discovered by a company he started, represents a $2.8 billion investment and boasts a 60-year mine life.
He said Zimbabwe possessed outstanding geological potential but faced increasing competition for international exploration capital from other mining jurisdictions that continuously refined their fiscal and regulatory frameworks to attract investors.
To improve competitiveness, Dolan recommended that Zimbabwe undertake an independent benchmarking exercise comparing its mining policies, licensing procedures and fiscal regime with those of leading global mining destinations.
He also challenged policymakers and industry leaders to critically examine why Zimbabwe, despite its rich geological endowment and more than a century of mining history, had recorded relatively few major mineral discoveries over the past two decades and was yet to develop internationally recognised Tier One, Tier Two or Tier Three gold mines.
Vice-President Chiwenga, in his keynote address officially opening the symposium, reaffirmed Government’s commitment to building a modern, globally competitive mining industry capable of driving industrialisation, creating employment and contributing towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
The successful hosting of the inaugural Mining Exploration Symposium was widely viewed as an important step in elevating exploration to the centre of Zimbabwe’s mining development agenda while strengthening dialogue between Government, investors and technical experts on strategies to unlock the country’s untapped mineral potential.
