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Business Reporter
Zimbabwe has significantly cut most mining fees while scrapping the $5 million registration fees for diamonds, according to a Government notice published last week. According to the new charges published on Friday, registration fees for platinum special prospecting licence have been slashed from $2,5 million to $750 000.
Application fees for an ordinary platinum prospecting licence is now $500 from $500 000. The application for a special platinum prospecting is unchanged at US$500 000.
The application or renewal fees for diamonds has remained at $1 million while registration or renewal fee for coal and energy related has been cut to $100 000 from $500 000.
The application fees for coal, coal bed methane, gas mineral, mineral oils and nuclear energy remains at US$100 000.
In the new regulations, applications for registration as an approved prospector paid every five years has been slashed to $4 000 from $5 000 while special prospecting licence for a mining district and the whole country has been reduced to $2 500 from $3 000 and $2 500 from $3 000 respectively.
Analysts said they were still studying the “actual impact” of the new mining fees but the new fees structure would go some way in reducing the cost of mining in Zimbabwe.
“This is what the miners have been calling for but we are still studying the impact of the new pricing structure,” former Chamber of Mines president Mr Victor Gapare said in an interview.
Zimbabwe’s economy is expected to grow by an average 7,3 percent in the next five years, with mining being one of the most critical sector expected to drive that growth.
However, the analysts said the high charges were threatening the viability of the sector, which requires as much as US$6 billion in new investments.
Zimbabwe has the world’s second-largest platinum reserves after South Africa, as well as significant gold, diamond, coal, iron ore and chrome resources.
Online Reporter