Online Reporter
Fungi Kwaramba
National Editor
AUTHORITIES have initiated an investigation to determine whether mineral ore is being smuggled out of the country in direct violation of a national blanket ban on the export of raw minerals.
The Government enacted stricter regulations in 2023 to curb the illicit export of various high-value minerals in raw form.
The measures were designed to promote domestic value addition, retain more economic benefits within the country and curb revenue losses from unprocessed mineral exports.
Despite these regulations, concerns persist that raw mineral ores, within the specified sector, may still be leaving the country through unauthorised channels, hence the latest investigation that was launched at the behest of President Mnangagwa.
Sources within the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development revealed that in mid-December last year, a team consisting of officials from the ministry and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) visited Mozambique, where they made a shocking discovery of minerals that had been smuggled out of the country.
The team left the country on a mission that inter alia sought to establish whether the minerals stockpiled at the Port of Beira had been exported from Zimbabwe through legal channels.
“The team also wanted to establish what the minerals were and whether they were from Zimbabwe in view of the blanket ban on the export of mineral ores, except for lithium. It was established that they were indeed stockpiles of Zimbabwean mineral ores relating to different ores and stockpiled in warehouses,” said the source.
Subsequently, after the discovery, the delegation engaged their Mozambican counterparts, who revealed that they were equally concerned about the stockpiling of the minerals on their territory and apparently without the knowledge of the Zimbabwean Government.
“Mozambique expressed its readiness to ensure total compliance with the laws of Zimbabwe and SADC protocols, pledging its readiness to cooperate with the Zimbabwean investigators,” the source said.
Reached for comment, Presidential Spokesperson Mr George Charamba, who is also the acting Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, confirmed that this worrisome revelation came under discussion during a high-level meeting involving the Acting President, Dr Kembo Mohadi, who is standing in for President Mnangagwa, currently on leave.
“Upon consultation, His Excellency the President directed that that development be immediately investigated and hence the dispatch of the team,” said Mr Charamba.
He further reiterated Government’s policy on mining and the export of raw minerals without beneficiation.
“In terms of Government policy, I wish to remind everyone who is involved in mining, as well as our law enforcement agencies who man our ports of entry, that Government took a position of slapping a blanket ban on the exportation of mineral ore with a view to ensuring that there is greater value addition activity on our minerals. Inside the country, clear benchmarks were set for each mineral. The only mineral which was exempt from this ban was lithium.
“In view of the ongoing investments towards beneficiation, which are taking place at two mining centres, namely Prospects Lithium Zimbabwe in Goromonzi and also at Bikita Minerals, even then Government encouraged miners who are involved in the extraction of lithium to enter into some relationship with those two beneficiation centres with a view to ensuring that come 2027, January, no lithium ore will be allowed to leave the country.
“So it is very important for those involved in mining, as well as our law enforcement agencies, to abide by this position of Government and to enforce that position respectively. In the event that the stockpiles in Beira are found to relate to minerals to which this ban applies and that they found their way beyond our territory without the necessary permission, Government, working closely with the sister Republic of Mozambique, will ensure that the bridge is repaired swiftly and without fear or favour,” said Mr Charamba.
President Mnangagwa has repeatedly challenged the mining sector to enhance value addition to help end the country’s unsustainable reliance on exporting raw minerals.
Experts note that while over 60 percent of the nation’s exports are made up of mineral commodities, beneficiation and value addition can increase the sector’s overall contribution to socioeconomic development and also anchor re-industrialisation to build a strong integrated economy.
