Govt to curb gold leakages

Whinsley Masara Bulawayo Bureau
Government is working on amending the Precious Stones Act and the Gold Trade Act to curb leakages of the country’s precious minerals and enhance their marketing, Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa has said.

In a speech read on his behalf during the 5th Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba, Minister Chidhakwa said: “The ministry is in the process of crafting the principles of the Precious Stones Trade Act. The main objectives for amending the Acts are to curb leakages in the trade of the nation’s precious stones and to promote the efficient marketing of the country’s precious and semi-precious stones.

“The Government is in the process of crafting a new mining fiscal regime that is meant to usher in transparency and competitive rates to support both the fiscus as well as attract investment.”

He said the initiative was being done with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy and should now be brought to finality.

“As President Robert Mugabe has clarified the issue of indigenisation, it will be a requirement that mining entities retain 75 percent of their revenue as local content.

“Local content refers to the value retained in Zimbabwe in the form of wages, salaries, taxation, community ownership schemes and other activities such as procurement and linkage programmes,” he said.

The indaba, organised by the Zimbabwe Environment Lawyers Association (Zela), was held under the theme: “Mining Sector Reforms: A call for economic, social and environmental justice.”

Minister Chidhakwa highlighted that the sector had been singled out in the economic blueprint, Zim-Asset, as the anchor of the country’s socio-economic development and economic revival.

“As the theme rightfully points out, there is need to ensure that the objective of all mining sector reforms is to bring forth broad-based economic development, social inclusivity and environmental justice.

“In 2015, however, the sector recorded negative growth in most minerals with only gold and platinum recording positive growth. This was mainly due to depressed mineral prices in the international market,” said Mr Chidhakwa.

“The outlook for 2016 is promising with major minerals recording a robust performance in the first half of the year as compared to the same period last year despite the challenges of depressed international commodity prices, depreciating regional currencies and lack of access to affordable funding.”