adminNgoni Dapira Business Correspondent
THE Manicaland Miners Association has called for the reduction of levies charged on small-scale miners and millers in order to boost gold deliveries. This was said last week Friday in Mutare during the annual general meeting of the association.
MMA chairman Mr Lovemore Kasha said more gold deliveries could be registered if affordable levies were charged on small-scale miners.
The call also comes on the backdrop of the pronouncement last week Thursday by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Cde Patrick Chinamasa in his 2016 national budget that gold deliveries from small-scale miners to Fidelity Printers and Refiners were improving. Cde Chinamasa said from only 1,7 tonnes in 2013 small-scale miners registered 5,9 tonnes for the period January to October 2015.
Mr Kasha said the annual custom milling licence of $8 000 was too high.
“The $8 000 being charged by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is too high. To make matters worse they charge $8 000 regardless of the number of mills one has per centre, which makes life extremely difficult for those with less than five mills. However, fees for other licences for inspection, pegging and prospecting were reduced but the custom milling licence fees were never reduced despite loudly voicing our grievances through our representative bodies,” said Mr Kasha. He said as an association they had recommended $1 000 per mill.
He also called for Government to expedite the mooted idea of a one-stop-shop in the Ministry of Mines to avoid the current confusion when registering or applying for licenses.
He said the one-stop-shop concept where miners and millers can pay for everything required would make the registration process easier for all the players in the sector.
He added that there were too many levies charged on miners and called for further inquiry to merge some of the levies and house them to be paid under one Ministry which is the Ministry of Mines.
Mr Kasha said there were levy charges by the Environmental Management Agency amounting to $10 000 annually, the Ministry of Mines charged levies amounting to $1 200 per annum while the Rural District Councils charge levies amounting to $3 000 per annum.
“We therefore recommend that there be a one-stop-shop to avoid confusion and corrupt elements. Placing all the institutions that are directly or indirectly linked to mining under one roof will eliminate inefficiency in processing of mining documents required by investors who want to be engaged into mining sector.
“This one-stop-shop will also create an investment conducive environment by reducing cost and time of processing documents. We also want the levies to be fused and not have the multiple levies being unnecessarily charged by EMA, Local Government and Ministry of Mines,” said Mr Kasha.
The one size fits all approach on levy structures where large-scale and small-scale miners are charged the same fees was not sensible, he added.
He cited the explosive licences charged to small scale miners as prohibitive and prompting most of small-scale miners to use the explosives illegally.
“ZINWA (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) charges water permits which increase overhead expenses on top of pumping costs of water, while ZESA power tariffs are too high compared to those in other SADC countries while continuous load shedding is impacting on the production of miners resulting in underutilization of machinery and milling centres,” said the MMA chairman.
Cde Chinamasa in his 2016 National Budget presentation said next year the mining sector is expected to rebound, growing by 2,4 percent on the back of planned investments largely driven by strong performance of gold, chrome, coal, nickel, platinum and diamonds.
“In this regard, government support for gold beneficiation is yielding desired results. In 2016, overall gold production from all producers is projected at 20,1 tonnes, up from this year’s anticipated 18,7 tonnes. This, Mr Speaker Sir, is notwithstanding softening of gold bullion prices,” said the Finance Minister.
Online Reporter