Mining activities fees hikes ‘retrogressive’

Although, he declined to divulge details, a schedule seen by our Harare Bureau shows  that custom milling licence will rise from $2 000 to $8 000 while for toll smelters it will rise   to $5 000.
A licence to cut and polish diamonds will rise to $100 000 from $20 000 while a gold buying licence will double from $2 500 to $5 000.
In an interview, the Zimbabwe Miners  Federation national organising secretary Mr Ishmael Kaguru said small-scale miners could not afford the rates.

“What it means now is that our operations will be heavily affected by the mining fees. With such rates, it means we are being driven out of business and as a federation, our members cannot afford them. It is like we are contradicting ourselves.              On one hand, we are saying we want to promote    the indigenisation and economic empowerment  of indigenous people while on the other hand we   are opposing ourselves by coming up with ridiculous rates that push away indigenous business people out of business,” said Mr Kaguru, who is also an advisor to the recently launched Bulawayo Miners Association.

He said they were not against the Government’s move to review upwards mining fees but the increase needed to be “reasonable”.
“If the mining fees are going up by 1 000 percent that is ridiculous and we recommend that if there are to be any increases in mining fees, the rates have to be reasonable. We are appealing to Government to reconsider such tariff structure,” he said.

Bubi Small Scale Miners’ Association vice-chairman Mr William Moyo echoed similar sentiments.
Efforts to get a comment from the Chamber of Mines president Mr Winston Chitando were unsuccessful.

According to the draft schedule, the application fees for an ordinary prospector’s licence for platinum will rise from $150 to $500 000   while the registration fee will be $2,5 million from $300.
The fees are paid once-off and non-refundable.

Ground rentals per annum are also expected  to rise from $10 per five claims to $1 000 per hectare.
For diamonds, the registration fee will remain at $1 million although a once-off and non-refundable registration fee of $5 million will be introduced if the proposals are approved.

Diamond cutting and polishing licence is expected to rise from $20 000 to $100 000.
A person wishing to get registered as a prospector would have to pay $5 000 per year up from $100.