Chronicle Editor
Business Editor
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) plans to increase the loan facility for small scale miners to $60 million from $40 million in recognition of the sector’s contribution to increasing gold deliveries and export earnings.
RBZ head of exchange control directorate, Mr Farai Masunda, told delegates at last week’s ZimTrade exporters conference in Harare, that a combination of the five percent export incentive and the $40 million loan facility for small scale miners had contributed significantly to the overall improvement in the performance of the gold sector.
“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is happy with the performance of small scale miners and attributes this to the impact of support measures to the sector,” said Mr Masunda.
“There are plans to increase the loan fund to $60 million to scale up their operations realising that they have surpassed big corporates.”
He was responding to a suggestion by one of the participants for Government to scrap the export incentive to the mining sector and focus on manufacturing, whose contribution to exports remains low at below 10 percent.
Mr Masunda defended the export incentive and loan support, saying these facilities have helped increase gold deliveries and curb smuggling of precious minerals.
Small scale miners have maintained a positive growth trajectory recently — outpacing big corporates in the third quarter 2017 gold output by 29 percent to settle at 4 043kgs compared to 3 120kgs produced by established companies in the same period.
Two weeks ago Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole gold buyer in the country, reported that small scale producers’ output grew by about 58 percent from 2 543kgs in the second quarter to 4 043kgs as at end of September 2017. Primary producers on one hand recorded a 10 percent increase from 2 820ks to 3 120kgs.
In cumulative terms both primary and small scale miners have since January delivered 17.163kgs of gold to Fidelity with the former recording 8.494kgs compared to 8.669kgs by the latter.
In September alone primary producers’ output stood at 1 046kgs compared to 1 111kgs posted in August.
The figure lags behind output by small scale miners who scooped 1 449kgs in September compared to 1 446kgs in August.
According to the Fidelity report, the third quarter has recorded the highest deliveries this year at 7 162kgs compared to 5 364kgs in the second quarter and 4 637kgs in the first quarter.
Zimbabwe’s gold production has been on a steady rise since January despite a few setbacks in the first quarter where mining operations were disrupted by incessant rains.
The mining sector dominates the country’s exports, contributing about 60 percent of total exports anchored by gold, platinum and diamond.
Last year, Zimbabwe gold output closed at 24 tonnes and this year the Government has projected about 28 tonnes of the yellow metal by December 2017.
Online Reporter