adminKudzanai Gerede
INVESTMENT in modern mining technology for the country’s mineral exploration, beneficiation and value addition are critical if the mining sector is to realise its full potential in turning around the country’s economic fortunes, President Mugabe has said.
Officially opening the second biannual Zimbabwe Diamonds Conference held at the Harare International Conference Centre last week, President Mugabe bemoaned factors which continue to cripple intensive mining operations such as power shortages and the technology gap despite the country boasting large mineral reserves.
“Despite this huge mineral endowment, exploration of the country’s minerals in general, upstream, side stream and downstream, has been limited by factors that include power shortages, technology gap and uneven marketing conditions.
“Realising the full benefits from the country’s mineral endowment will be achieved through investment in appropriate modern technologies, undertaking new exploration projects to discover new mines, exploration on existing mines to extend life of mines, ramping up production to full capacity by operating mines and existing producers expanding current design capacities,” President Mugabe said.
He said Government through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development was working on implementing a computerised mining cadastre that will effectively manage the mining title system to ensure transparency and efficiency in the sector.
“The cadastre system will be an important tool to Government in the promotion of mining development and mineral accounting. It will also improve the ministry’s efficiency and reliability in the processing of applications for mining title and this will guarantee short lead times to tasks and ensure that investors can quickly get down to serious business without delay,” he added.
The two- day conference is the second biggest diamond indaba in Africa outside the Kimberly Process meetings and it saw world diamond industry senior delegates, several African mines ministers and international diamond buyers, sellers and jewellers converging to exchange knowledge, networking and mapping the way forward for the growth of the country’s diamond industry and central to the discussions was for the country to embark on robust strategies for value addition to its primary resources and beneficiation for its locals.
Currently the mining industry employs 25 000 people excluding informal players’ activities, with 45 percent of the country’s exports emanating from the sector and contributing $3 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product prompting a 6 percent growth projection by year end, Mines and Mining Development Minister Cde Walter Chidhakwa told delegates.
“Zimbabwe is under-explored and therefore presents huge opportunities for new discoveries to be made.
‘We must know the value of these gems and this requires comprehensive knowledge of our geology and mineral aggression, quantification and valuation of the un-mined resources as top of our priority,” said Cde Chidhakwa.
He also said the country was producing minerals as “an end to itself and not a means to its ends” by producing minerals which are driving industrialisation of other countries at the expense of the country’s own industrialisation.
He said Government was therefore working on ways to create a robust diamond-cutting and polishing industry as a way to achieve value addition and beneficiation through employment creation.
“Government is looking at the possibility of reducing or eliminating royalties for those diamonds that are destined for local cutting and polishing including the removal of the 15 percent VAT as part of efforts to stimulate the growth of the industry,” said Cde Chidhakwa.
“As Government, we recognise that the process of value addition and beneficiation is a process of industrialisation. Industrialisation has its own costs, we recognise that in order to create that industry, new industries that we never had before, we might have to give up certain revenues to Government in order to create an industry and create employment for our people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the first ever diamond tender in the country is currently running with more than 140 buyers participating.
Online Reporter