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Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE will start acquiring mining equipment under the $100 million credit facility from China Export-Import Bank after fulfilling “most” of the conditions precedent, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development Mr Fred Moyo has said.
Government, through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, entered
into a $100 million loan facility agreement with Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group of China for the provision of small-scale mining equipment on credit in line with Zim-Asset.
“We still have some few issues with lawyers from our side and their side, but they have allowed us to start drawdowns
in smaller proportions in an apparent demonstration of their willingness to see
the fruition of the deal,” Mr Moyo said yesterday.
He said Government would soon send its technical experts to China to assess the efficiency and durability of the required equipment.
“This is a national programme and we need to do the right thing,” said the deputy minister.
While the facility is expected to mostly benefit small-scale miners in the gold sector, chrome, tantalite and large-scale gold miners will also benefit.
With respect to small-scale gold miners, loan recoveries will be made by Fidelity Printers and Refiners through CBZ Bank Limited which will purchase all the gold from small-scale miners.
Artisanal and small-scale gold miners are targeting to produce more than 15 tonnes of gold this year, surpassing the 3,9 tonnes of last year, said Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners’ Council chief executive Mr Wellington Takava- rasha.
The projected increase was linked to the Government’s plans to license the miners to legalise their operations. At its peak, small-scale producers’ output reached 17 tonnes in 2004.
In 2005, artisanal and small-scale
gold miners produced at least 12,5 tonnes of gold, which amounted to slightly over 50 percent of the country’s total production, but over the following three years they produced virtually nothing because of operational challenges and lack of supportive policy.
About 1,5 million artisanal and small-scale miners are engaged in the trade on a full- or part-time basis. The small-scale miners produce about 30 percent of Zimbabwe’s total gold.
Early this year, Deputy Minister Moyo said there was need to refocus on small-scale miners, particularly gold and chrome, which incur lower costs.
By incurring lower overheads, small-scale miners have the capacity to insulate themselves from global lower prices.
“The refocusing of on the small-scale mines is absolutely fundamental,” Mr Moyo said then.
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