SIMBA RUSHWAYA
Mines and Mines Development deputy minister Polite Kambamura has said only 20 kilograms of gold have been delivered to Fidelity Printers and Refiners by small scale miners since the Reserve Bank Governor (RBZ) Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) announcement last week.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) breakfast meeting in Harare on Tuesday, Kambamura added that government was concerned that the mineral was being smuggled by certain cartels.
“We are losing gold to informal channels. I was speaking to the Minister of Mines (Winston Chitando) that we are producing 100 tonnes of gold at the moment, but Fidelity Printers is getting a third of that because there is a problem we need to address.
“We are losing gold to smuggling and under-declaration by producers and miners. Only 20 kg of gold has been declared at the RBZ to date since the Monetary Policy statement. We are aware of the concerns of the small scale miners and we need not to kill the goose that gives us egg,” said Kambamura. This is against the average monthly deliveries of 850 kg by the small scale miners.
ZMF president Henrietta Rushwaya said small scale gold miners intend to produce about 20 tonnes of gold by year end.
