LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR), the country’s sole buyer and marketer of the yellow metal, jumped 25% to 2.38 tonnes in the month of January 2024 from 1.90 tonnes reported in the prior comparative period.
This was confirmed by FGR general manager Peter Magaramombe.
“The miners delivered 2.38 tonnes in January 2024 but one of the most notable improvement was from primary producers who are ramping up production following good bullion prices,” Magaramombe said.
He expects the gold deliveries to improve more and more as the government continues to open more buying centres.
Gold output is expected to increase following gold prices.
Gold deliveries fell 15% in 2023 to 30.11 tonnes from 35.28 tonnes the previous year.
He said subdued gold deliveries in January, February and August affected the output.
Analysts said unfavorable mining policies failed miners to reach 40 tonnes.
Some miners cited late payments and policy inconsistencies towards the end of the year.
Of the total gold production, 18.66 tonnes were delivered by small-scale miners who accounted for 62% of total deliveries.
Large scale miners accounted for 11.45 tonnes during the past twelve months.
Experts said there was a need to introduce new policies to ramp up production and capitalise on firm strong commodity prices which are above US$66 000 per kilogrammes.
However, the yellow metal is being smuggled due to 75% foreign currency retention threshold to primary producers.
CEO of the Gold Miners Association of Zimbabwe Irvine Chinyenze said more needs to be done to increase gold production.
“The authorities should increase incentives to enable miners to sell through formal channels,” he said.
The government has increased gold centres to harness the yellow metal across the country.
