LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s gold export receipts skyrocketed 127% to US$1.047bn in the first six months of this year from US$464.2m earned in the prior comparative period due to the firming of international prices.
The gold prices started firming during the second half of 2021 but with Russia/Ukraine war waging on a full scale this year, investors find the yellow metal as a safe haven for their investments.
Fidelity Printers and Refiners acting general manager Peter Magaramombe told Business Times that the gold production has been consistently high this year compared to other years.
“It’s not surprising that the gold export receipts have reached US$1bn during the first six months of 2022 due to firming of commodity prices on the international market and also increased production on the back of friendly policies,” Magaramombe told Business Times.
Gold deliveries soared 61% to 15.97 tonnes during the reviewed period from 9.95 tonnes recorded during the same period last year.
Of the total gold production, 10.47 tonnes was delivered by small-scale miners who accounted for 66% of total deliveries.
Large scale miners accounted for 5.49 tonnes during the last six months.
The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Isaac Kwesu said prices are covering up for Production which is lower than expectations.
“We should ramp up production to benefit from the firm commodity prices,” Kwesu said.
Experts said there was need to introduce new policies to ramp up production and capitalise on firm strong commodity prices which are above US$61 000.
From the current statistics obtained from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe gold is now the second largest foreign currency earner after diaspora remittances.
However, the yellow metal has in the past been smuggled due to payment delays by FPR and low prices compared to those obtained on the international market.
Authorities have rectified the problem with payment being timeous and prices at par with those on the international markets.
Experts say there was a need to review retention levels for the large scale miners and capacitation of small scale miners to ramp up production.
On Monday international gold prices stood at US$56 069 per kilogramme and Fidelity was paying above US$54 000 per kg.
The government has moved to provide equipment in gold centres to move towards helping the attainment of US$4bn gold export revenue.
Under the US$12bn mining sector target by 2023, gold is expected to contribute US$4bn.
