Gold glitters as output jumps 19%
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) reached 35.28 tonnes last year from 29.6 tonnes in 2021 on the back of timeous payments and incentives given to producers.
The output surpassed the previous record of 33.3 tonnes achieved five years ago.
The stellar output comes despite a dip in December deliveries which fell by more than half to 1.94 tonnes, the lowest for the year on disruptions caused by heavy rains.
“Gold deliveries were 35.28 tonnes by December 2022 which is a jump from 2021 output of 29.6 tonnes and this was due to continuous incentives from last year and instant payments by the authorities,” FGR general manager Peter Magaramombe told Business Times.
Small scale miners contributed 68% of the total output at 24.09 tonnes with primary producers contributing 11.18 tonnes.
At 35.28 tonnes, the country’s average deliveries were 2.94 tonnes per month.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation CEO, Wellington Takavarasha, said he expects a better year in 2023 as more incentives are expected to encourage more deliveries to FGR.
“We are ready for 2023 as we move to reach the target. More incentives and capital are expected to ramp up production,” he said.
Government granted miners incentives to deliver more gold to FGR.
In the past few years, the yellow metal struggled due to payment delays by FGR and low prices compared to those obtained on the international market.
However, payments are now being done timeously and prices are at par with those on the international markets.
In addition, the government also scrapped taxes on small-scale miners to encourage deliveries through formal channels.
Analysts, however, said there was a need to review retention levels for large-scale miners and capacitation of small-scale miners to ramp up production.
“Some small-scale miners are reluctant to sell to FGR because they know that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority will access their information. They prefer selling to a parallel market where the tax collector does not have access to their records,” an industry player said.
Magaramombe said there were plans to increase presence by establishing more gold buying centres in all active regions.
“We are facilitating a loan facility to capacitate existing and new gold mining ventures to increase production. We will also retain the favourable currently obtaining incentive regime and lobby for policies that promote investments into the gold mining sector,” Magaramombe said.
