Miners in record-breaking gold output
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s sole gold buyer and marketer, Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) received a record 33.308 tonnes of gold deliveries in the 11 months to November surpassing the previous record of 33.3 tonnes achieved four years ago.
This was attributed to timeous payments and incentives given to producers.
The miners still have two weeks before the end of the year.
This was confirmed by FGR general manager Peter Magaramombe.
“We are happy to witness record breaking output of above the 33.3 tonnes of gold achieved in 2018. We expect another 3.8 tonnes this month, meaning we are certainly going to surpass 37 tonnes. This is due to timely payments and incentives we are giving to our gold miners,” Magaramombe said.
He added: “Gold deliveries spiked 31% to 33.308 tonnes up to November 2022 from 25.36 tonnes in the same period last year.”
Small scale miners now contribute 69% of the total output at 22.94 tonnes with primary producers contributing 10.36 tonnes.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation CEO, Wellington Takavarasha, said the engagements with the Mines and Mining Development Ministry and Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe were critical in pushing gold output volumes.
“Previously, we have had some issues with Rural District Councils and Environmental Management Agency but we have finally found each other and mining is much easier,” Takavarasha said.
Government granted miners incentives to deliver more gold to FGR.
This year, gold is the largest foreign currency earner beating platinum and diaspora remittances.
In addition to payments being done timeously and having prices at par with those on the international markets, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe also scrapped taxes on small-scale miners to encourage deliveries through formal channels.
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.
The government has also moved to provide equipment in gold centres to move towards helping the attainment of US$4bn gold export revenue.
The government wants to establish more new gold centres following a sudden increase in output.
