CLOUDINE MATOLA
Zimbabwe’s sole buyer and marketer of gold, Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) says the decision to establish more gold centres and providing financing to support artisanal and small-scale mining operations is positively making a substantial impact towards meeting predefined goals.
Speaking to Business Time this week, FGR general manager, Peter Magaramombe confirmed that there are now 17 gold centres across the country, up from 12 established a few years ago.
He said the increase has resulted in improved gold deliveries.
“We have a total 17 gold buying centres now, we added five in the last five years from 12. The new centres are contributing very close to set targets,” Magaramombe said.
Among many other measures, FGR has implemented the Gold Development Initiatives Fund (GDIF) and mobile buying units in an effort to enhance the delivery of gold.
“(We are paying) top prices benchmarked to London Bullion Market Association. (We also have) the Gold Development Initiatives Fund to assist the artisanal and small-scale miners to increase their gold output as well as increasing the number of gold buying centres, mobile gold buying units to cover gold rushes, elution plant monitoring to plug gold leakages and gold buying agents to cover areas where FGR does not have reach,” Magaramombe said.
Gold deliveries to FGR in the month of January increased by 25% to 2.38 tonnes from 1.90 tonnes reported in the prior comparative period.
However, for the month of February, gold deliveries to FGR declined by 22% to 1.85 tonnes from 2.38 reported in January 2024.
