Small scale miners lament Chinese invasion

STAFF WRITER 

Small scale miners have bemoaned the presence of Chinese nationals in the mining sector as a hindrance to their growth at the  Zimbabwe Annual Mining Conference organized by the Chamber Mines in the resort town of Victoria Falls.

Speaking during a presentation on behalf of the miners, Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya, said the foreign nationals had invaded the market with low rates in the process outmuscling her constituency.

“We are suffering from lack of access to the because most artisanal miners do not have access to the formal markets so most mineral sales are done through the informal market because of largely influx of Chinese buyers especially in chrome mining where they are paying very, very low rates with no linkages to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)’s Apple Bridge,” she noted.

Rushwaya also said her members were feeling short-changed by the presence of the middlemen in their transactions.

“We also have middlemen, financiers for gold operations, becoming the buyers which eventually is traded illicitly, again with no linkages with Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR).  Miners  are still not happy with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) threshold retention percentages of 55%- USD and 45% RTGS at bank rate of the day. Consequently, there have been less deliveries at FPR and we recommend that Fidelity Printers’ monopoly be reviewed and gold trading be liberalized,” she concluded.