Zimbabwe On The Rise, Miners To Pay Half Royalties In Commodities – Mnangagwa

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As a way of preserving Zimbabwe’s wealth for future generations, Mnangagwa, who said mining companies will pay half of their royalties in commodities, wrote in The Sunday Mail column: “Starting this October, government now requires that part of these royalties come as actual refined mining products.”

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said that the country’s economy has now stabilised and is set on a sustained growth trajectory, adding that global miners operating in the country will have to pay some of their royalties in refined metal rather than cash.

Mnangagwa made the announcement on Sunday in a newspaper, saying: “Inflation is coming down; prices are stabilising; the national currency is firming; activity in the real economy is evident. The breakthrough in meeting our national wheat requirements shows we now have internalised the culture of working to rigorously set national targets.”

As a way of preserving Zimbabwe’s wealth for future generations, Mnangagwa, who said mining companies will pay half of their royalties in commodities, wrote in The Sunday Mail column: “Starting this October, government now requires that part of these royalties come as actual refined mining products.”

According to him, the aim of the policy – which will target four main minerals that include gold, diamonds, PGMs, and lithium – is to build a national reserve of precious metals and critical resources for the benefit of the current population and future generations.

“We cannot, as the present government and as the current generation, run and manage finite resources profligately without any regard for generations yet and sure to come!” he wrote.

Zimbabwe has abundant reserves of minerals such as gold and Platinum Group Metals (PGM), but power supply problems, a lack of ancillary industries to support mining, and currency fluctuations have prevented it from profiting from a resource boom.

Leading South African companies such as Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J) and Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J) are among those that extract PGMs in Zimbabwe.

Gold companies, which include Johannesburg-listed Sibanye Stillwater (SSWJ.J) and London-listed Caledonia Mining (CALq.L), are also in operation in the country and, in addition to these, are Chinese miners who are involved in lithium mining with the potential to make the country Africa's biggest lithium producer, according to analysts.

The Zimbabwean president also said that the new policy would require the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe possessing a system “for demanding and collecting designated minerals, even where these are processed beyond our borders.”