[miningmx.com] – ZIMBABWE government officials insisted on increased beneficiation in the platinum, diamond and nickel sectors at a meeting with mining groups on Thursday, but there had been no conclusion to the miners’ concerns by the end of the meeting.
The southern African country’s Chamber of Mines, and the Mines Ministry said, in fact, that they agreed with the miners’ concerns that a period of 12-months was too little for the setting up of a refinery.
The government wants platinum mining groups in the country, which include divisions of Impala Platinum, Aquarius Platinum and Anglo American Platinum, to stop shipments of raw platinum for processing in South Africa.
The mining groups say they had no objection to this, but that they wanted more time, and yesterday’s meeting had been expected to find a common ground regarding this and other issues.
“We had the meeting and we had comprehensive discussions regarding issues affecting the industry. We, however, both agreed to work for the good of the country,’ said Zimbabwe chamber of mines CEO, John Chikombero.
Busi Chindove, the spokesperson for Zimplats, whose CEO, Alex Mhembere, is president of the Chamber of Mines, referred questions regarding the meeting to the Mines Ministry. However, other executives said most of the miners concerns had not been concluded during the meeting.
“We have concerns around issues such as the 15% levy on raw platinum exports and by the end of the meeting we had made no movement on this. There are also issues to do with high mineral fees which we are still fighting,’ said a mining executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Government representatives at the meeting, including Mines and Mining Development deputy minister, Fred Moyo, appeared to understand the miners’ concerns over the one year ultimatum to set up the refinery.
However, officials who attended the meeting told Miningmx in confidence that the final government position on this issue was likely to be determined by President Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Moyo, a former executive of Hwange Colliery in Zimbabwe, agreed that a year could be too little time for the setting up of a refinery. He insisted during the meeting that the miners appreciate the government’s position on increased “beneficiation in the platinum, diamond and nickel sectors’.
It was not immediately clear whether his thoughts and understanding of the issue would be shared among President Robert Mugabe’s government officials, who are increasingly seeing the mining sector as a source of revenue to salvage the state’s already constrained coffers.
