ZIMBABWE would more strictly enforce rules requiring mining companies to mine their reserves instead of holding them as undeveloped assets, said Reuters citing the country’s mines minister, Winston Chitando.
“This is to prohibit the holding of mining title for speculative purposes,” the newswire cited Chitando as having said. “We will deal with that more vigorously.”
Some investors had not developed gold and platinum assets that they had held dating back to the 1960s and the mines ministry had asked some companies to justify why they should keep their claims to those assets, said Chitando.
Chitando said the government had been lax in enforcing the “use it or lose it” policy but that would change as authorities pin their hopes on the sector to drive the recovery of an economy grappling with power cuts and acute shortages of US dollars and fuel.
In an effort to restyle itself as an investment-friendly country, Zimbabwe relaxed its controversial indigenisation law which required mining firms in certain metals to sell control of their assets to a combination of government and local investors identified by the government.
Dire economic conditions have brought about other changes, however. In July, Zimbabwe eased foreign exchange rules in an attempt to release pressure caused by the southern African country’s economic crisis.
Its central bank said oil firms, chrome miners, embassies and international organisations could conduct local transactions in foreign currencies, as the country battles an acute dollar crunch and soaring inflation.
In June, Zimbabwe banned the use of foreign currencies in domestic transactions after it made its RTGS currency the sole legal tender, ending a decade of dollarisation.
