[miningmx.com] — IMPALA Platinum (Implats) CEO David Brown said on Thursday a workable commercial solution
could still be reached with the Zimbabwean government over subsidiary Zimplats,
despite the latest setbacks in that country.
These included the proposed imposition of a new “surface rental fee,’ which would
increase the annual charge levied on the 48,500ha of ground held by Zimplats from
the present $45,000 to $48.5m.
Interviewed after presenting Implats’s results for the six months to end-December in
Johannesburg, Brown told Miningmx “I would like to think that’s a mistake and
I do not want to look at it in a Machiavellian light’.
“If the Zimbabwean government actually goes ahead with this, the total annual fee
payable by the Zimbabwean mining industry will be about $1bn, which is equivalent
to the entire annual revenue of the industry.
“Clearly, that’s not sustainable, and there will have to be adjustments if Zimbabwe
wants to have a mining industry going forward.’
Brown denied the suggestion that he had been too optimistic over Zimbabwe’s
prospects when interviewed in August after presenting Implats’s results for the year
to end-June.
At the time, Brown told Miningmx that “I have the impression that the
Zimbabwean government does not want to retard investment in the country or the
growth of the country’s mining sector’.
“My experience over the past 10 years of operating in Zimbabwe has been highly
positive. This is a country that is well worth investing in and has a wonderful
workforce.’
Brown’s optimism was echoed in September by Matthew Neuhaus, Australian
ambassador to Zimbabwe, who told delegates to the Africa Down Under conference
in Perth that “I believe that by the end of the year there will be greater clarity on
indigenisation and in a more positive direction’.
That has not happened, and Brown blamed politics – in particular the elections likely
to be held this year – as the reason this optimistic outlook had not become reality.
“There has been a strong push from Zanu-PF to hold elections and, with election
fever running, you tend to get more rhetoric than substance,’ Brown said. “The
default position of politicians under these circumstances is to make no decisions.
“Our strategy and approach has not changed. We still believe a solution can be
reached. We continue to engage with Government and we await Government’s
response to our indigenisation proposals.’
Implats has continued to plough money into the second phase expansion of Zimplats,
which is expected to start production in the financial year to end-June 2013 and hit
full production of 270,000 oz of platinum annually the following year.
