Mugabe plans ban on private gold sales

via Bulawayo24 NEWS | Mugabe plans ban on private gold sales by Reuters 14 December 2013

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday his government would soon ban private trade in gold, and require producers to sell the mineral through a state company.

Addressing an annual conference of his Zanu-PF party, Mugabe also warned that platinum miners, including the local unit of South Africa’s Implats Platinum, must build a refinery within two years or risk losing their licences.

The Zanu-PF government, he said, was determined to drive its black economic empowerment programme forcing foreign-owned firms to sell majority stakes to locals and helping to industrialise the country.

A unity government formed in 2009 between Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had allowed gold miners to independently export their gold, mainly to South Africa in a bid to help ramp up production.

But Mugabe said the government would soon require producers to sell through the state-owned Fidelity company, a central bank firm which used to enjoy this monopoly.

“We would want to centralise that. There is a lot of illicit dealing in gold, there is a lot of externalisation of earnings, and that has to stop,” he said.

“To the miners, they should sell to Fidelity only.”

He did not give details.

Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa told Reuters on November 28 that Zimbabwe was willing to let foreign-owned platinum mining firms hold majority shares in their local operations if they build a refinery in the country.

The southern African country has the world’s second largest known platinum reserves but mining companies send the raw product to neighbouring South Africa for processing.

On Friday, Mugabe set a two-year deadline for this.