The Minister of Mines and Mining Development Winston Chitando has called on the investing public to prioritize financing mining exploration for huge returns as the country is underexplored.
Rudairo Mapuranga
The government of Zimbabwe in its quest to achieve an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 is convinced that mining has the potential for economic revival with exploration investment considered to take the mining industry to world-class level.
Speaking at this year’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa last week, Minister Chitando said the country’s mining sector was a huge capital uplift therefore of significance for investors to bank their money into mineral exploration for huge returns.
“The reason why we have over 60 minerals but only about 10 being actively mined is because the country is under-explored so there are opportunities for those looking for capital uplift to come and invest and enjoy the huge capital uplift presented by Zimbabwe,” Minister Chitando said.
Hon Chitando said the country’s mining industry was a safe investment destination for investors as it has one of the best pieces of legislation in the world which protects and supports investors.
“We have as Zimbabwe one of the best pieces of mining legislation you can ever see in any country, the sector is governed by what is called the Mines and Minerals Act which is an excellent piece of legislation,” Chitando said.
Through the National Development Strategy-1 which seeks for the country to achieve an upper-middle-income economy, the mining industry is expected to contribute annual revenue of US$12 Billion by 2023 with exploration sighted as key to achieve the mark.
The background of mineral contribution to the US$12 billion is that US$4 billion will come from gold, platinum, US$3 billion; US$1 billion, diamonds; US$1 billion, coal; US$1 billion from chrome; ferrochrome and carbon steel, half a billion in lithium and US$1,5 billion from other minerals, summing it to US$12 billion.
The artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) are also expected to play an important role towards the mining milestone with sector player’s committing to contribute US$4 billion by the targeted period.
Globally, to replace minerals that the country is mining, around 10 per cent of all capital expenditure in mining goes towards exploration, however, in Zimbabwe, it is near 0 per cent with the Finance Ministry throwing up a ridiculous budget for exploration.